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?

[ebb]

dunknow Tim,
Looking at it, by design, how could the fitting leak? It has to go thru solid material. Just forward of it maybe, that is where I too drilled some 'drainage' holes straight up and got 'dry' frp. Drilled two DEEP holes. Then I drilled one thru the side couple inches up and got lucky. Drilled into the sump. That's when I first discovered how thick 338's hull is. Not! There seems to be considerable differences in Ariels. Refilling the deep holes underneath took some thinking too! Side holes, of which I made a few, cause I filled the keel void, are more accessable and can be sealed with a bit of mat over the dished hole and faired.

If I remember correct: the keel holes remained wet for a long time, the side drain hole didn't produce any water, but the holes drilled into the ballast keel area drained a little bit for the longest time. Months. I figured the LAMINATE itself did do a little bit of draining. More like drying. But VERY minimal. Like water under pressure getting into imperfections. If the bottom of the keel gets really cruched somewhere, it's possible delamination could occur that would let in water, even if it still appeared to be in good shape.

I also found water in the filler block encapsulated in the upright keel molding where the rudder swings, it's opposite the hole in the rudder in outboard models. Nobody ever talks about it. That water did enter thru the factory encapsulation and as an entry point could explain some of the water problems a coupla feet below it inside the rudder shoe. I didn't explore it and it seems farfetched. Like the rudder, all rudders being built the same whether for an inboard or outboard Ariel - I would think the hulls were all built the same, and therfore the propeller aperture would be gellcoated along with the rest of the hull, and a filler blank would merely be pasted in place. No interior connection.

[Tim Mertinooke]

I did a quick inspection grind last night to see if the aft part of the keel was indeed fiberglass or built up with some other material. It is indeed glass all the way back and the grey material I really believe is gelcoat. It was the same thickness/consistancy as other areas I have grinded on this boat. The four pin holes show that the area has been wet for some time as there is discoloration around each of them. I'm sure water entered the laminate where the discoloration is, but the integrity of the area I don't believe is compromised. I plan on grinding out with a dremel all of the rotten area (I feel like a dentist), then letting the area dry for a while before filling the ground out areas with epoxy.

Interestingly enough the dripping from the shoe area had stopped last night and I vacuumed my bilge so that it was completely dry. Then I drilled the four pin holes with a drill bit twice the diameter of the original holes to gauge how soft the area was. It seemed solid except for where the bit travelled through the discolored glass which was to be expected. When I went to work this morning I noticed some water had leaked through and frozen last night. I think drilling those holes helped the water escape faster and that grinding out the discolored glass will help dry the laminate out even faster. Ultimate goal: no water entering or leaving my hull from anywhere unless I tell it too.

[ebb]

Gotta love a mystery!
Have to follow where the evidence leads, as Gil Grissom reminds us, not where we think it ought to go.
Gel coat will be dead white. Or darkish blue below the waterline as some owners have found. Translucent greenish stuff is plastic, either polyester or epoxy. Either plain or cloth in it or some kind of filler.

I'm positive, I'm convinced I'm positive, that coming from the factory, the only stuff that fitting would have over it is maybe bottom paint.
Who knows what happened in 45 years?? Very strange!

[Tim Mertinooke]

Like I mentioned before the area seems structurally solid. I will grind the area down to the glass, then drill out the rotten laminate, dry, fill with epoxy, and then coat the area with epoxy, finally bedding the shoe with 5200. This should do the trick as it has worked for others.

"Gotta love a mystery! Have to follow where the evidence leads"

I call it brain candy. Every active mind needs a futile project to spar with and I'm no exception.

[Tim Mertinooke]

I removed the rudder today after first removing the rudder strap and tiller cap. The removal went as planned. I cleaned up the upper and lower shaft to get a closer look and they look great. The rudder having dried for a week now has begun to check a little bit, but it's shape is good and the checking is localized to one area on one side. I've decided to laminate the rudder with epoxy and cloth. If a shady job 40 years ago with polyester worked, epoxy done right should last another 40.

Beneath the rudder strap was an extra hole presumably drilled by Pearson. It was at a weird angle so I'm assuming it was a first failed attempt to mount the strap. This extra hole would have certainly let water into the keel void. You can see in one of the photos below that there is a small opening in the center. THere was no bedding compound either. I'm amazed this boat floated as evidence lets itself be known from removing these items.

The rudder strap has a good amount of wear and I may use it again, but would prefer not too. Does anyone know of a source for bronze stock that could used to make a new one? Also, the pins that I tapped out of the shoe and the strap are in poor shape. They are all bent from tapping them out and the ends needed to be drilled to remove them so they are too short to be re-used anyway. I suppose I could use a bronze bolt with the head cut off and just peen the ends. Anyone try this?

BTW-My new Nissan 6HP 4-stroke gets delivered to my house Monday. Yippie! Just in time for our spring Nor'easter.



You can see the extra hole in this picture. The extra hole was the same diameter as the other two holes, but this picture was taken after I had drilled out the two used to hold the strap. The laminate was solid with no evidence of laminate saturation.



Look closely in the hole and you can see on the right where water would travel into the bilge.




This is after grinding the area and drilling the extra hole. The plan is to prep and fill the area with epoxy making the future holes sealed from the bilge. You can see another place water could have entered in this photo on the right.

[Tim Mertinooke]

As mentioned in the previous post, I cleaned up the rudder shaft so I could get a better look and gauge its condition more accurately. I started to remove the filler placed at the access points for the bolts that tighten the rudder. I don't plan on adjusting the rudder at all and I am considering leaving these areas unfilled. I am going to leave the rudder in the house for a while to give it a better environment to dry before laminating.





Here are some close-ups showing the condition of the upper shaft.







Lower shaft.







This is the localized area that checked a little while drying.