Bavaria rudder Sharf Seal

[Fairweather sailor]

Could someone suggest where I might get a replacement rudder shaft seal for a Bavaria 30C. The shaft is 58MM, but it steps down to 56MM at the location where the seal is located. The dimensions of the current seal are: 55 x 80 x 10, and looks like the manufacturer is "Stefa"? I've emailed SVB but no response so far, and the seals they have on their website are of different dimensions. We purchased new rudder bearings from Jefa in January, but they say they no longer sell the seals.
Thanks.

[Yngmar]

It's a bog standard lip seal, which are generic items. Stefa is but one manufacturer of them, it doesn't matter who makes it for this use, it's very low use. You should get one with a stainless steel spring or mount it spring-up and keep the spring greased.

https://www.easternseals.co.uk/ got me the right item by swapping a stainless spring onto one of their seals.

[Fairweather sailor]

Thanks Yngmar.
I have ordered the seal and the gaiter from Clipper marine, should be delivered in the next few days.
Any suggestions on how to remove the old gaiter, it appears to be stuck onto the post?
Many thanks.

[Yngmar]

You have to drop the rudder.

[Happysailor]

Perhaps there is a solution where you don’t have to lower the rudder to put the seal on, but this requires specialist equipment. You can also cut the seal and reweld it, this is what also is being done with sterntube seals on merchant vessels. But you will require a specialist who has the equipment…. It will be worth a trade off between putting the boat on the hard and costs for the engineer…

[Yngmar]

If you don't want to drop the rudder, you can use the Jefa gaiter instead: https://jefa.dk/products/sealing-systems/