I recently purchased a 1975 Ericson 32. I noticed a blister for lack of a better term on the side of the rudder. The paint/anti-fouling around the area has cracked. You can see where rusty water was ran out of the cracks. I know very little about my boat, but I am trying to learn. What is the rudder made of and does this flaw need to be repaired before it goes back in the water? I am sure I will have more questions as I work on my boat.
Rudder problems?
- Thread starter Gary L
- Start date
tenders
Innocent Bystander
Please see my posts from a few years ago regarding my saga with my E32 rudder, which after many years of patching I replaced with a new one.
My guess is that if the leaking you're seeing is isolated, the rudder as a whole is fine. But you should probably grind it down, patch, and fair it to prevent further water intrusion. You may not be able to get much of the existing water out of that thing; the foam that it's made of was designed to keep water out, but once it gets waterlogged it's every bit as hard to get water to come back out again.
My guess is that if the leaking you're seeing is isolated, the rudder as a whole is fine. But you should probably grind it down, patch, and fair it to prevent further water intrusion. You may not be able to get much of the existing water out of that thing; the foam that it's made of was designed to keep water out, but once it gets waterlogged it's every bit as hard to get water to come back out again.
I had the same problem. One of the blister areas was simply a void in the foam. The other areas were voids near where the rudder skeleton is. I drilled a few holes, let some water out for a few weeks, sealed it all up with epoxy and barrier coated it. I also tried to seal the top of the rudder where the stock exits.
Rudder
Blister caused by void in foam
Voids around the rudder skeleton
Rudder
Blister caused by void in foam
Voids around the rudder skeleton
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