RUDDER COMPLETION

The rudder is complete!  Additional coats of barrier coat were applied (four or five).  The barrier coat was sanded out to get rid of the orange peel texture and then fine sanded to 220 grit sandpaper as this is what is needed below the water line prior to appling the bottom paint.

From there the gelcoat was sprayed.  The water line was taped off and the lower 1/2 of the rudder protected with plastic.  About five relatively heavy coats of gel-coat were applied. 

I was advised before I sprayed the gelcoat that the final coat after curing would be extremely tacky and would gum up sandpaper very quickly.  I let the finish cure for a couple of days and then began the final finishing process.  To remove the tackiness of the final coat, I used a rag soaked with acetone.  The tackiness came off with a bit of effort.  Then it was on to sanding. 

Sanding started with an 80-grit paper to remove the majority of orange peel texture.  I sanded with incrementally more aggressive paper until finishing with 600 grit.  Care was taken not to sand edges and corners aggressively as it is very easy to sand through these areas.

From there, the buffer came out to remove swirls left in the finish from the 600 grit sand paper.  There are a few swirls still in the finish and I will need to take care of those with a more aggressive buffing compound at a later date...but for now, it looks very nice.  After buffing, a couple of coats of wax were applied and the rudder hung back in it's proper place.