[Public-List] Rudder Repairs (yes, another thread, possibly another ruder variation)
Rachel
penokee at cheqnet.net
Tue Jul 15 19:24:54 PDT 2008
Heh, I JUST did this on Sunday night. Your rudder sounds very similar
to mine. I had the luck to find an older post by a fellow who had
uncovered some of the same before I started, so I kind of knew what I
was looking for.
The "problem" on mine just showed up as a little bulge on one side,
with a tiny crack. As it turned out, this was over the strip of wood,
which had of course swelled a bit over time.
On Sunday a friend and I ground everything off down to bare glass, so
I'm now familiar with it :) Mine sounds JUSt like yours.
From what I can tell, by what I've found in mine, what I've read, and
the rudder-frame drawings that are on the Alberg website, here's what
we have:
1) A "skeleton" of brass, which consists of the rudder post itself,
with (IIRC the number correctly) five brass rod "fingers" sun-raying
out from it. These are threaded on the after end, with stainless nuts
on them. The "groove" for the nuts was molded in at the factory, and
then filled with a wooden (mahogany) strip. I think the strip is just
a mold/filler piece, and not structural. You can see the outline of
the woodgrain in the gelcoat, indicating that the wood was used to form
the groove as well as to fill it later.
2) Some additional flat brass "straps" that are nearer the surface of
the rudder. These again run like "rays" and go further down towards
the shoe than the "fingers." I have not ground down enough to tell if
these are attached to the post or not. It seems like they would be,
but another lister reported that they weren't.
3) There was softish filler around the straps and in the groove around
the nuts. Grey, like the Thiokol used around the inside of the stern
tube, but in texture a cross between the rubbery Thiokol and clay.
4) There was a layer of really tough white gelcoat.
5) There was quite a bit of grey, fairing bondoish stuff.
6) Then there was what looked like a "patch" of glass cloth wrapping
around the front of the rudder just below the prop aperture. Like you
said, it looked like this had been done over red bottom paint.
However, this mystified me, because my PO kept meticulous records of
all that was done, and there was no mention of this. Also, there was
the "red paint" in some of the grooves where the straps were. This
makes me think it was some kind of fairing or something, and maybe the
"patch" was actually done by Whitby. Be interesting to see if yours
and mine match. The "patch" covers over the forward places where the
lower fingers attach on the post. The uppermost two finger attachment
points are visible and not covered over (above the prop aperture).
My rudder was basically dry inside, and (luckily, since I think this
should really be bronze) the brass all looks brand new. Just the
uppermost nut was the tiniest bit damp.
I've already cleaned out all the wood and "clay" from the flat groove.
My plan, since everything looks sound - although a bit strange - is to
make sure the "finger" nuts are snug, then fill in around them with
thickened epoxy. After that I will fill the groove where the wood used
to be with a fitted strip of pre-made fiberglass board (like from
McMaster Carr) (then the inevitable gaps with thickened epoxy). Then,
I'll wrap the top of the rudder in glass. Nothing super thick. Then of
course, fair, paint, etc.
I'll probably also fill those two uppermost "finger end" divots on the
rudder post before I glass, since it looks like a small amount of water
got in there at one point.
On the lower half, I only plan to glass a couple of areas where the
brass straps are very close to the surface. For the most part, things
look good.
I thought about making the bolt heads accessible (holes there in the
fiberglass board strips, then putty, for example), but I don't think
I'll do that. At this point I figure it's all 40 years old and it
still looks good, so by the time it needs another refit, it'll be time
for a new rudder for some reason - catastrophe, etc. I may still do
that though, as I can't not make things accessible for future work - it
just goes against my nature.
Of course I have ten-thousand photos of all this, if you'd like to
exchange some. I agree there are no photos on the site that look like
our rudders.
Hope this helps -- funny that we're both doing this at just the same
time! Did I miss what number your hull is?
Rachel
#221
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