Waterlogged rudder

[GregL564]

The transom-hung rudder on my Oday 240 is completely waterlogged. My first clue appeared when she was still in the water, and I could not figure out why she was no longer sitting on her lines, and looked about 3 inches low in the stern. I got the second clue after we hauled her and I lifted the rudder off the gudgeons and realized it weighed at least 80 pounds (Rudy tells me the weight of the rudder was only about 30 pounds new). Finally, I laid the rudder down and drilled a quarter inch hole through the fiberglass skin, just into the foam, and the hole quickly filled up with water.

The rudder is now in my basement to prevent further damage from freezing, but there’s no way I’m going to put it back on the boat in the spring in it’s current condition.

Any thoughts on a repair? The guys at the marina suggested that the water may be getting in from either or both hairline cracks and the center seam, and repair would involve a lot of time to dry it out and a lot of time sanding and applying epoxy over every potential crack and along the seam.

If I go the replacement route (much easier, but a bit more $$), it’s probably the fold-up rudder from Ruddercraft. Anyone have any experience with them?

Best,

Greg

 

[justsomeguy]

This topic comes up a lot.

Conventional thought is drill, drain, dry and seal, as you've touched on in your post.

The Ruddercraft route, expensive, yes, but the rudder supposedly outperforms most folks' original rudders.

If you do a search of these forums on both subjects, you'll find plenty of reading.

 

[Hydro Therapy]

I'm always questioning the integrity of my rudder. The outer seam on my 240 shows chipping in many spots. I don't think mine is leaking. It's heavy when removed but probably around 30 pounds. I do have to repair a section before next season. My prop kissed the rudder a few times this year. It dug into the rudder but not all the way through.

I think if I was in your shoes. I would take a shot at using resin and cloth. Sanding it down once dried. If I didn't like the results I would then buy a new one. The cost of resin and cloth is cheap enough to take a swing at it.

Hoping for an early spring

 

[njlarry]

You can use it as an excuse to get a new rudder. However fixing it is not hard. There are many prior posts here to guide you. Briefly you simply drill holes through both outer skins, let it dry out, fill the holes with thickened epoxy or west 10-6, then fair it out. if you want to really get into it, west epoxy has an inexpensive book or free book Fiberglass Boat Repair and Maintenance. It details cutting one skin off and later reapplying it. Unless you find rust stains I think that would be overkill.

 

[MaritimeTees]

Plenty of youtube videos on this. Pretty easy if you do it yourself.

 

[25yearslater]

I am in the process of replacing mine with a Rudder Craft model right now. They are easy to work with and Richard Warren is committed to insuring you receive the correct rudder. The Oday 27 is an oddball rudder so we went back and forth with photos and drawings to arrive at a correct unit. They are pricey but not exceptionally so. Their rudders are lifetime warranty to the original owner so that is a plus. Mine is scheduled for shipping Nov 6th so I will let you know my findings.

 

[jzuk]

Repair is relatively easy, specially with the rudder already in your basement and looking at many months to dry and repair till haulin time. Mine was soaked and had a gouge At the leading edge and small cracks at the top.
When I repaired mine I had an engineer friend check out some NACA rudder profiles for me. Since I had to fix the leading edge anyways, was an excuse for a small diy improvement. From some 1/4 ply I cut the leading edge curve (not pointy, but not 1/2round either) and used that as a guide to build up with glass and then fair with thickened epoxy. It's not truly a high performance rudder, but looks nice and I can pretend that I'm going faster.

 

[GregL564]

I am in the process of replacing mine with a Rudder Craft model right now. They are easy to work with and Richard Warren is committed to insuring you receive the correct rudder. The Oday 27 is an oddball rudder so we went back and forth with photos and drawings to arrive at a correct unit. They are pricey but not exceptionally so. Their rudders are lifetime warranty to the original owner so that is a plus. Mine is scheduled for shipping Nov 6th so I will let you know my findings.

Very interested to hear how it turns out for you. Ruddercraft looks like a quality option.

 

[GregL564]

I drilled some holes into the wet foam and am currently letting it dry out in my basement. It picked up about 15 pounds of water. I'll weigh it again in a month or so. If it loses most of the extra weight I'll sand it all down and see if I can find out where it was leaking (thinking along the bottom seam).

I don't think I will go the more drastic route of opening one side, replacing the foam and re-sealing it. I am concerned that I would not match the original profile and end up with an imbalanced rudder. The online videos of rudder repairs don't imo pay enough attention to ensuring the profile remains symmetrical.

I am leaning towards a new rudder, though. Best options appear to be either a Foss Foam replacement, or a kick-up rudder from RudderCraft. Undecided, but holding out to see how much my original rudder will dry out.

 

[2taylorscotts]

My O'Day272 suffered the same fate. The previous owner drilled the bottom edge, at the seam, and stood it on end for the winter. Not enough. The next winter I made a pair of cradles on sawhorses to hold it on edge, then flipped it around until I found the leaks in the seams and stood it on edge until each leaky spot dripped dry. Then I laid it flat and meticulously tapped with the plastic handle of a screwdriver, sounding for hollow spots (de-laminations). They are obvious. I marked both sides, then drilled each hollow with a bit with a tight fit for the tip of a syringe. In larger areas I drilled two holes. Using a blow gun with a rubber tip and low pressure I gently blew them out. The second holes provided relief. This may sound time consuming, but it's really just a short piece of time maybe once a week during the winter , when you flip it over to drain and check. In spring, after a winter in a warm place they should all be dry (right!). I had a couple that still blew moisture and those I injected with alcohol then blew dry and injected all with West System epoxy, doing the tap-tap-tap again with a light hammer or heavy screwdriver handle to ensure a fill. Be sure to let the epoxy cure before flipping to the next side or edge. Leave a bit of room at the end to top off with poxy and faring filler and you're good to go. The faring filler may not be amenable to white paint!
I also used my Dremel with a cutting wheel to scarf out all the seams and sealed them with epoxy.
Three years later and it's still tight and right. It's surely not the only approach, but it worked for me.

Best of luck!
Scotty

 

[GregL564]

Thanks for the tips, Scotty. I admire your persistence. Definitely seems to have paid off! Not sure I will have the same patience... but we'll see. I just checked it and after two weeks in a dry basement it still has a lot of water weight, so clearly a slow process, especially if unaided with the process you describe. I was also thinking about using a dremel on the seam... glad that worked.

 

[25yearslater]

Here are some photos of the new and old in side by side comparison.