E27 - Rudder Repair Needed?

[Spidersloveboat]

New owner of a '73 E27. Upon recent haulout I noticed a small rust-colored 'break' in the rudder's surface. It seemed to be slightly wet. Could this be the edge of a metal part breaking through the surface? The attached photos also show a number of small round 'bumps', or 'blisters' that I did not notice until I saw the photos. When I pushed on them fairly hard with a thumbnail, they felt hard. Any thoughts on what's going on here, and how seriously it needs attention? There is a weep plug at the leading edge, near the bottom, which I removed. Two or three drops of water came out.

 

[frick]

Foss Foam Rudders on Ericsons

New owner of a '73 E27. Upon recent haulout I noticed a small rust-colored 'break' in the rudder's surface. It seemed to be slightly wet. Could this be the edge of a metal part breaking through the surface? The attached photos also show a number of small round 'bumps', or 'blisters' that I did not notice until I saw the photos. When I pushed on them fairly hard with a thumbnail, they felt hard. Any thoughts on what's going on here, and how seriously it needs attention? There is a weep plug at the leading edge, near the bottom, which I removed. Two or three drops of water came out.

URL TO FOSS FOAM CA.
http://www.boatrudder.com/rudders.htm

I beleive that all the vintage Ericson Rudders were made by Foss Foam. The white closed cell foam they use does not absorb water. Having said that, when water infiltrates between the foam and the fiberglass skin, and freezes in the winter, you end up with blisters and some times blow outs.

When I repaired my Rudder I relied upon this data... http://westsystem.com/12/rudder.html

I choose plan B which was to drill and ton of holes to find the metal mandrels and then used 3M 5200 to create solid plugs to stop the movement created by the crushed foam. I made it a winter project and use my boiler int he basement to warm up the rudder, as well as a lot of shop vac time. When i was all done, I flared the holes with polyester puddy, and they epoxied the whole rudder... then bottom painted it.

A new placement rudder from Foss Foam was between 1000 to 1500 dollars. My fix was around 100 bucks.

FYI To too sail the Great South Bay

The new rudder by the way, was an nice upgrade to a faster shape... but I did not want to sped the money when I could fix it at home.