Ariel #24

[bill@ariel231]

question -- "Did you coat the aft section of the keel with epoxy then set the shoe before the epoxy cured?"
yes, I filled the shoe with thickened epoxy and used a jack to hold it in position.

The stub on your keel looks good in the photos (At least no cracks are visible around the holes). either method (bedding in wet epoxy or 5200 will work) the 5200 is much easier to remove if you ever need to drop the rudder for repairs.

were I to do it again, I'd use 5200...

[Tim Mertinooke]

"were I to do it again, I'd use 5200..."

Bill, Thank you for your experiences and insight. I think I'll go the 5200 route for the reasons mentioned earlier.

If only the weather would warm so that I can start laying up the glass...

Tim

[Tim Mertinooke]

As I was looking in the bilge tonight I noticed some white powder near a few small holes in the laminate coating the bilge over the lead ballast. This area happens to be right above the area of the keel that I grinded last weekend. If the dust from grinding can make it up through these small holes, then water is certainly able to travel the other way. In a perfect world the the entire bilge will be covered with a coat of glass saturated in epoxy resin. The problem as we all know is limited access which makes prep work a nightmare. Pearson certainly threw these things together like they were in a hurry.


This Picture was taken through the middle bilge access panel. You can see the powder and if you look toward the bottom of the picture you can see a few small holes.



Here is the same shot only zoomed in a little. You can clearly see the holes in this shot.

[Tim Mertinooke]

I removed all of the peeling fiberglass laminate from the rudder today. The mahogany appears to be in very good condition. I observed no rot it appears to be structurally solid. The upper and lower posts also appear to be in very good condition. I did not observe the corrosion I have seen mentioned by others.

I'm assuming these boats came off the assembly line with exposed mahogany rudders with maybe just a coat of paint on them. I am considering leaving it exposed like it is with the exception of a coat of bottom paint. Have others found this works, or have you tried other things such as encapsulating with epoxy and glass. The encapsulation thing seems to be a no-win battle as water always wins. It will also increase the rudder's weight making it more dense which creates an annoyance to whomever is at the tiller.

Some pictures:







The laminate came off in sheets this large indicating that it was not holding very well.








Some close-ups of the posts.

[ebb]

Have to say, that's an amazing find, that rudder, under all that fairing compound - or whatever it is. You did a beautiful job getting the crud off!
And what a reward to find a brand new four decades old rudder still there!
What varnish are you going to use?

[Tim Mertinooke]

CPES? Or should I just leave well enough alone?

[bill@ariel231]

your rudder is in such good shape it'd be a shame to slather on the epoxy. that said, mine is epoxied with no ill effects. 10 years of service and a-231's rudder is still dry inside. may be it's luck, but i took the precaution of cutting a notch in the epoxy where the rudder shaft passed thru the rudder's skin and smeared some 5200 on the joint.