rudder rebuild help?!

Jun 16, 2011
173
Catalina 350 Rock hall
I am about to begin rebuilding the rudder for my h28.5. I have some questions on some how tos.
1)leading edge has split stanard water issue I have dried it out removed all bottom paint and sanded smooth I plan on cleaning out the crack and filling with interlux water tite is this appropriate??
2) the bottom has been re glassed but it eas my first attempt and i have cut it open to let it dry my question is do i have to use fiberglass mat and resin to repair or can I fill with polyester resin fortified with west 407 or is it better to use west epoxy fortified with 407
3) also I have some areas the have seperated from the foam that I have drilled out to fill with epoxy what type of product do I want to use for this? biggest area of seperation is less than 3/16 of an inch

I plan on coating the entire dudder with interprotect to stop any water and i would like to have these areas as sound as possible
 

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MrUnix

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Mar 24, 2010
626
Hunter 23 Gainesville, FL
The rudder on my H23 was splitting at the seams, so I ground them out, filled with epoxy and then covered with gelcoat to match. The only areas I needed to hit with some fiberglass cloth/mat was where the trailing edge had been chewed down to bare foam from prop damage. I didn't have any pockets of separation, but I don't see why you couldn't simply do the same. Here is the leading edge before and after of the rudder blade:




PS: I used west system epoxy and 403 microfibers just because I had them on hand. The whole story can be found here.

Cheers,
Brad