The rudder, pintle and fairing go up at and install at the same time. The fairing is sitting on top of the pintle. I use a bedding compound, on the pintle and flat area of the fairing during the install. After that sets up, I fill the small gap area with fairing compound. Then I use a couple layers of 2" tape over the joint and then fairing compound over that. The tape helps in keeping a crack from developing in the fairing compound at the joint.
When removing/dropping rudder. I remove the autohelm ram from the quadrant and loosen the steering cables to remove the quadrant. After removing the quadrant, back off pintle's nuts a couple turns. Shake the bottom of the rudder to create a crack at the fairing to hull joint. Grind away the fairing compound between the hull and rudder fairing. Take a Dacron line from aft cleats around the bottom of rudder, to help in lowering the rudder about 70lbs. Remove pintle nuts, which holds everything up. Then use a 5-n-1 paint tool with a hammer to open the joint between the hull and fairing. I usually have to dig a 2ft hole under the rudder, in-order to have room to lower. The process is pretty quick and dirty, about 2-3 hours.
_________________ Hull #208, Puff Card Southern Chesapeake Bay
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