When to rebuild rudder assembly? H 23.5

Sep 30, 2016
339
Island Packet IP 44 Ventura, CA
I repaired the rudder gouges with West Systems small fiberglass repair kit. This was a bit pricey (about $40) but nice quality chems and glass. The hull is apparently painted with an ablative paint. That scraped off fairly easily and then I sanded the remainder down to gel coat. From there I went with suggestions and just used a high quality indoor-outdoor rattle can. Two cans actually. I bought new rubber and tiller spacers from the online parts store on this forum. And last night I bolted her all back together.
The red rubber has to be cut to fit, but cuts easily. I glued it in place with 3M body trim spray adhesive. It wont be going anywhere.






I ended up cutting off about an 1 1/2" of the rudder tip. It was delaminated fairly badly up to that point. Then put two layers of glass over that. Should be good for a few more years.
 
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Sep 30, 2016
339
Island Packet IP 44 Ventura, CA
Finally launched the boat today, and test drove the rebuilt rudder. Maybe not surprisingly, it was remarkably better. No noticeable play, left to right. Im sure in large part due to having the white plastic spacers installed that the tiller is sandwiched between. They were non-existent before. I didnt even know they were supposed to be there since thats the way I bought it. And shifting the position of the gudgeon hinge pins, as suggested in a earlier post (great idea). Also noticeable, flipping the rudder up or down is much easier with the new red rubber gasket. Over all a big improvement.

Also got to experience being in the water with 30-35 kts gust front, in pouring rain. In short, rain can hurt like needles if its moving fast enough. And its not a good time to try and dock. But thats another story.
 
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Sep 17, 2018
90
Hunter 23.5 Charleston, SC
Congrats on the "new" rudder! I'll be saving this thread for reference. My rudder is barely serviceable but I'm reluctant to pull it for repairs until the sailing season is over.

-Z