Question About Rudders on Production Boats

[Ric Sheridan]

I have a CAL 2-27 that has a rudder that has a piece missing from it and it most assuredly is water logged. I am going to replace it in the water soon. I have been doing a lot of research here and on other forums about the rudder system and the different techniques to swap out a rudder.
So my statement is this; Having read all the posts I can find one thing stands out. The fact that maybe up to 80% of production boats have water logged rudders and the owners don't want to know about it. The question is that after getting my hands on a newer rudder I have noticed that the shaft tunnel going down into the rudder is not sealed and it goes right to the foam. When I poke a rod into the shaft I can get tiny pieces of foam on the end of it.
So does anyone think that after all these year that water has been sitting in their shafts on production boats slowly soaking into the foam. And that in the long run has filled the rudder with water. Because on my boat it is open more or less with the tiller attached to a hinge cap. It is not water tight. So if my cockpit ever had any water in above that level it surely filled up (Maybe 5"). And what about all the time it was hosed down? I am just curious is all. I might be out of line with this question and I defer to the Saltier Members for an answer.
I am going to put expanding foam in my shaft up near the top of it and maybe some flex seal to prevent it from leaking.

[tkeithlu]

Hmmm. Nothing out of line about posing a question. The rudder becoming waterlogged implies that water leaking in is replacing the stiff closed cell foam. I can't think of a reason for it to do that in an assembly that has zero moving parts. If it does by some means dissolve the foam, then the rudder assembly goes from being bouyant to being neutral or even slightly negative. Is that a problem? Does the rudder when waterlogged lose strength, or slip on the rudder shaft?

I know it sounds like we should not let water in there, and sealing up the entry would be good, but I have not yet envisioned a route to failure. Have I missed something?