The original problem in the rudder was delamination, which we detected during the original survey by “tapping” the fiberglass. After drilling a hole to check the integrity of the foam (which was fine) and establish the core was dry, the delaminated section was cut out.
After the edges of the cutout were ground beveled, the area was built up again with a series of increasingly larger pieces of mat. A small section of the rudder at the position of the middle gudgeon was removed (shown in lower right) to allow the rudder to be more easily removed without the need to remove the corresponding pintle.
Stress fractures were ground out and patched.
The entire rudder was covered with a layer of mat.
The backside of the new 316 stainless-reinforced cheeks (April 22 post) were glassed, then they were mounded to the rudder with countersunk 316 stainless bolts.
A spacer was fabricated from the old teak cheeks and the bolt holes were filled with epoxy.
The entire rudder was covered in mat and epoxy mixed with West Systems 407 filler (which makes it easier to sand).
After sanding, the entire rudder was coated with epoxy mixed with some primer. Below the waterline, the epoxy was mixed with a powdered aluminum vapor barrier (the darker color).
After several months of work, the rudder is now ready to be remounted on the boat.
