Botched patch job?

[ChangsinLattitudes]

Had some water intrusion in my Catalina 30's rudder. There was a small crack w/rusty colored water leaking out. Ground it down and filled it with marine tex. Only problem was it was oozing slightly and while the marine tex was setting it leaked through. See before & after pictures below.
So the big question here is, what now?
Go easy on me, new sailboat owner.

 

[Steve Dion]

You may want to drill a hole in the lowest part of the rudder to let all of the water to drain out. Grind out your patch and check out the rust. If everything is okay you can inject some foam and glass over the area and fill the drain hole.

It could be that you really need to replace the rudder.

On the Hunters most of the time it was the welds.

 

[ChangsinLattitudes]

Yeah trying to avoid a new rudder, $1800 minimum.
I did drill about 4 drain holes in the bottom of the rudder, there were a few drips but no steady stream like I expected.

 

[Joe]

How long did you leave it to drain after you opened up the crack? Did you try sucking the moisture out with a vacuum or a heat gun? The water is probably trapped in the adjacent section.... rather than collecting at the bottom.. perhaps drill a few holes horizontally then lay the rudder flat.. with the holes on the bottom. You can also probe the crack and the new holes with a piece of wire for further analysis.

As Steve mentioned, you should be trying to determine if there's damage to the rudder stock welds...

 

[tanyasharma]

Let it dry completely and then fiber glass!

I would suggest you to wait for some time and let the rudder plate dry completely in the sun and through other drying techniques.... and only after it is completely dry... fiber glass the are where there is damage...

Hope this helps.

 

[JK_Boston_Catalina310]

Have you sounded the rudder to see if you have any delamination? If you do you might not want to just patch but instead cut it open, let the core dry and/or replace it. You would have to drop the rudder for that project but that would be better than having a rudder failure due to neglected maintenance.

If it's just water without delamination, what Joe suggested might be some good steps to take prior to the next patch.

 

[Gunni]

This is a classic risk-acceptance decision based upon your priorities and risk threshold. That is a sodden rudder with an internal steel structure that is deteriorating. It could fail next week, next year, on in 5 years. You won't know until you open it up and determine the extent of structural grid/rudder post corrosion. You want to go sailing. So you need to decide what mix of risk, money and labor you want expend to meet your risk acceptance threshold. My risk threshold is high, and I am cheap. I would leave it open for a couple more weeks, see how much water I can vac out, patch it paint it, and go sailing. Keep your rig conservatively reefed, and don't run her aground. Haul the boat next fall and this rudder is your winter 2015 boat project. You will be cutting the skins open and getting your eyes on the situation inside. Welcome to boating! :neutral:

 

[finding41]

Here is a link to how to fix it properly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRXNnFx7DBQ
Not so hard.