Hello to all,
Apologies for not chiming in earlier but have been far too busy at work recently and only now have had time to post our experiences.
We have a 1984 Beneteau First 38 which we purchased in spring 2013. At the time of purchase our surveyor noted the following: “RUDDER: No movement when mild force applied. Paint coverage is good. Soundings remarkable on majority of rudder, moisture meter readings 200-750. No signs of impact. Water appears to be leaking from bottom of rudder.
Repair as needed.”
Here in Chicago it is somewhat common for water to infiltrate into the rudders during the sailing season. Many boat owners then drill a small hole into the base of the rudder at haulout to allow water to drain prior to freezing temperatures and winter arriving. In the spring the drain hole is patched (3M 4200) prior to launch. Apparently this had been done for many years on our boat’s rudder as evidenced by the numerous patched holes at the bottom of the rudder.
We considered (a) new rudder from BENETEAU, (b) new rudder from Foss Foam Products of Florida (
www.newrudders.com), (c) rebuilt rudder by Foss Foam utilizing our existing rudder post, or (d) rebuilt rudder by local fiberglass shop. We shopped around and selected Skyway Yacht Works here in Chicago.
Scope of work included:
· Test moisture in rudder with moisture meter
· Fiberglass repair - grind open an inspection panel at bottom of rudder
· Remove sample of foam to ascertain moisture content - it's soaked; thus proceed to next steps
· Fabricate a template for reconstruction
· Fiberglass repair - cut open port side of rudder to expose foam
· Remove all foam, sand and vacuum cavity of any loose debris
· Wipe out cavity with solvent to remove any moisture holding debris
· Fiberglass repair - fill cavity with foam
· Fiberglass repair - course shaping - shave foam to approximate shape of rudder
· Fiberglass repair - fine shaping - sand foam to precise shape of rudder using template
· Fiberglass repair - cut fiberglass to shape
· Vacuum bag new glass in place
· Fill, fair and sand rudder where needed
· Paint sanded rudder with barrier coat
Upon opening up the rudder Skyway commented that this original 1984 Beneteau rudder was exceedingly well built – overbuilt compared to today’s boats and that the solid stainless steel rudder post (2.75 in OD, = 70 mm OD) and 4 horizontal tabs were all in great condition – solid welds and again overbuilt. Under no circumstances would they recommend fabricating a new rudder post. Thus we reused the existing rudder post.
Longest part of the project was the “drying out” of the shell of the old rudder
after removal of the wet foam. Measured moisture levels on the inside of the glass took a while to drop. This was in a heated workshop. In the end the shop had to use heat lamps to get everything nice and dry prior to installing new foam.
Here a link to photos of the process.
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=638E595E68A95E10!658&authkey=!AFinjbYmYUfwnXg&ithint=folder,pdf
