Now that the bilge is cleared of all debris, cleaned out, and dried, and the rudder shoe is removed, I decided to do a little experiment to see if water in the bilge could migrate out through one of the pin holes in the rudder shoe area. The result made itself known about an hour after pouring a gallon of water in the bilge. See below.
A-231 had the same issue when I opened the keel void. water was entering the keel from the shoe and the rudder strap. I had to drill the holes oversize, fill with epoxy and re-drill to make the shoe leak free.
Tim, Very confusing shot. It is not clear at all where the removed rudder shoe was mounted, as one would expect to see dapped out areas?
The ruddershoe mounting area on 338 had to be totally rebuilt. Also the factory molding of the thick sections in the keel area may have cooked and frothed creating porosity. Consider a barrier coat.
Ebb, here is a shot that shows the area the shoe fits on before I cleaned it up.
The condition of this area is different from what I expected after reading about other's experiences. Let's just say I was pleasantly surprised. You can see more pictures and a detailed description of my plan at www.ariel24.com . Just click on the projects section, then"rudder shoe". The site is updated in terms of projects, but the other sections still need to be added. I wish I didn't have to sleep everyday, I could accomplish so much more.
Last edited by Tim Mertinooke; 04-10-2007 at 11:52 AM.
Hello Tim,
From the looks of the color of the stuff there and what you found elsewhere, notably on your rudder, it looks like a DFO has spent considerable time 'restoring' your Ariel. I would say an owner did the work rather than a professional because of what your forensics found.
Photos of your keel and rudder show extensive use of filler of some sort. I hope your are lucky and that the goop was epoxy based. You can find out by grinding on some of it that you have removed. If it has the characteristic sweet smell of polyester/bondo, it is a filler, NOT a structural fairing compound. Someone else may have an opinion if it is vinylester. Which is a polyester with epoxy in it - and may perform quite well structurally in a paste. I don't know.
I drove 1/2" bronze lags up into the heel befor it was remolded with the shoe (as evidently was done with yours) put in position as the material set up. 338's glob was filled with glass fiber. I would dig a little in that grey stuff to find out what it is doing there.
As I've noted elsewhere the fitting on 338 was held on by one bolt when I got her - the remaining pins went thru plain polyester that had broken into chunks with various attempts to reattach the fitting that had obviously sagged - because there was no fiberglass there. Extra thru bolts had been drilled thru the heel as well - without effect. It's hard sometimes to comprehend what people do. Covering the keelfitting in unreinforced fairing compound may have been an attempt at insurance. Because your baby had similar issues to 338's. Some puttys are pretty strong, maybe you should test some of the stuff you removed in chunks.
The putty/filler/goop/compound can't be all bad, as it evidently did an amazing job preserving the mahagony on the rudder. But ofcourse that may be a rebuild job as well (I mean it looks almost NEW!) - and no doubt crafted by an artist!
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