RUDDER TEMPLATE

Last weekend, I cut a template for the rudder.  The dimensions for the template were taken from the J/30 class specifications and laid out on a piece of plywood.  Then the template was rough cut with a jig saw and finished off with a hand held belt sander.

When the template was laid on the rudder, it was apparent that the rudder was a bit fat in the center.  I think this is a relatively common condition for the J/30 rudder coming from the factory.  In the attached pictures, you can see the profile of the leading and trailing edges of the rudder holding up the template from being able to sit flush on the leading and trailing edges.

I've started to taper the leading and trailing edges by grinding down the fiberglass. I have one side nearly complete and will be starting the other side very soon.

WOODWORK & UNDER-SINK NASTINESS

We dove into a couple of new projects on the winter list this past weekend.  Our friend Mary volunteered to refinish the interior woodwork, I think before she realized what she was getting into.  And if nothing else, certainly before she realized I hadn't cleaned everything out of the boat yet from the summer season which meant many trips up and down the ladder emptying the boat before sanding could begin.  Sorry Mary!

And why are we refinishing woodwork?  Over the years, there had been a few leaks in the boat, mainly from the handrails and the windows.  The leaking has stained and damaged some of the woodwork finish.  So, it's time to take care of the damage.  Most of the mahogany is in decent shape, so not much finishing will be needed of mahogany.  Much of the white ash, however, needs to be refinished.

Areas adjacent to woodwork were taped off so that the surfaces would not be accidentally damaged while we were sanding.

Yes, that is the sink you see in this picture.  When we got into the project, I realized it would be easier to refinish the woodwork around the stove with the stove and gimbal removed.  Being that the stove is in close proximity to the sink, this reminded me that I also needed to fix a leak on the sink drain.  So I started to take apart the sink drain, which instantly crumbled into about five pieces.  In addition, the drain hose was not in the best of condition, so out the hose came as well.  The bottom of the sink was corroded, so I decided to take the whole thing out so it could be cleaned up and repainted.

And, of course, since I was under the galley, this reminded me that I had wanted to clean up and repaint the area under the galley.  There are two shelves in this area.  One was in decent condition while the other showed significant signs of deterioration.

The one on the left in this picture will be painted (in lieu of re-varnishing) while the one on the right will be rebuilt and painted.

A picture of the area under the galley after removal of the shelves is below.  The foot pump for the sink faucet attaches to the lower shelf.  This entire area under the galley will be repainted.

RUDDER REPAIR

The first project of the winter season has begun.  The rudder has had signs of failure since I had purchased Hullabaloo several seasons ago.  The boat survey completed around the time of purchase indicated there was moisture in the rudder.  Several seasons back, I had tried to dry the rudder out by drilling a series of holes in the outer skin and running a heat lamp for about six weeks then glassing the holes up.  Turns out this did not work.

The most significant visual sign of failure was a crack in the leading edge of the rudder between the gudgeons.

Weighing the rudder resulted in a total weight of 75 lbs.  Most dry J/30 rudders are weighing in at 60-65 lbs., so this meant the rudder was likely carrying 10-15 lbs. of water weight.

Checking the rudder with a moisture meter revealed significant moisture in the rudder.   The meter I use runs a range from 0% to 30%.  Typically, anything under 10% indicates very dry core material.  10%-15% is slightly damp.  15%-20% is noticeably damp.  Anything over 20% you can usually squeeze water out of the core material.

I mapped out the moisture on the rudder and made markings of the moisture content on the rudder with a sharpie marker.  There were only a few moisture readings under 20% with the majority of readings being in the upper 20's and many readings pegging the needle of the moisture meter at its maximum.

I thought about several potential options:  1-Repair the rudder ($300-$500), 2-Build a new rudder ($300-$600) Purchase a new rudder ($2,000+).  Option 1 is the direction I have decided to go, primarily because of cost.

The first step was to remove the skin of the rudder.  I drilled holes at the leading and trailing edges of the rudder to determine where the balsa core started and stopped (the leading and trailing edges of the rudder are solid fiberglass).

Once the extents of the balsa core were determined, I made a grid of cuts in the skin with a circular saw set to a depth that cut through the skin and slightly into the balsa core.

From there, the skin and balsa core were carefully pried and chiseled off with a pry bar and hammer, attempting to take care to not damage the inner core of the rudder.  The inner core in this rudder appears to be some type of a resin/composite filler.  The inner core, in a few locations, is cracked.  This is presumably due to moisture in the rudder and previous winter storage seasons where the rudder was exposed to freezing and thawing.

A few pictures of the rudder with the skin removed and the remains of the skin and balsa core.

SUNSET

The first good sunset of the season.

LAUNCH DAY

Launch day was May 16th.  Not a very friendly day for launch.  The winds had been up for a couple of days.  My scheduled launch was at South Shore Yacht Club.  They decided to cancel all launches for the day, as they had the previous two days as well.  Unfortunately Hullabaloo needed to be off the trailer by the end of the day so another boat could go on the trailer.  Fortunately, the good folks at Pier Milwaukee were able to slide me into their launch schedule.  It's good to be back in the water.

A view from the lift

Up the River & Into the Harbor

The Cold Crew

The Not So Cold Crew

HANDRAILS

New handrails have been installed.  The cabin top rails are teak.  The interior rails are white ash to match what had previously been in their place.  Both sets were replaced as the exterior rails had been sanded so many times they were really wearing thin and the interiors were substantially stained from water.  I used the old rails as approximate templates to make the new rails.

I've changed the connection detail so that the rails are attached through the deck with a screw and washer.  The original configuration had the rails connected together through the deck with threaded rod and a nut on either end of the threaded rod.  The nut connection was sunk into the handrails and capped with a wood plug.  I was not a fan of this configuration as maintenance requiring the rails to be removed required drilling out the plugs.

The debate is on as to whether or not the exterior rails are 'crew friendly'.  They give a nice handhold in rough weather but they tend to clutter up the deck a bit.

Here are a few photos:

ALMOST READY

The bottom is painted, the deck is cleaned, the teak is refinished and we're almost set for launch on Monday.  All that is absolutely needed before launch is to buff and wax the topsides, which should happen today, Saturday, and Sunday.

Other things on the list are to install handrails that I had build a couple of years ago and not installed as well as putting the instruments in place and building a new mounting bracket for the instrument on the mast.  These things will hopefully get wrapped up this weekend.