[Rhodes22-list] An actual sailing question.

[Roger Pihlaja]

Bob,

I believe the rudder blade is made of FRP with internal stainless steel for
reinforcement & ballast.

The rudder blade is cast in two halves, which are then glued together with
the stainless steel pieces/parts encapsulated between them like a sandwich.
About 10 years ago, Dynamic Equilibrium's ruder blade developed a crack
along the center seam.  I don't recall if it was on the leading or trailing
edge.  But, it doesn't matter, the fix will be the same.

Sand off all the bottom paint all around the perimeter of your rudder blade.
Carefully inspect the blade all the way around looking for cracks & mark all
the cracks you find.  You are going to have to thoroughly dry out the
internals of your rudder blade.  A low temperature oven would be best for
this.  But, you could certainly hang the rudder blade up such that any water
will drain out & then warm it up for several days by allowing an electric
space heater to blow over it.

Once the rudder blade is completely dried out, use WEST system 105 epoxy
resin with WEST system 209 extra slow hardener.  Set up the rudder blade
such that the crack faces up.  Use a hypodermic syringe to inject the
premixed epoxy as deeply into the crack as your needle will penetrate.
Slowly fill the crack from the bottom up until it overflows.  You may have
to repeat this a couple of times as the epoxy will slowly drain away into
any internal cavities inside the rudder blade.  Note, you need to use the
209 extra slow hardener for two reasons:

#1: You want the epoxy to remain fluid long enough to flow down & fill up
all the internal cavities & cracks inside the rudder blade

#2: You don't want the polymerization reaction to get going fast enough to
cause a build up of heat inside the rudder blade.  A runaway reaction rate
could cause the internal temperature to get high enough to vaporize or
partially decompose the epoxy or FRP.  This would be bad.

Once you have filled up all the cracks to the surface and the epoxy has
cured, set the rudder blade aside in a warm place for a couple of days to
let the epoxy really set up.  Then, sand the surface to shape, apply bottom
paint, & you're good to go.  10 years after making this repair, I can't even
find the places on my rudder blade that had cracked.

Good luck!

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Weber" <ruba1811 at hotmail.com>
To: <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Monday, November 29, 2004 2:41 PM
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] An actual sailing question.


> Hi all, Last time I was out at my boat I noticed a crack along the
trailing
> edge of my rudder.  I will be pulling the boat shortly (weather
permitting)
> and will be able to work on it over the winter.  My question is, what is
the
> rudder made from?  Wood, fibreglass, combo?  The extent of the crack is
> unknown untill I get some good sanding done.  I guess I will find out the
> content at that time but I would like to have the right materials to patch
> it up when I am done.  Any and all suggestions are welcome.  Thanks Bob W.
>
>
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