RUDDER UPDATES

Much has happened with the rudder re-build.  The 2nd side of the rudder was laid up.  The 2nd side came together much better than the 1st side.  I laid up the 2nd side in several steps.  First the core was laid in and let to cure.  Then I filled in around the core with Mar-Glas and let the Mar-Glas cure.  Then it was on to the final fiberglass outer layers.

The above picture, when compared to the prior side layup, looks much better.  Practice is paying off.

Once both sides were glasses in, I took care of glassing the leading edge from the waterline up.  This area had a stress crack through the gelcoat from the lower gudgeon to the upper gudgeon.  I laid in a couple of layers of new biaxial cloth to stiffen this area.

From there the entire rudder was sanded down to smooth out and remove the glazed finish from the fresh fiberglass/resin layup.

Once this was complete, I checked the fare-ness of the rudder.  We're a bit off and some grinding and filling will definitely be required.