How To Repair Cored Fiberglass Rudder

Rudders damage easily. Although they work like to a keel, they aren't nearly as tough. If y'all dry sheet, the edges can accumulate nicks and dings in the fiberglass from loading and unloading. The rudders of some sailboats can hit the outboard motor's propeller if you lot're non careful. Add in adventitious groundings, storage harm, and stress cracks and it doesn't have much time in water to make the wooden core swell and damage the rudder fifty-fifty more than. Without repairs, a weakened rudder can even pause into pieces under stress. It pays to protect your rudder.

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A desperately damaged upper trailing edge. Some chips are completely through the fiberglass skin.

A crevice caused by a bloated cadre lets water in rapidly and out slowly

A worn lower leading edge. The woods core is exposed and delaminating.

If your rudder is showing any bare forest, has deep nicks in the edges, or has swelled and cracked the fiberglass at the edges, you should repair it while you notwithstanding can. All of these kinds of harm are easily repairable by the practise-information technology-yourselfer for a small-scale fraction of the cost of a new rudder.

It's just like doing auto torso work

If yous've ever done any auto body work, you know the goal is to build upwards and restore a smooth shape to damaged surfaces. Information technology's the same with your rudder merely the end quality doesn't have to be as perfect.

Follow these steps to make your rudder smooth and watertight once more:

1. Start with a 4″ handheld grinder or similar power tool to remove all of the rough and damaged fiberglass down to solid material.  Likewise remove all damaged forest core material. This might seem overly ambitious merely the repair won't concluding unless information technology's built on a solid foundation and a grinder will get you there fast. By removing the rudder's peel, it volition dry out out faster.

ii. Permit the wooden cadre dry out as much as possible. You don't desire to trap wet in the core where it will dry out rot. If you lay upwards your sailboat for the off-season, that's a good time to dry out out your rudder. Finish the repair before the start of the side by side sailing flavour.

three. After the core has dried thoroughly, use a random orbital or similar power sander to plumage the ground edges back a couple of inches all around and to remove whatever pigment so that an epoxy patch will stick properly to the original fiberglass.

Sanding the lower edges before fairing

four. Mix some thickened West System or an equivalent epoxy and build up the ground and sanded areas to their original shape. Colloidal silica is a good thickener for this awarding.

5. With a power sander or sanding block, carefully smooth the patched areas to lucifer the surrounding surfaces and edges.

Upper abaft edge built up with epoxy

Lower leading edge congenital upwards with epoxy

Lower trailing edge built upwardly with epoxy

7. Apply a barrier glaze of 1-part polyurethane  or two-part (preferred) epoxy paint over the repaired areas.

Repaired edges with new bulwark coat paint

6. Fill small cracks above the water line with Capt. Tolley'due south Creeping  Crack Cure.

Acme rear crack sealed and painted

vii. Last, re-apply ablative paint or a polyurethane topcoat to match the rest of the rudder or hull. If you go on your sailboat in the h2o, ablative paint can minimize algae growth. If y'all dry sail or remove your rudder when you're not sailing, ablative pigment gives no benefit and will just transfer to everywhere yous don't desire it. I reapplied ablative paint to this rudder but I sanded it off a yr later and practical a gloss white polyurethane when Summer Trip the light fantastic got a different color bottom paint job.

8.  Now is a good fourth dimension to remove, clean, polish, and rebed all of the rudder hardware with butyl tape. If the tiller bushings are worn, read How to Supplant Worn Tiller Bushings.

Now that you take a restored and sealed rudder, accept good care of it and it will have good care of you lot!

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Source: https://stingysailor.com/2021/03/13/rudder-repair-and-restoration/

Posted by: bensonwrouse.blogspot.com

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