To epoxy or not?

morgandlm

morgandlm

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I recently removed the transom hung rudder from Bonsella (Sadler 26), brought it home and stripped off the anti foul build up using a combination of Dilunett, scraping and elbow grease. The thought of doing this for the whole hull is horrific - so I won't! The finish on the rudder was particularly bad so really needed doing. I'm planning on a Farrow system strip back of the hull next winter.

The question is should I now be putting on a couple of coats of epoxy before the primer? The rudder blade looks in reasonable condition and has a layer of very hard, grey "paint" that I assume is an earlier epoxy coating. I have used West epoxy for joining and sealing wood but have never done any large surface epoxy coating before so am a bit daunted by the prospect. Some advice please as to whether I should do it and if so what to use and how to go about it?
Thanks
Morgan
 
Well, it should not do any harm and will be a lot easier to do while it's cut back and off the boat!
 
sounds like this is a prophylactic application which is what we did when we scraped our hull back to the original epoxy treatment. We had ours tested for moisture content as applying an epoxy to a moist hull just traps any moisture. We did five coats of Gelshield which was easily rollered on; no big deal and I'd encourage you to give it a try. You're probably right about not scraping the entire hull; we're 12m LOA and when you're underneath with a 40mm scraper it seems like a superyacht hull!
 
As Robhi says, the governing factor will be the moisture content of your hull.

You would be well advised to seek the input of a surveyor who is competent in matters of moisture measurement and overcoating, to guide you.

Overcoating a wet hull could end up costing you lots and lots of £££££'s over and above the cost of stripping and epoxying.
 
I have a wooden transom hung rudder and after being out of the water for a couple of years, sitting in the yard some areas of the rudder were soft. I left it in the shed for a couple of months to dry out then dug out all the soft material, filled with epoxy filler then gave the whole thing three coats of epoxy before two coats of U/W primer. Quite pleased with the results.
 
yes

I epoxied the slug-o-steer (patent pending) - never looked back

peasy to do if you get the temperature right


I am slowly replacing the whole of the slug with epoxy - by the time I have finished it will be 98 per cent

Dylan
 
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Few rudders are dry - the problem is keeping a seal between the shaft and the grp since the expand and move in different ways. Have you checked your rudder? Because if it is wet, then epoxy coating is pointless.

And what is the grey coating ? It could be the vinyl barrier paint that some people apply or it could be epoxy as you suggest.

Best idea is a thin coating of antifoul for this year and then next year blast the grey coating off when you do the hull. Then hire a moisture meter Nigel Clegg and decide about epoxy coating when you know how wet or dry things are.

If you do use Farrier ( I found them excellent) then give thought to coppercoat. I'm very pleased with mine, and its not difficult to diy apply. Underneath you can use Blakes solvent free - again not difficult to DIY apply in good weather. Done that myself.
 
Epoxy on the rudder

Yes I would use epoxy ojn the rudder. Especially so if you have some West epoxy left over. It can be diluted with methylated spirits and of course if you heat it and the rudder it will get very runny so easy to paint on. If it is not needed no great loss but it might just help keep the water out. good luck olewill
 
Epoxy?

Thanks for all the replies. My dilemma has now changed somewhat! In moving the rudder around in the peace of my garage I heard a sloshing sound so now know that the rudder is far from dry! Aaagh!!

The "sloshing comes from fairly high up and seems to come from the thicker part of the section i.e. near the leading edge. No liquid comes out however the rudder is orientated. Clearly I need to be now drilling one or more holes and getting this liquid out but it's far from clear where it will have got in. The rudder lower pin engages in a socket on the skeg and appears to be well sealed in the bottom of the rudder. So what to do? I'm tempted to drill a hole to see if the liquid comes out. If so I'll drain it, fill the hole, and then just put on primer and re-install with a view to inspection in 6 months time. The epoxy dilemma has now been replaced with another poxy dilemma!
Morgan
 
Rudder situation update

I drilled a series of holes in the blade and finally found one that had a bit of pressure and out came about half a cup full of liquid which smells like some sort of compound produced by breakdown of epoxy or foam. I'm assuming it's the result of some sort of osmosis although there are no external signs of a problem. It's not clear how any water would have got in other than through the blade itself since the only penetration below the water line is the bottom pin and that seems well sealed and is a long way below the problem area. The affected area is below the water line but in the upper quarter of the blade.

I plan to leave it draining and then will fill the holes with epoxy and inspect at regular intervals. I'd still appreciate any advice from others including how best to repair the affected section.
Morgan
 
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