[Rhodes22-list] Rudder Repair

[Rob Granger]

I've constructed a few rudders over the years  (I actually left my rudder
at the launch ramp one time -- and didn't even realize it for two days --
not my best moment -- I actually woke up from a sound sleep two days later
when it dawned on me that my rudder was gone -- I felt sick).

Have you considered a solid wooden rudder with a few coats of varnish
and/or covered with fiberglass or epoxy paint?  I went the varnish route
because you can't hide a problem under varnish the way you can under
fiberglass...  and it takes almost no time at all to brush on a new coat of
varnish at the end of the season.   And if you ding or chunk the wooden
rudder, you can always fill it in with wood putty or epoxy.

 I laminated several boards together using a large pipe clamp... then I
shaped it with a power planer.  It did not take that long to get a nice
looking rudder.  I glued all the boards together one evening and cut and
planned the board in a few hours the next afternoon.   I just eye balled it
to get a shape that looked like it "should" but...I've thought about this a
bit since that job and I feel that it would be very easy to get reasonable
NARCA profiles by taking a skill saw and setting the blade to different
depths along the rudder stock.  Then plane to each cut (see attached
diagram).

Just 2 cents worth of ramblings.

the other rob

On Tue, Feb 12, 2013 at 2:31 PM, Keith A Clark <clarkka at dteenergy.com>wrote:

>
>
> Wow, I am tired just from reading your repair.  I had my rudder crack in
> half while surfing down a 6' wave 4 years ago. The rudder was a 1982
> vintage.  The original was filled with a plywood core.  Water had
> penetrated and you know the rest of the story.  I would invest in a new
> one.  Just one mans thought.
>
>
> Keith Clark
> "Gloria J" 82
> Gladstone,MI
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-- 
Dr. Robert Granger
Department of Chemistry
Sweet Briar College
434-381-6403
rgranger at sbc.edu
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