Best way to fill small wood rudder crack?

[JBP-PA]

I'm starting on a project to restore a Trinka 10 I bought. The rudder blade had a small Crack that goes all the way through. I'm thinking filling it with very slightly thickened Epoxy. It's going to get varnished, so maybe there is something more UV resistant. Polyester resin? Something else?
PS where can I buy small amounts of polyester resin? I rarely use it and it goes bad after a year or so.

 

[JBP-PA]

OK, maybe unthickened, it's pretty thin.

 

[dlochner]

I'd open up the crack just a hair, so it is V-shaped. Then I would mix up some West System G-Flex and use a syringe to fill the crack. Do on side first and then repeat on the other side. The V-shape will make it easier to get the resin deeper in the crack. Some light clamping pressure. Don't worry about epoxy squeezing out of the crack, that's good. Once it is cured take a sharp scraper and remove the excess and then sand flush. Use a varnish with a good UV shield.

G-Flex is the resin choice because is handles the expansion and contraction that wood naturally goes through and it sticks to just about anything.

The boat I'm working on has wooden masts and had a similar crack. The method described above is the method the shipwrights at Mystic Seaport Museum Boatyard suggested.

 

[JBP-PA]

G/Flex it is then.

 

[jssailem]

I would insert BowTies to hold the crack permanently. The glue/epoxy approach will eventually fail.

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Once stabilized, you can fill the crack with a resin filler.

 

[PaulK]

Of course with the G-flex you may have to wait 20 years for the bond to fail and the crack to reappear. Especially if it's varnished over.

 

[JBP-PA]

I would insert BowTies to hold the crack permanently. The glue/epoxy approach will eventually fail.

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Once stabilized, you can fill the crack with a resin filler.

View attachment 235099

It is much smaller than needs to have a dutchman.