Rudder repair

S

sailh34

New Member
I am a new Capri 14.2 owner as of this morning. I bought a 1989 and can't wait to get it out on the water. First I have to fix a tear in the headsail (furling) and was wondering about my rudder and centerboard.

I had a few questions about the rudder and centerboard and how to fix them. They look just a little wore down at the ends almost if like they were sanded down a bit until you can see the foam interior. It appears smooth and not as if it is broken. The white exterior only appeared to be a layer of gelcoat or something - not much glass or anything. What is the proper repair for these areas at the ends of the rudder and centerboard where you can see the foam?

Thanks!
 
Foam in Rudder and centerboard? That's new for me.
I'm just sanding the rudder and the centerboard, before painting them, I didn't find any foam. My pieces are in Hardwood covered with fiberglass.
The way I will repair them is:
Wet sanding
Repair damaged borders with epoxy filler
And then repaint them

If you could send us a photo, we can maybe see what this is, but I will be very surprised if you have foam on tour rudder and centerboard.

Patrick
 
Maybe I am looking at the fiberglass then? It didn't feel as hard as I thought that it would if it were fiberglass though, but maybe only the gelcoat has been scraped off. I thought that I had read somewhere that the rudder and centerboard had a foam interior, so I assumed. I will try to attach a photo.
 
Try photo again

Here is my second attempt at posting the photo...
 

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Looks to me like the paint has been rubbed off by beaching the boat, that is what a beaching rudder is meant to do. I think you are looking at fiberglass, if it is smooth then you have not gotten very deep into the fiberglass, if you can feel fiberglass "hairs', then it may need to be sealed before painting it. Leave it alone or paint it. If painting, just use a simi gloss paint in a spray can, no need to use marine paint, because the rudder is not kept in the water when not in use. Just my 2 cents worth.
 
As I saw in your photo you have the same problems as mine. I could see little round burbles in your paint. In my centerboad and rudder, there was a lot of them, so I decide to sand the entires pieces. Those burbles slow down tour boat quiet a lot, in my case I like speed. If speed is not a request, just sand, fil with filler all imperfection, sand again and paint.
If you want speed, you need to sand all the pieces, removing all the paint, fill, sand again, paint.
 
Is fiberglass, as Greg said.

Fairing the centerboard, hull, and rudder should be the first steps to race readying the boat.

Fairing the centerboard, and rudder should probably be performed when they start to look like this... Like the other guy said, body filler, and sanding, and sealant.

Nope I never did mine, as I am too lazy.
 
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