Hi everyone. The fatal moment has finally come about. Nausikaa’s rudder is waterlogged, has osmosis blisters on it, it weights a ton, and turning it requires a lot of effort. So the idea is to replace the blade whilst keeping the old attachment brackets which are in reasonably good condition. I’ve been playing in my head with different options re materials, design, and overall weight. Has anyone replace one of these barn-door rudders? If so, any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Hi. My rudder was damaged in a storm last year. I rebuilt it by cutting it open, relaminating the damaged shell leaving a hole, filling with solid epoxy on the leading edge and attachment points and filling the rest with foaming epoxy. I am still working on the rest of the boat, so I have not tried it in action yet.
I made 2 changes (apart from the choice of materials): I reduced the chord and I added solid filling at the top trailing corner, as I want to bolt through 2 eyes here as a potential alternative to wheel steering, e. g. in an emergency. I will try to add some pictures.
By the way, solid epoxy and laminating was with West 105 and 205 or 206 and 404 filler. Foam epoxy was Sicomin 250 with DM02 hardner. Glass at the joints and edges was 200g in 4 layers.
btw. I shone a bright light through the rudder to monitor the foam filler “rising” and to make sure I had no air gaps. The rudder head was filled in 2 halves and stuck together… there is no stress on that part, which is only for “looks”.
Fantastic!! Thanks a lot! From the start I had assumed fixing the old rudder would be more effort than making a new one, perhaps from a single slab of wood, and then laminating outside to protect. Your approach is making me reconsider. Thanks again.