OK guys here is my rudder rebuild project. Like I said I was determined not to buy a new one. Not an easy project, on a scale of 1-10, I give it an 8!
The rudder had suffered disastrous repairs of its innards at about 3" below the pivot bolt up to the top of the rudder. The original foam core inside the (2) fiberglass halves had been replaced with polyester resin in a previously unsuccessful repair. The resin by itself just broke in several area at the pivot point leaving the rudder as limp as an al dente' noodle! See 1st and 2nd pic.
I gutted the old repair and removed all remnants of original foam down to solid foam. I faired a plywood filler piece to displace the original foam. This took awhile of fitting and sanding with a belt sander to get a fit loose enough to allow about 1/8" of epoxy between the plywood and fiberglass shell, and about 1/4" around the plywood edges. I clamped straight edges to the sides of the rudder to get the two sides parallel again and made the final adjustments to ready for the epoxy. See 3rd, 4th, and 5th pic.
I primed the plywood with epoxy and inserted into the primed rudder shell and filled the bottom section with epoxy. The upper section was another evening project. The rudder was later faired with epoxy and fairing filler and awaiting a single layer of 4 oz glass and epoxy to cap all the gelcoat cracks from the previous flexing of the rudder. See 6th and 7th pic.
I installed a layer of 6 oz glass and epoxy on the roughed up and faired original gelcoat. A narrow strip of glass was 1st installed on all the edges and wrapped onto the sides of the rudder, faired out after curing, then the sides were installed. This thin new skin should stabilize the gelcoat cracks. Two more coats of epoxy were applied as final fairing to prep the rudder for 3 coats of 2-part urethane to match the hull.
The rudder had suffered disastrous repairs of its innards at about 3" below the pivot bolt up to the top of the rudder. The original foam core inside the (2) fiberglass halves had been replaced with polyester resin in a previously unsuccessful repair. The resin by itself just broke in several area at the pivot point leaving the rudder as limp as an al dente' noodle! See 1st and 2nd pic.
I gutted the old repair and removed all remnants of original foam down to solid foam. I faired a plywood filler piece to displace the original foam. This took awhile of fitting and sanding with a belt sander to get a fit loose enough to allow about 1/8" of epoxy between the plywood and fiberglass shell, and about 1/4" around the plywood edges. I clamped straight edges to the sides of the rudder to get the two sides parallel again and made the final adjustments to ready for the epoxy. See 3rd, 4th, and 5th pic.
I primed the plywood with epoxy and inserted into the primed rudder shell and filled the bottom section with epoxy. The upper section was another evening project. The rudder was later faired with epoxy and fairing filler and awaiting a single layer of 4 oz glass and epoxy to cap all the gelcoat cracks from the previous flexing of the rudder. See 6th and 7th pic.
I installed a layer of 6 oz glass and epoxy on the roughed up and faired original gelcoat. A narrow strip of glass was 1st installed on all the edges and wrapped onto the sides of the rudder, faired out after curing, then the sides were installed. This thin new skin should stabilize the gelcoat cracks. Two more coats of epoxy were applied as final fairing to prep the rudder for 3 coats of 2-part urethane to match the hull.
