So about my rudder post

[Geoff W.]

I was enthusiastically greasing my Zerk earlier today when I noticed grease start coming out of somewhere it shouldn't... the post itself.

not really sure what I'm looking at or the severity of it. I assume I should get another layer of glass around it somehow? The zerk fitting itself also seems maybe a bit loose with grease oozing around it too.

while we're at it, should I be considering replacing this bronze bearing at some point? It's looking a bit haggard.

thanks

 

[peaman]

Is your grease off-white in color? I wonder if the leak to the right of that shiny newer-than-1987 zerk is where the original zerk was located? In that case, it might just make for a nice tell-tale for when you have pumped in enough grease. As for the green bronze, it looks great. That's not the working part, though. The important part is hidden inside the fiberglass and is likely a pleasing golden color instead of greenish.

 

[Christian Williams]

The Zerk is loose, and that spout to the right must be a hole drilled by a prior owner, probably when they added the new Zerk.

You could try to clean the grease off and epoxy closed the hole and the base of the Zerk, but I probably wouldn't bother. Keep an eye on it and if no water comes in, it's a shrug--and proves you've injected a good load of grease.

 

[Geoff W.]

Thanks all. The grease is coming out of a little stress fracture to the right of the shiny zerk -- I think the old zerk is the rusty knob to the left of it. I'm not leaking and I guess the rudder post won't suddenly fracture? So thanks for assuaging my anxiety

 

[Christian Williams]

Stress fracture there is useful to know about. But the integrity of your rudder tube looks fine in the photo, all that glass wrapped by hand at the factory. I like this illustration to remind me what's going on down there, and that, with lots of grease, seawater in the tube is minimal and under low pressure.