Saltwater ingress-2007 342

Glad to hear you discovered at least one source of water intrusion.

I bought a new Jefa gaiter, which you can find on this web page (scroll about 2/3 of the way down the page) https://www.jefa.com/products/sealing/sealing.htm

To install it, I got inside the locker. I bought one that was already glued together, because my boat was on the hard and my rudder was dropped for inspection anyway. So upon re-installing the rudder, I slipped the gaiter over the end of the rudder stock, then finished installation of the rudder. Only after I had the rudder secured in the top bearing did I slide the gaiter down to the tube and use hose clamps to seal it. It looks like this when done: https://www.jefa.com/products/sealing/gaiter.htm.

It also looks like it is possible to buy the gaiter unglued, so that it can be installed without dropping the rudder if you wish.

I'm in the US, so I bought it from the US Jefa distributor which is PYI, Inc. (https://www.pyiinc.com/).

Hope that helps, let me know if you have other questions.

Incidentally, I can't say enough good things about PYI. They have been a pleasure to work with. Great customer service. I'm not connected to them at all... I'm just a happy customer.