After my first glorious season on the water, the time came for haul-out last week. On launch day way back in April, I noticed some substantial rudder damage on my new-to-me boat that I'm sure I should have properly addressed back then. The previous owner must've grounded it pretty hard because the bottom was completely torn up. But with the encouragement of the marina service guys, I decided to slather the damaged area with 5200 and put it in the water anyway. Yeah, probably not a great idea, but I was keen to get my new boat in the water and it was launch day. I was on the schedule! Anyway, after haul-out last week I peeled off the 5200 cap (it peeled right off) and, big shock, about a half cup or so of water immediately drained out. So, I can probably assume the rudder is quite wet.
So the question: how to repair?
First step is to get it dry. Will it dry sufficiently as-is before spring launch? Removal of the rudder to bring it home is not likely at this point, as I'm on the asphalt and am tightly packed-in with other boats. It's hard to imagine how I could get enough clearance to drop the rudder. I've seen posts about drilling holes to help drying. Is that necessary? I've even seen other posts that talk about installing a drain plug at the bottom of a known wet rudder in order to simply pull the plug at haul-out every season and let it dry over winter. Well, my rudder is basically one big giant drain right now with no plug. Seems like it should allow a fair bit of air movement, but I'm not sure.
Once it's dry, I imagine I should remove as much of the damaged area as possible before building it back up. Will thickened epoxy do the job, or will I need some other filler along with a few layers of fiberglass?
So the question: how to repair?
First step is to get it dry. Will it dry sufficiently as-is before spring launch? Removal of the rudder to bring it home is not likely at this point, as I'm on the asphalt and am tightly packed-in with other boats. It's hard to imagine how I could get enough clearance to drop the rudder. I've seen posts about drilling holes to help drying. Is that necessary? I've even seen other posts that talk about installing a drain plug at the bottom of a known wet rudder in order to simply pull the plug at haul-out every season and let it dry over winter. Well, my rudder is basically one big giant drain right now with no plug. Seems like it should allow a fair bit of air movement, but I'm not sure.
Once it's dry, I imagine I should remove as much of the damaged area as possible before building it back up. Will thickened epoxy do the job, or will I need some other filler along with a few layers of fiberglass?