Rudder crack

[mbefus]

Hello everybody. Brand new S2 owner here. Picked up an ‘81 11.0A at the end of last season and got in a little bit of sailing before season end.

I’ve got a small crack starting on the rudder and I’d like to tackle the repair myself, but wondering if that’s advisable as I’m not sure how deep the damage goes. I was hoping perhaps others who have done the same repair might be able to advise. I should also add, I’m new to larger keelboats and new to working on fiberglass, so appreciate any advice you can give

 

[Project_Mayhem]

This will most likely involve exploratory surgery. Posting to follow this thread

 

[shemandr]

I'm surprised there hasn't been more response. I suspect a lot of members are engaged in preparing their own boats for launch.
The location of the crack is more disturbing than the crack itself. That being the area where the internal flag of metal structure is welded to the rudder post. That weld may have failed. While that is repairable it very likely eat well into your season - especially if you are new to that kind of work.
In addition the foam inside the rudder is most likely wet. That is normally dealt with by removing the skin on one side of the rudder, inspecting/replacing the foam, and re-glassing over the repair. Search the archives for details and pictures.
I would be looking at buying a new rudder. It will be an expense (A big one) but it will the fastest way to get the season going. I would not be comfortable sailing the boat with the rudder in that condition.
Foss Foam made a lot of rudders for the sailing industry.

 

[dmax]

Yes - first thing would be to get the rudder off the boat to make it easier to work on and then cut out the skin around the crack to see what you're up against. Check out this video for a complete rebuild of a rudder:

Rebuilding A Foam Cored Rudder Part 1 | Boatworks Today

There will be more follow up videos showing the entire process start to finish. If you have any Q's please post them below! Thanks for watching :-)…

www.boatworkstoday.com

 

[mbefus]

Thanks for the response! I reached out to Foss for an estimate. Meanwhile I’m gonna get it off and see what I find. I’m definitely caught between wanting to learn this and getting the boat in the water.

 

[dmax]

I have bought two rudders from Foss, great people and reasonable pricing. Good luck.

 

[Tally Ho]

I have a different boat (O’Day 322) but my rudder had some cracks in the edges. I ground out the fiberglass, no water came out, so I re-fiberglassed the edges And painted it.


This spring, I did a little more sanding to smooth out the glass job On the trailing edge.

It looks better now.

Greg

 

[mbefus]

Cut into the rudder and the entire stainless steel frame was corroded, and as the original commenter suspected, the weld was very nearly broken and hanging on by a thread.

I don’t think that’s what caused the problem… After getting further into it, it appears that the previous owner backed into some thing and did some rudder damage. There is a substantial crack on the top of the rudder near the post that I couldn’t see from the ground, and it had been filled with epoxy at least twice.

Chipping away at the foam was no joke! It was rock hard and it took me two hours to do the small section shown in the picture. Between that and the rusted stainless frame, I’ve moved on and ordered a replacement from Foss. Those are running $2900 in case anyone is looking.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only damage. Once I took off the quadrant I discovered a major crack in the glass where the stuffing box screws down into the hull. I chipped away at it and all the underlying plywood was rotted out. I’m gonna start a different thread on that since it’s turning into a whole separate project

 

[jssailem]

Accidents happen. The challenge is to do a thorough inspection and not try to slap a little fiberglass onto the outside like lipstick on a pig and think Oh my all fixed... Don't it look beautiful.