Update - Resurface the Rudder - Update

[Greengas]

Hi
I own a Mac25 and I believe the bottom portion of the kick up rudder needs some work. I am attaching photos. The first photo shows the rudder from the top looking towards the bottom. It was at one time a nice shade of blue but most of the blue has come off showing the white color underneath (the upper portion of the rudder is white and in good shape). As you can see there is lots of wear around the pivot hole and the top where it sits against the other portion of the rudder has the worst wear overall. But, even with it open like it is, the rudder overall is very solid. No soft spongy spots that you might expect from water infiltration. Maybe its because how high up the problem is. The next photo shows the rudder from the bottom looking up. This part actually looks pretty good. The third photo is a close up of the surface showing the blue specks. Again, my thought is this is paint. My thinking is that I need to sand it down to get all the blue paint specks off. Then I need to do some fiberglass work on that top portion. I was thinking running some strips the length of the rudder with the sides wrapping up. It might need some more around the pivot hole also. The problem is, I've never worked with fiberglass before so I really needs some Fiberglass for Dummies level guidance.

As you might have noticed, I am having trouble attaching photos so any help here would also be very welcomed. Solved the photo problem.

Mahalo

Ronn

 

[justsomeguy]

Fiberglass is very forgiving. If you mess up, just grind or sand it back down. Piece of cake, really.

The oversized pivot hole can be filled with epoxy, re-drilled and a couple of bushings added to take out most of the slop.

The voids at the bottom can be filled with epoxy also.

 

[Greengas]

So if I fill the voids with epoxy can i then just paint it over? Are you suggesting there might not be a need to use fiberglass or am I totally misunderstanding.

 

[justsomeguy]

So if I fill the voids with epoxy can i then just paint it over? Are you suggesting there might not be a need to use fiberglass or am I totally misunderstanding.

Yes, the fiberglass work could certainly be avoided.

 

[Greengas]

So, I sand it down to get the chunks of old paint off. Then I mix the epoxy and paint it on. For the top part I would paint the epoxy on and let it drain into the voids then paint. Do I sand the epoxy with a high grit to make sure it is smooth? Any recommendations on what epoxy to use? Suddenly this project is not sounding so bad.

 

[justsomeguy]

Do I sand the epoxy with a high grit to make sure it is smooth? Any recommendations on what epoxy to use?

You can if you like. I don't race, so I sanded to 220 grit,
A thick, moldable type of two-part epoxy to fill voids on the exterior, and a thin, flowing type to drizzle into interior problem areas.

Another great resource:
See that "Quick search" box in the upper right of every page? Type a few key words in there or any simple question you might have.

 

[vhoisington]

I'll throw in my 2 cents worth. Many moons ago, long before I found this forum, we purchased a Hunter 25. The rudder was spider cracked all along one side and across the top on the other. Not much water intrusion due to the long winters in Wyoming and Colorado so mostly just needed to seal things up.

I've done a fair amount of woodworking but at the time never any fiberglass work.

Before we get into my story, as others have mentioned sand it out with 80 grit (you want this to allow the epoxy to get a good grip on the old surface) put your epoxy on and let it cure. If you can sand it within the next 24 hours it will still be "green" and the sanding will be easier. If you let it set more than a couple of days it will fully cure and your sanding job will take more time. This is t he easy approach.

Back to my story, since I have so many surface cracks I decided to completely resurface the rudder with a fresh layer of fiberglass. Again sanded everything with 80 grit, faired some spots out and then set the rudder up on a saw horse so it could be rotated. I then cut a single piece of cloth to completely wrap the rudder with a little overlay and did it all on one stage. Instead of gel coat ( neccesarry to prevent uv degradation) I decided to us interlux 2000 as a barrier coat.

Not the prettiest job but much easier than I thought. There are a lot of fiberglass for dummies books and pamphlets, west system, guedgeon brothers, etc. Get one or 2, read then try it out on a small piece of wood or other scrap. If you work carefully, you'll find it is easy to do and not a big deal.

Good luck,

Victor

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

I would suggest removing the old anti fouling paint and lightly sand. IF you want to go the extra yard, then I would use a two part epoxy to fill in the voids and the head of the rudder as the marine filler used there has come off. I used Water Tite and yes it is costly and it took overnight to harden but the end result was it was the strongest out there. I would do this before applying epoxy barrier coats and/or anti fouling paint. Former sailboat dealer for Hunter, catalina, beneteau, MacGregor, ComPac, Precsiion and so forth.

 

[Greengas]

I would suggest removing the old anti fouling paint and lightly sand. IF you want to go the extra yard, then I would use a two part epoxy to fill in the voids and the head of the rudder as the marine filler used there has come off. I used Water Tite and yes it is costly and it took overnight to harden but the end result was it was the strongest out there. I would do this before applying epoxy barrier coats and/or anti fouling paint. Former sailboat dealer for Hunter, catalina, beneteau, MacGregor, ComPac, Precsiion and so forth.

The only "Water Tite" I can find on the web is from Zinzer and is a paint. Is your suggestion that I use epoxy to fill the voids in the top and then paint on the water tite? My thought right now is to, step 1, drizzle epoxy into those voids and clamp the sides tite to the core while the epoxy dries. Then to do a "honey coat" of epoxy over the entire rudder, and to 220, and then paint with anti fouling paint. My hope is by putting the epoxy on thick I can do the entire rudder at once if I suspend it from the ceiling. As for the holes, I am going to insert a metal core (can't remember the official name of what the part is) into the hole that the bolt goes into and that way it won't wear on the rudder anymore. The other holes are just where the rope goes and I'll just redrill them.

Thoughts?

 

[Greengas]

Update: Today I sanded off all the old blue paint from the rudder. There were just a few small spots where even the white base paint was worn through and just a spot or two on the edge that seemed to be past the fiberglass. I know in the picture there are areas that seem to be down to bare wood especially on the edges but there is still fiberglass there. Now, in the top part of the rudder I know I have to get some epoxy in there and clamp the two sides to fill all the gaps. My next step is to get the epoxy, do that, then, a good heavy coat of epoxy over the entire thing, repaint and reinstall. Overall, it sure looks a lot better than it did before.

 

[Roadking Larry]

A clean, well organized shop is the sign of a very sick individual

 

[Greengas]

My shop (or my Admirals garage as she likes to call it) has been called many things but well organized is not one of them Thanks for the laugh Larry.

 

[Roadking Larry]

I've got a 1500 sq ft shop building. Thanks to my wife's addiction to DIY TV shows about fixing and selling junk furniture I haven't been able to get a vehicle inside for almost 3 years.

 

[dlochner]

Almost everything you need to know about working with epoxy. The West System website is a great resource.
Epoxy by the Leading Epoxy Manufacturer | WEST SYSTEM Epoxy

 

[Greengas]

Got the new blue epoxy paint going on the rudder. The first picture is of the top portion and it has one coat on. The second picture is of the bottom portion and it has two coats on. Looking good so far. It takes 20 hours for the paint/epoxy to dry enough to sand and recoat so it will be a slow process. But since I want to splash the boat this Sunday I figured I would need a fully assembled rudder so... a painting I will go. The directions say 2 coats. But I'm thinking three for the lower half.