My rudder is unwell

[emandvee44]

Found a leak last year and still some (brown) water draining out after 6 months ashore.
Anyone have similar experience, and what are probable repairs required?
We are marina based with very good on site repair facilities in grp work.

Thanks,

Michael.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

You should remove the rudder and split the GRP shell into two sections longitudinally. Prise them apart from the foam filled interior, clean out the foam and inspect the steel frame that the GRP rudder is built around. The brown water may be rust coloured water. If done carefully you may be able to reuse the GRP and if the steel frame is OK, clean it up and reuse it as well, new foam will be needed. Note - I do not know anything about the Bavaria rudder construction, so the steel frame may be stainless steel and the rusty coloured water just a reaction between the foam and water. The foam is obviously waterlogged as it has been dripping so long now.

 

[pandroid]

Water has got into the rudder. There are two possibilities:
a) The internal steelwork is rusting and will eventually fail
b) The stain is caused by the cellular foam inside the rudder slowly breaking down.
Chances are 99% its b) and there's nothing to worry about. If you split the rudder to find out, you will need a new rudder moulding (we did, and it was a waste of time). If you really want to fix it, you need to find the crack or wherever water is getting in an re-glass it, once you've allowed it to thoroughly dry out, but if you look there are probably thousands of boats in the same situation as you.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

These articles may be of interest to you: -

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?306824-Rudder-split-repair
http://www.epoxyworks.com/12/rudder.html
http://www.westsystem.com/ss/rebuilding-a-rudder/
http://www.sailmagazine.com/boatworks/know-your-rudder
http://www.cruisingworld.com/how-to/projects/inspecting-the-rudder