In Part I of our Rudder Rebuild 1, we walk you through the steps we took to custom design our new rudder posts.  Now we are ready to custom design each rudder blade.  The shafts had to be completed before we began the design process on the blades. 

Both of our rudders were removed immediately after being hauled out.  We were on the trailer and still dripping with water, but they had to come out now while we could raise the boat high enough to get them out of their casings. 

It is pretty clear that the temporary rudder and our standard one are very different shapes, but the surface measurement is about the same.  The borrowed rudder came off a bigger Catana 50, same manufacturer but very different blades.

The one on the left was borrowed from Norsand and the one on the right is our original 23 year old rudder.

Rudder Casing  is Compromised

After we removed the rudders we stuck our heads below the hole and looked up with a flash light.  To our horror we found a few issues with the rudder casing.  One there is a slight crack at the entrance and two there is a bump inside that was rubbing on the rudder post.  Lucky for us, both are fairly easy repairs.

Peter, the expert glassman and rudder specialist, comes over to help us remove the bearing and do the repairs. The bearing proved to be a bit of a challenge as it did not want to come out.  They get a massive sledge hammer and attack it from the top and bottom.  Once it is out, we sand down the blister, fill and paint it before installing the new bearing and case.  It all sounds simple enough but it took them several hours to complete this project.

As you can see the bearing case (lower two photos) was in need of replacement and lucky for us we had a spare on board.  Evidently, it was not considered “horrible” and still functional but we replaced it anyway.

Getting Started on the Rudders

We hand over our old rudder and the two new shafts.  The foam is cut and patterned to fit our new shafts and tines.  As you can see, the rudder posts and tines support the blade a lot better than our original ones which stopped before the center of the rudder.  Weights are put on the foam to ensure it all sticks together.

We are not on site to watch the exact process so I may be missing steps.  Once the foam is sealed and molded they apply fiber glass.  The rudder on the left is done and the one on the right is in process.

Norsand Takes Over 

Once the fiberglass work is done, they are sanded down.  Then we make the executive decision to apply the Hemple barrier coat instead of the Interprotect barrier coat.  Why did we use a different barrier coat on the rudders than on the bottom of the boat?  The primary reason was we didn’t want to wait 2 weeks for the Interprotect to off gas.  So we used Hemple and dealt with the difficult application process.

The Hemple barrier coat was having a hard time curing which meant they could not sand the peaks and valleys.  We were delayed by 5 days waiting for the paint to cure, sand, tweak, sand, tweak and sand again before the rudders were handed back to us to have Norsand apply the coppercoat.

Norsand quickly covers the rudders in coppercoat repeating the same process as on the bottom paint. 

Once the coppercoat is dry, they sand the rudders to activate the coppercoat.  Then it is time to fit them.

Does the Shoe Fit?

Must admit that there is a little anxiety about the rudders fitting properly.  We were confident the builder knew what he was doing and did it perfectly, but there is a little niggle in the back of our minds.  We knew they were made much stronger and safer than our previously rudders that were factory made and lasted 23 years.  But it is hard to relax until they are fitted.

The yard has to raise us on the trailer in order for us to be high enough to insert the rudders into their shaft/casing.

Peter, Tony and Kevin are on hand to help us install the rudders.  Matt is inside the engine compartment inserting the bolt (bottom right photos) while Peter and Tony insert the shaft.  It is a perfect fit on port.

Starboard needs a little bigger spacer which we can easily make with help from Rob at RH Precision.  What a relief to have two stronger, well crafted rudders back on the boat!

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog posts occured during over 2 weeks in November.  Did you see how we custom designed our rudder posts in part I?