Ariel #24

[Tim Mertinooke]

The previous owner bought the boat in 1974 and told me the rudder was laminated when he bought it. He also told me he never removed the rudder shoe so I'm assuming the rudder/shoe rehabilitation occured before he bought it and both were probably done at the same time (late 60's early 70's?) It seems interesting to me that someone would have gone through so much trouble to laminate a "new" mahogany rudder and a "new" bronze shoe. Maybe there was damage done by a grounding or something, but the shoe shows no evidence of that. If a rudder shoe leak led to the modifications, why did he leave all that nasty foam, etc in the bilge?

The grey color seems to be consistent for this boat's gelcoat. Areas where paint has worn in the transom and on the deck exhibit the same color, as well as areas of keel that I ground. To me it looks like the gelcoat found elsewhere on the boat. I do plan on removing the material until I get to fiberglass. This will allow me dry it out and see if any delamination took place as it was wet for a long time. Compare the colors of the mystery material in the two photos. Did they gelcoat the heel of the keel where the shoe is located or was it bare fiberglass?