Badly rusted rudder

Paul Wright

New Member
I just bought a Laser which had been found washed up on the rocks. After months of trying to find the owner the water police handed over the boat to the finder who passed it on to me for peanuts.

There is a bit of work required on the hull and I have found heaps of very helpful post on this forum to help me tackle those issues, most of which aren't too bad. See my other post for images.

The rudder however is pretty bad and I thought it deserved a thread of its own since i'm sure there are people out there who might need similar advise.

As you can see from the image below, the rust has got hold of the high tensile wires in the core and this is pretty much the same on both sides, i.e. all the way through.

Should I

a. go heavy with grinder and get all of the damaged wire out before somehow reconstructing it with glass etc.

b. carefully remove as much as possible, clean up best I can then rust remedy the wires, re-glass etc

c. cut my losses and buy a new one since trying to fix it will render the structural integrity unsound!

I'd Love to hear any recommendations

. P1010937.jpg
 
My 2 cents is to replace it. Used if you can find it, new if not. Unless you intend to race seriously, which would seem unlikely knowing the history of the hull - you'll save a lot of money with non-class parts from Intensity or APS.

There are steel reinforcing rods that run the length of the rudder blade. From the pic, my guess is that their structural integrity is so compromised by the corrosion that they'd break, and/or continue to rust, after you put a lot of time into trying to clean them up and re-seal and rebuild this part.

Congrat's on your find, good luck with it, and hoping you can get out on it soon.
 
I've seen Laser foils which I thought were in a pretty bad shape (including the one that sits right here on my desk now for comparison), but this is by far the worst. It didn't look like a Laser rudder blade at first, because of the notch in the leading edge and the crazy metal eye in the middle. I would say the installation of that feature has contributed significantly to the current state of the blade.

This is the first time I've seen pieces of the rods actually missing, which I interpret as them being completely rusted, which in turn means it's a complete loss for all practical purposes.

Try to find a new used blade. Ask the top sailors in your club/area, they are likely to have plenty of used equipment that they are happy to sell at very reasonable prices.
 
Thanks for the advise guys, I will look into getting a new or seconds one and concentrate on getting the hull up to speed. The centre board has minimal rust so hopefully I can just sand that down and re-paint after a bit of filler.

The metal eye is the same on both sides! There is a notch at the top where a rope was tied onto but the photo has a big shadow bottom right.

I only have $50 invested in the boat so far (thats what I paid for it) so don't mind spending a little to get her in the water. It's only for casual sailing with the kids, they will love it, I'm really excited. A pic of the centre board is below.

P1010939.jpgP1010938.jpg
 
... I only have $50 invested ... casual sailing with the kids, they will love it ...

I'll bet that this boat is very likely to be one of the highest return investments you'll make in your life -
$'s per hour of fun, and lifelong WIDE-GRIN memories for both you and your kids.

enjoy !!!
C
 
Yes, and i'd rather spend my time doing something crafty then watching garbage on tv!!!

I decided to give it a go fixing this, just ground out the rust and will try to fill with epoxy and glass. The steel wires don't appear to have any uniformity and are a bit all over the place leading me to think that structurally it could still be ok. It isn't a part of the space shuttle and should still be ok for tottering around . If it breaks I'll have a swim and then buy a new one!

The hull looks like it has been stripped and painted. there doesn't seem to be any gelcoat left on it. I know that re-gelcoating a hull will be a mission but I want the ability to fix dings in the future, something that gelcoat makes easier over paint (Interlux Perfection).

I think I will strip back the old paint and lay on a few coats of gelcoat then add the wax and do the top coat. There will be heaps of sanding but I'm up for it if it gives me a good hard wearing finish. I'm worried though about adhesion over any West epoxy fixes I will have to do. There is good evidence that if prepared (cured) properly it shouldn't be a problem. Does anybody know of an undercoat I could use or is this necessary?

I removed the metal eyes which LaLi pointed out as none standard. The notch on leading edge (left of the first pic and right on the second), allows clearance for the lower bolt on the rudder head when in the lowered position. Not sure why this is strange as it appears to be functional for this set-up.

Here's a pic or two of the rudder after grinding... Look closely and you will see bits of steel jutting out at odd angles from the vertical struts almost as though they were just chucked in (I'm sure this isn't the case). I will brush on some rust cure and then clean up before cutting up some glass mat and prodding it into the gaps with west epoxy. Then finish with some gelcoat putty and then gelcoat the lot. Fingers crossed.



P1010941.jpgP1010940.jpg
 
Or should I just use a polyester resin for my hull repairs that way avoiding the whole gelcoat/epoxy issue. I know epoxy is stronger but what problems will I face with polyester down the track?
 
I decided to give it a go fixing this, just ground out the rust and will try to fill with epoxy and glass. The steel wires don't appear to have any uniformity and are a bit all over the place leading me to think that structurally it could still be ok.
The rods aren't continuous because parts of them have rusted away. That blade is structurally very much not ok. You need to compensate that with quite a bit of fibreglass, and even then I wouldn't trust the result.

I removed the metal eyes which LaLi pointed out as none standard. The notch on leading edge (left of the first pic and right on the second), allows clearance for the lower bolt on the rudder head when in the lowered position. Not sure why this is strange as it appears to be functional for this set-up.
There shouldn't be any bolt on the rudder head which would need that kind of clearance. Sounds like another questionable modification.

Here's a pic or two of the rudder after grinding... Look closely and you will see bits of steel jutting out at odd angles from the vertical struts almost as though they were just chucked in (I'm sure this isn't the case). I will brush on some rust cure and then clean up before cutting up some glass mat and prodding it into the gaps with west epoxy. Then finish with some gelcoat putty and then gelcoat the lot. Fingers crossed.
The "odd-angle" bits are probably pieces that held the grid together during construction.
Just "prodding the gaps" with GRP isn't nearly enough. Even as a minimal solution, you need to cover the whole missing-rod area with several layers.
I don't mean to be discouraging, but I would quit wasting time on that blade. Try to find a new one, and concentrate on the centreboard, as that foil looks salvageable.
 
Thanks LaLi, your point is valid, I guess the forces these blades are under during sailing is quite considerable! I will have to save my pennies. The notch doesn't look like a modification and I hope that a new one will fit in the old head??

Any suggestions on the gelcoat?
 
Skip the gel coat. Epoxy with woven fg, marine filler, epoxy primekote (of you have it) marine paint. Gelcoat is pointless.
 
The notch doesn't look like a modification and I hope that a new one will fit in the old head?
If the head hasn't been modified, then a standard blade will fit.
The notch is most definitely a modification, strictly speaking it's not a Laser rudder anymore because of that. In the down position, the trailing edges of the head and the upper part of the blade should be parallel and coincide within a few millimetres. However, on this forum you will find several threads in which people tell of different ways of modifying their rudders to be more vertical in order to have less weather helm for recreational sailing, with varying structural consequences. It looks like your rudder has been given a similar treatment.
 

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