As I continue on my thru-hull and electrical journey and waiting for parts, I'd thought I'd start sanding the old, detritus-covered bottom paint and inspecting the crack I could see in the rudder paint and plan my next course of action. I have a Morgan 32 with an encapsulated keel and a skeg-mounted rudder. The boat will be located in Lake Ontario (fresh water with zebra mussels) and is hauled every winter. The PO said he re-did the bottom paint a couple times over the 9 years he's owned it and right now, even though most of it looks in decent shape, there is quite a bit of a buildup of scale, dirt, etc that isn't responding well to a brush and water. There was also a crack in the antifouling paint on the side of the rudder that I wanted to inspect a little closer. Yesterday I started sanding the rudder.
My first question is the "shoe" on the bottom of the skeg. Once I got most of the bottom paint off, I saw what appears to be a bronze shoe on the bottom of the skeg horn extending out for the pintle. I expected some beefy bolting somewhere but I cannot see any attachment hardware yet on either side. How are these usually affixed to the skeg? Maybe I need to get to bare metal all around. Here's a some pictures of the starboard side and the bottom.
With the bottom paint off, I was able to see the extent of the "small crack" I could see with the paint on.
On the port side of the rudder, the small crack turned into 3 cracks about 1/16" wide but shallow. What I was surprised to find is a slightly larger and deeper crack on the leading edge of the rudder. They look like there is water seeping but in actuality they are all dry -- it's just the amount of sanding and remaining paint dust once I got them cleaned up enough. Lastly, there are several spots where the gelcoat appears to be gone. I can see resin but no fibers in any of the spots. I don't know if it was me being too aggressive with sanding or if it was just painted over that way.
My plan is to gouge out the cracks a little bigger and fill with thickened epoxy and get it as fair as possible. Then 4-5 coats of Interprotect barrier coat with 2 coats of VC17m antifouling paint.
I am thinking of drilling a couple small holes hear the bottom of the rudder to see if water does drip out however I haven't found any damp areas yet, despite it being a wet spring and several good thunderstorms over the last couple weeks. The rudder sounds consistently solid if I tap it with a small plastic mallet.
There is no way I am dropping the rudder this season and getting into that this year. I'd like to drop it next year to replace any bearings or bushings, clean up the pivot points, repack the rudder stuffing box, pull the shaft and replace the shaft log, and any other issues that arise with that.
Do you think my repairs would be satisfactory for now? Are there any other things I should/could do or look at?
My first question is the "shoe" on the bottom of the skeg. Once I got most of the bottom paint off, I saw what appears to be a bronze shoe on the bottom of the skeg horn extending out for the pintle. I expected some beefy bolting somewhere but I cannot see any attachment hardware yet on either side. How are these usually affixed to the skeg? Maybe I need to get to bare metal all around. Here's a some pictures of the starboard side and the bottom.
With the bottom paint off, I was able to see the extent of the "small crack" I could see with the paint on.
On the port side of the rudder, the small crack turned into 3 cracks about 1/16" wide but shallow. What I was surprised to find is a slightly larger and deeper crack on the leading edge of the rudder. They look like there is water seeping but in actuality they are all dry -- it's just the amount of sanding and remaining paint dust once I got them cleaned up enough. Lastly, there are several spots where the gelcoat appears to be gone. I can see resin but no fibers in any of the spots. I don't know if it was me being too aggressive with sanding or if it was just painted over that way.
My plan is to gouge out the cracks a little bigger and fill with thickened epoxy and get it as fair as possible. Then 4-5 coats of Interprotect barrier coat with 2 coats of VC17m antifouling paint.
I am thinking of drilling a couple small holes hear the bottom of the rudder to see if water does drip out however I haven't found any damp areas yet, despite it being a wet spring and several good thunderstorms over the last couple weeks. The rudder sounds consistently solid if I tap it with a small plastic mallet.
There is no way I am dropping the rudder this season and getting into that this year. I'd like to drop it next year to replace any bearings or bushings, clean up the pivot points, repack the rudder stuffing box, pull the shaft and replace the shaft log, and any other issues that arise with that.
Do you think my repairs would be satisfactory for now? Are there any other things I should/could do or look at?