• Untitled Document

    Join us on March 29rd, 7pm EST

    for the CBEC Virtual Meeting

    All EYO members and followers are welcome to join the fun and get to know the guest speaker!

    See the link below for login credentials and join us!

    March Meeting Info

    (dismiss this notice by hitting 'X', upper right)

Rudder repair

Steve Hall

New Member
I have an Ericson 35. There are a couple of seeping spots in the rudder this year. I drilled a small hole near one (port forward edge) to drain it and it managed to run dry. So now I can clean it and glass it over.

The second spot which is in the middle of the rudder surface on the opposite (starboard) side of the rudder continues to seep. I dug out some soft broken down closed-cell foam and made a one inch diameter hole and exposed a metal frame inside. I drilled some small drainage holes this large hole. The rudder holes continues to seep some salt water.

Am I on the right track to fixing this problem or is this a more serious problem that requires removing the rudder?

Assuming I drain the water, clean it, and dry it. What is the best way to reseal the closed cell foam before I make a fberglass repair. I was thinking that good old plastic model airplane glue might make a water tight seal before I put on some fiberglass resin. Will that work?

:(
 

Walter Pearson

Member III
If your rudder is similar in construction to the one on my E27, you might need more extensive repair. The foam in mine would stop dripping, but when I decided to really dig into it, the foam was still quite waterlogged. Everywhere I made a core sample, it was still not really dry, so I finally shipped it to Foss Foam in CA and they rebuilt it. They did find it needed some welding where the plates attach to the post. These plates were mild steel and not stainless as is the post. This was on a 1976 boat in fresh water, so I would imagine saltwater rudders could suffer even more.
 

Steve Hall

New Member
Walter,

Thanks, I have fiddled (a marine technical procedure) with the rudder for a couple weeks. I drilled some holes into the foam to let it drip dry and used a heat lamp to speed up the process. I finally got it dry enough to plug the holes with dowels and plastic epoxy glue. Then I put a layer of fiberglass over the spots. There was no water coming from a hole I drilled in the bottom of the rudder, so I hope it was just a couple localized leaks and wet spots.

Thanks, Steve :)
 

Walter Pearson

Member III
One more thing that might be checked. Where the rudder post exits the top of the rudder, a crack often exists - I suppose due to the differences between the materials. I'm told that is a common place for water to enter the assembly. After I rebuilt mine, I removed some rudder material there to make a V-shaped groove and filled it with 3M 5200 to effect what I hope would be a long lasting seal.
 
Top