Rudder post bonded?

[Jared1048]

I bought a new rudder about a year ago to be sure it was strong and to have one less thing to worry about.

We have pulled the boat to redo the bottom paint and noticed some errosion of the exposed rudder post just above the rudder in the water. It has a rusty look along with a melting look like acid was put on it. Im quite alarmed at noticing this. Only thing I can think of is it needs to be added to the bonding system?

Anyone have experience with this?

Thanks!
Jared

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

Depends on what material the post is made from. Can you elaborate?

 

[Jared1048]

Depends on what material the post is made from. Can you elaborate?

Its a Foss rudder. they just say steel ... http://newrudders.com/?page_id=12

I did notice that they say the entire post is gel coated but I can confirm mine was not.

Maybe I gel coat the underwater portion.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

Its a Foss rudder. they just say steel ... http://newrudders.com/?page_id=12

I did notice that they say the entire post is gel coated but I can confirm mine was not.

Maybe I gel coat the underwater portion.

That lets out stainless steel as no one in their 'right mind' would gelcoat the post.
So this doesn't turn into the guessing game we often see here in other threads, I think you are best served by talking to Foss Foam about specifically what material they used and definitely send them a picture of the area.

If it was corrosion, which is hard to imagine if no other problems are evident, it wouldn't be limited to one small area.

 

[bearsails]

Hi Jared
Can you post a picture?
The rudder post should be Stainless Steel, I have an H31 and bought a new rudder from Foss about 5 years ago, I was OK with what I got other than the fact that my old rudder shaft was .125" wall material and the new rudder post was
.250" wall material (twice as thick but heavier, the racer in me didn't like that part) but I know it is stronger than the original. It should not have any rust or "melting" issues. Is your boat plugged in to shore power? Are you at a marina with a close neighbor plugged in to shore power? Might be a stray current induced issue but I have my doubts. If that was the problem you would likely loose your shaft strut being bronze which is less noble than the stainless of your rudder post...hmmm...
Have you contacted Foss? This should NOT be a "steel" rudder post - it must be Stainless and I presume you being in Seattle you are in the salt - a "steel" rudder post would be toast in a few years!
Post a picture I am really curious to see this...

Mike

 

[Jared1048]

Im cruising in the Sea of Cortez currently and had the boat on the hard getting new bottom paint. I wish i took a picture of it but didnt.

I think the part of the problem was that the strut is covered in bottom paint and not exposed to the water so its not making the "connection" for lack of a better word. While the rudder post was exposed since the paint wore off.

The next day at the yard they guys already painted over the rudder shaft so I couldnt show anyone what the problem was. I did find a really smart guy who was retired and focused on corrosion issues. He thought it was stray current causing the issues.

He recommended to put a zinc on the back part of the rudder and place a 4 gauge cable connected to the rudder post. So thats what we ended up doing. I'll have to keep an eye on it for sure.