Rudder Repair h27 1982

[wesleysherman]

I have recently put my boat on the hard and done an inspection of the below water line. 4 days after putting on the hard I visited my boat and found small drip coming from the Rudder half way down and the leading edge. I pulled out my drill and drilled some holes in the area of the drip few inches in from the leading edge. What i discovered was that the area of saturation is the size of medium size dinner plate in the vicinity of the drip. BTW the small amount of oozing water was clear and the foam on the bit was a bit soft and gel like but no staining or discoloration.

Further down I went from the plate and further away and upwards, I found the foam to be solid and apparently dry. I cleaned and wiped off the bit after every drill puncture.

Now My boat is on the hard over asphalt and getting the rudder out right now to do a over haul on the rudder ( cut, re-foam, re-glass, fair, epoxy and paint, is not in my will and the boat is on the hard to low to pull the rudder.

I pulled out a syringe and filled with (Please dont troll me on this) Acetone and forced into the lowest hold that had small amounts of clear water come out. it was virtually impossible to get the acetone to penetrate the injection site. I tried on few others working my way up and all i could get injected into any hole was maybe 1cc about of Acetone just wouldn't go anywhere. only found one hole up higher were i injected maybe 3cc into and it came out barely if at all a hole an inch lower. I had to push very hard on the syringe to get that to inject. This would seem to me that the foam is not completely compromised at this point? Or is it.

Like to have others thoughts that have had similar issues that either rebuilt there rudders or found other ways to resolve this. with out a complete rudder overhaul. I am thinking of just grind out this particular area and re=foaming anything that is surrounding this plat size area and seal it up. I also drilled two or three holes below the area were the end of the steel pipe is located and it was solid core material.

Was hopping a small repair of this area of the rudder would suffice till next fall when I haul out again and have the yard pull the rudder before placement on the hard and just replace the rudder with a new one in the fall or spring.

comments appreciated.


Last but not least. I contacted Foss about a new rudder and there saying they can use either 1/8 or 1/4 SS pipe. 20lb Foam Filled. any thoughts on this 1/4 inch ss pipe and its strength? I am pretty sure the one i have now is probably 1/8 ss pipe as it is. i Information on this and thoughts appreciated

 

[Jeff]

I've been down this road a few times. My rudder developed blisters. I drilled them out and let them dry out over the winter. I then sealed and filled them in. Applied a barrier coat and bottom paint. Two years later I pulled the boat and found virtually the same thing. The whole process was repeated. Two years later......take a guess. Same thing. Time for plan "B". I have jack stands for our boat and this time we propped her up 6" higher. This allowed me to lower the rudder and post several inches to address the actual problem. Water was getting in around the rudder post itself. After drilling and grinding out the offended areas I let them set all winter. Come Spring I sanded down to glass all sides of the rudder including the top. I had never been able to get at that area before dropping the rudder. I even Dremmeled out a significant area around the rudder post. All blisters and post area was filled, the entire rudder was re-glassed twice, and a final seal of 5200 was put around the rudder post. Then the barrier coats were re-applied and VC17. Two years later....SUCCESS!!! I'm sure there is still some moisture in there but short of very major $$$ surgery this has worked for me.