Back on the water again with a solid rudder repair! I ended up going into the side of the hump with a 4" hole and sure enough found a punky backing plate. There appears to be a wooden plate embedded in the foam in the back as well, but fortunately that piece was intact and still dry. I cleaned out the junk, cut back a bit of foam from the inside top of the hump and (as I did for my stem head repair) inserted a piece of pressure treated wood, stainless bolts and T-Nuts. Getting the bolts to line up with the T-Nuts was the biggest challenge, as the piece inside is not parallel to the back plane of the hump. The rudder now has a much more solid feel (especially good on a downwind leg with 2' waves) and if necessary I have access through the inspection port. Three trips out in decent wind and still rock solid!
Edit: I did also reinforce the back of the hump with a piece of fiberglass, having noticed hairline cracks radiating from a couple of the holes, especially the top ones that had been loose. I am not too worried about those spreading if the bracket is ticght in place.
Edit: I did also reinforce the back of the hump with a piece of fiberglass, having noticed hairline cracks radiating from a couple of the holes, especially the top ones that had been loose. I am not too worried about those spreading if the bracket is ticght in place.
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