The Muddy Rudder (fiberglass & wood)

[bmyers]

I've been working hard on getting my sailboat ready for splashing at the boat club. It's an old English Hurley, older than me actually.

Anyway, it sat in mud more than a few times while being moored in too shallow a mooring. This caused a problem with the rudder, it had exposed the wood core and needs repair. I've never glassed alot of stuff much less a wood core like that.

I sanded down the glass to feather the edge back to good adhesion and no punky wood. I was going to start with the random strand stuff first and finish up with a layer of woven glass to get back to the original shape.

Anyone have experience with this sort of wood repair that would like to share some sage advice?


Thanks,
Bill

[dealweb]

Hey Bill,

I had a similar problem with the rudder on my sailboat. The previous owner allowed the fiberglass to fail thus causing the wood core to soak water. Here is what I did but I'm by no means an expert:

1. Removed all of the existing fiber glass and let the rudder dry out.
2. Filled all existing voids in the wood with epoxy and filler
3. Rough sanded the epoxy
4. Applied two coats of fiber glass using epoxy with light sandings in between
5. Painted the rudder

That was two years ago and so far so good. What I also do if I don't sail for extended periods of time is remove the rudder from the boat so it doesn't collect barnacles. Not sure if that is an option for you or not but it sure does save a lot of doing the same work down the road.

[cabinetman]

I did a transom repair pretty much like dealweb did. Removed all of the existing fiberglass. Made sure the wood COMPLETELY DRIED OUT. Did the repair to the wood with epoxy. Did fiberglass applications with woven fiberglass cloth. It's important to get the rudder wet with resin before laying the cloth, and once formed to the shape add more resin to fill as much as possible. Squeegee out all the air (on each application).

Laid 4 layers (not all at once). Each application should be sanded when dry to smooth out the finish, but not into the cloth if it can be helped. The last application mixed color into the resin. Didn't want to use paint, as that can be scratched off.
.

[jrnewhall]

I've done quite a bit of work on boats. I would add just a couple of things. First, don't use that bondo I saw in the picture. Second, I wouldn't use standard resin to do the glass work. Look into West Systems epoxy and the different fillers they use to create bonding and filling putty. The epoxy is waterproof where Bondo and polyester resin absorb water. In my experience, if you don't use epoxy you will do the repair again. I think West Systems has a video that walks you through the steps if you are uneasy about doing the work.

~JRN