RUDDER BARRIER COAT & FAIRING

Last weekend was spent applying coats of barrier coat (Interlux 2000e) to the rudder.  I decided to spray the barrier coat so that I had a bit better control over the thickness of the barrier coat.  And what is absolutely necessary for spraying barrier coat on a 70 lb. rudder?  A ten ton overhead crane, of course.

Maybe a bit overkill.

I applied about five relatively heavy coats of barrier coat and let them cure out for about four days.  Once they had cured out, the rudder was sanded with a long board again.  For a long board, I used a piece of 3/4" plywood and 100 grit sand paper.

I have a couple of 3M long boards, but they all seem to have a bit of a curve to them, so they do not work well for sanding on a flat plane.

The rudder was long boarded in the long direction working from the back to the front of the rudder and vice-versa.  Once I was satisfied with the flatness in the long direction, I used a shorter board to sand in the other direction and smooth out any flat spots that might have developed with sanding in the long direction.  The shorter board was about 16" in length and made out of a piece of 1/4" masonite so that it could flex to the curve of the rudder.

There were certainly some high and low spots that showed up.  Here is a picture just after I started sanding.  You can see the lighter spots that sanded out first.

Much of the barrier coat was sanded away in various places by the time I was done sanding and a few areas needed minor filling.  After the sanding was completed, I used a filler to fill a few low spots.   The low spots were not significant.  Here is a picture after sanding and filling.

I'm now ready for the final coats of barrier coat, which were applied yesterday.  More on that later.