Hole in the Boot

We have a minute hole in the Edson Boot that the steering arm passes through to control the Rudder.

Got the new boot from Edson, now to install it.

Step 1. Take the main battery out. No way to get to the nuts on the inside of the Boot hardware without removing the battery. Not a big job. Pull out the Starboard Aft Mattress, Unscrew and remove the center trunk access panel (I modified ours a while ago so that it's now in 3 pieces, easy to remove the center section while leaving the awkward end panels in place) Then unstrap the battery cover, turn off the boats 12v system, disconnect the battery charger, disconnect the battery, pull it out of the aft berth. That takes about 20minutes.

View inside the 'Trunk' up close to the Edson Steering Control Plate.

Now to remove the Rudder. Again, not a tough task. Remove two split pins, one from the upper Pintle, and the other on the pin in the Control arm. Remove the control arm pivot pin, turn the wheel to Starboard, slide the control arm out of the rudder assembly and lift the rudder off. 10 mins max.

And now the reason for posting this... The tough part!

To remove the rubber boot that keeps the water out of the trunk (always a good thing!) the 6 nuts on the inside of the plate in the trunk have to be removed. Really awkward to get up close to the assembly on the inside of the trunk. Made a lot easier by using a 14mm socket on a cordless drill. Peggy on the outside to make sure the bolts didn't turn, me on the inside reaching in with the drill, got the nuts off in less than 5 mins. 

Looking good so far.

Now to remove the bolts on the outside. Challenge! 4 bolts come straight out, but two of them are corroded. Not a surprise, the bolts are stainless stell, they pass through the Stainless plate on the outside, then the Rubber boot, through the transom, then through an Aluminum plate and finally what appears to be a cast aluminum plate.

I cut the rubber boot off on the outside so that I could get a better handle on this issue. A few sharp taps with a hammer did not dislodge the final two bolts. I broke a screw driver trying to unscrew them. Even tried to use a clamp to push them out from the inside. No luck! :(

For now I have given them a good douse of WD40 and taking a short break to post a plea for help on the Forum.

 The Boot and 4 Screws removed.

 The culprits up close and personal!

Back shortly.

Ok, time to say 'thank you'!

As a member of the very active Catalina - Capri 25s International Association, I, like all members of the Association, have access to an abundance of support from fellow Catalina 25's owners.

They came though this time, 'Thank you guys!'

Here's a link to the forum on this issue

Oh, and Google just made a significant update to their blog layout, I think I like it! Kudos Google!