Found the leak... now what? (prop / rudder mounts)

You may have it on and off numerous times if shimming is necessary

Then when it's right your plan for sealant sounds good, remove it put the sealant on, along with any shims that may have been required and tighten things up and wipe away the excess 

Thanks for the tips, fellas!

KENO wrote: As far as the rudder port, I'd bet that if you do your same jacking routine, leave the rudder in the port and remove the 4 machine screws and nuts, you'll have enough working room to let the rudder and port drop down but not out. You'll probably have room to scrape the old stuff off and put some new stuff on and bolt things back up.

I go the rudder off without having to jack anything up. There was just enough room to pivot it all out out once the port was unbolted. I've got it all cleaned up, but I'm thinking of getting new hardware & larger fender washers just to start fresh. I'll wipe down the area with acetone before I apply anything new to get the best bond I can.

8122pbrainard wrote: Mark, No, you won't need to remove the prop shaft. Disconnecting the shaft at the trans coupling will give you enough room to get the strut out of the hull recess and swing the strut down for a clean up/reseal. Go 4200 instead of the 5200 just in case you ever have to remove the strut again. When you remove the strut, you will need to check alignment since alignment always starts at the strut.

This is next, since there's now more room with the rudder removed.

Is there a suggested way to get as good a baseline alignment as possible when re-installing the strut? I don't have any way to mark where the current strut is mounted, since it's all covered in sealant. And it seems like there's enough play in the strut mount to really throw off the alignment. I'd like to get it as close to aligned when I put it all back together, so there's not as much fiddling with the motor mounts. Thoughts?

And how much sealant is recommended? More is better, right? You can always clean up excess that squeezes out, but you can't add any after the fact. I was going to fully cover the recess where the strut mounts, then add some into the holes before pushing the bolts through.

No, you won't need to remove the prop shaft. Disconnecting the shaft at the trans coupling will give you enough room to get the strut out of the hull recess and swing the strut down for a clean up/reseal. Go 4200 instead of the 5200 just incase you ever have to remove the strut again. When you remove the strut, you will need to check alignment since alignment always starts at the strut.