Refinishing Wooden Rudder

[Texoma Guy]

The boat I just acquired has a wooden kick up rudder. The top part is in great condition. I don't know what type of wood it is (not teak, maybe mahogany), appears to be varnished and is beautiful. The bottom part is the same type of wood, but has been in the water a long time and is covered with crud and has a few small cracks which don't appear to be too deep. I want to refinish the bottom part and hopefully make it as nice looking as the top. I will not be keeping the boat in the water, but will trailer it home after each use.

Any suggestions about filling the cracks, sealing, staining and applying a durable finish will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Ed Schenck]

It probably is mahogany. I have a jewel like that on my Highlander. I'd be worried about the cracking, probably those small surface splits. You need to test it to see how soft(rotten) that section is. If it is solid then filling and varnishing may be all that is needed. If not then maybe a good stain to match then a coat of epoxy. I am not much of a woodworker so would not recommend a filler.

 

[Texoma Guy]

ED, Thank you for your reply. I was thinking along those same lines.

 

[Freedom77]

I built a teak rudder for my boat. If your rudder is not to far gone, Get some paint stripper for Depot of Lowes. Strip it down to bare wood. Fill in cracks with a waterproof filler, sand and recoat with a clear polyurethene. Fair Winds and Good Luck, Old Salt....

 

[jimmyb]

I refinshed my mahogany rudder by stripping it with a DA sander. I think I used 80 grit disks then hand sanded with finer paper to remove any swirl marks. If you are not good with a automotive DA sander stay away from them. They can chew wood really fast. I had a few small splits on the rear edge of the rudder just above the taper. They were not rotten so I sealed them with some clear epoxy to stablize them. I put several coats of marine varnish as instructed. Thinning the 1st few coats as instructed was very important to allow the coating to soak into the wood. This varnish was thick as mollasses (sp). I very lightly sanded between about 4 to 5 coats. The hardest part was waiting the full 24 hrs. inbetween coats. Im used to polyurethane drying in a few hours. The marine varnish is supposed to be much more UV resistant. Anyway it came out really nice. The varnish is very shinny but does have an orange peel finish. No big deal to me. I like how it built a thick bearier. Time will tell. While doing all this I milled out a slight press fit for the pivot hole and epoxed in a brass bushing on my kick up style rudder. The pivot bolt was wearing the hole a bit oblong. Im a bit anal and have a milling machine in my garage. To top it all off I installed a stainless eyebolt horizontaly through the trailing edge of the rudder sealed itl and bolted a v-cleat to the rudder head same side the eye of the bolt favors. A bolin around the top spreader of the rudder head thru the eye bolt and back to the v-cleat and a bolin in the bitter end for a hand loop makes an effortless rudder lift for my boat. Dont leave enough line past the v-cleat to reach the prop on you aux. motor if the line gets blown out of the boat. Sure glad that crossed my mind BEFORE it happend to me. I know this was way too much info for what you asked but I thought it might help some other dink sailor out there like me.

God Bless, jimmyb

PS I chose to mount the cleat to one side of the rudder head instead of on the tiller handle so if I raise the tiller for some reason it does not let the rudder down or slip the line in the cleat.