rudder delamination ! what to do?

[jim]

My 1987 322 developed a pull to the right most noticable while under motor .As soon as we halled out the cause was obvious. The fiberglass outer surface of the rudder had separated from the foam core over 1/2 of the starboard surface of the blade . Can this be repaired? how? or do I need a new rudder ? where can I find one and how to repace it ? Help

 

[Harlan]

rudder delam - Foss Foam

I had a similar problem on OD34 but not quite as extensive. Had a delam about 6" x 18". Was bone dry - just lifted off the core. If there's water in it you have a potentially much bigger problem. Had to cut it out, taper edges of remaining glass, re-glass, and re-fair the whole repair. Repair looks great. My rudder was made by Foss Foam and I assume yours was as well. Go the their website or give them a call. They were very helpful.

 

[bun]

fix the rudder!

HiI would try to fix it like this.1 Remove the rudder from the boat Cut away all the loose fiberglass.2 If the core is wet cut away until you get to dry If the core is dry i would drill some small holes into it in various places to give the glass you will pour there some holding power3 If the core is wet cut away until you get to dry.4 Paint a base coat of polyester glass over the core filling the holes too until you get a good coverage5. Sand that and get a rough holding surface for the glass cloth6 Lay either angel hair or regular cloth over the glass base and soak with more resin do this until its well covered and you achieve a uniform covering. Make it look like the other side Sand and seal with barrier coat. go!Good luck You got nothing to lose and early on you will know if its not working

 

[d krenkel]

Rudder repair

Had the same problem with my 35. When you haul the boat, have the yard drop the rudder so you can take it home. Sand off all paint and gel coat. Make patterns of the shape of the rudder at measured cross sections. I used plywood and made a pattern at three cross sections. Cut away all delaminated glass using a hole saw or dremel tool. Glass is very thin so you want to make a shallow cut. DRY OUT THE FOAM! I had to redo one section because I did not properly dry out the foam. I finally found that putting a heat source 5-10" away from the foam drew out the moisture. Watch that the foam does not get too hot. Now you start putting cloth back on (using epoxy) and then fairing out to the proper shape. By the way, West Products fiberglass has a great book showing how to do all this stuff. Finally, I put interlux barrier coat on and then bottom paint. The water generally gets in around the rudder shaft. I cut the glass and routed out the foam to 1/2" around the shaft, dried and then, using tape, made a dam and filled in the cavity with epoxy. Best of luck. It is a great winter project if you have the time and patience. Another route is to have a local glass guy do it for you.

 

[james rohr]

Had problems w/30 rudder also

Mine kept wanting to split in the center line fore and aft. also kept wanting to blister. after removing, taking home to dry out found it was saturated with water. hence freezing in winter kept the problem on going. I ended up completely rebuilding the entire rudder. Closed cell foam ias the way to go. the orig structural foam was open cell. It is nearly impossible to keep some water from getting in at the rudder stock. the coeffecient of expansion of the stainless rudder stock vs the foam and fiberglass is differant, so there will always be a slight seperation where the stock enters the rudder. closed cell foam will minimise the amount of water penetration into the rudder. since rebuilding mine 5 years ago haven't had any further problems. If you are rebuilding make sure you overlap the leading edge w/ a couple or several layers of glass to strengthen against impact when you hit sunken logs etc. which always seem to be in the water. I've been very glad that i put several layers of glass on the leading edge. Make sure you template the shape though so you don't compromise performace,ie increase your drag or reduce your lift. A strong rudder isn't much good if it doesn't give the lift its supposed to have.