There is a good chance that every rudder in the yard is wet. The biggest risk is that the web that is welded to the shaft may rust to the point of failure and the shaft could then rotate in the rudder. Very worst case the fiberglass would fall away from the shaft.
In the interim the water can freeze in the rudder and crack the fiberglass. Lots of owners drill drain holes in the fall and bondo them in the spring. I've heard of others wrapping the rudder in black plastic to help draw heat to prevent freezing. I had mine rebuilt by a local guy and while the rudder was completely water logged it is my assessment that it probably would have continued to be safe and functional indefinitely. The welds were immaculate and the web was bonded appropriately to the one of the fiberglass sides - port in this case. Attached are the pictures he took during the job. https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B8pEh5lnvP1yVUdWUDNxVGFUcDA&resourcekey=0-0YHF96cEkxjrvru4nk9bbA Josh Muckley S/V Sea Hawk 1989 C&C 37+ Solomons, MD On Wed, Jan 5, 2022, 08:45 Brian Davis via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: > Good morning everyone! Happy New Year! > > I've spent the last 2 weeks totally sanding Nina's bottom down to the gel > coat in prep for a new paint job using The Black Widow from Pettit. > > I came across some issues with the rudder yesterday and was wondering if > any of you have fixed similar. After sand it down too, I could tell there > was some glass and bondo work done on the trailing edge. I Dremeled out the > spots and have a great marine epoxy to fill since they aren't deep. > > However, there was water dripping from a hole or shaft of sorts on the > underside near the leading edge about a few inches back. I inserted a dowel > stick about 5" up and it seems solid. So drilled a hole where a previous > hole was on the bottom face of the starboard side. About 3oz of water came > out. The yard lead tech suggest I pull the rudder and send to FossFoam near > Gainesville FL to rebuild it. They quoted $2,000 and said that they were > probably the original manufacturer. > > Would love to hear your thoughts and experiences. Here is a link to some > pics. > > Regards, > Brian > 1980 Landfall 38SL > > > > https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1kFXgarL4apwcKsr6cjQxp41_qsU12Kcw > Thanks to all of the subscribers that contributed to the list to help with > the costs involved. If you want to show your support to the list - use > PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray Thanks > - Stu
Thanks to all of the subscribers that contributed to the list to help with the costs involved. If you want to show your support to the list - use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray Thanks - Stu
