Rudder restoration

sungun61 · Post by **sungun61** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 4:07 pm

So I'm finally gonna pull and change the lines on my C22 Rudder assembly.
What a mess this old thing has become. So many areas of damage over the years before I ever got her . So I decided to grind out all the chipped areas and remove this flaking fiberglass from pivot area. I have ground both
"cheek " areas down to remove cracked , flaking fiberglass and resin. It looks like someone built the areas up where pivot bolt goes through. It has really gotten bad which explains some of the difficulty in it's ease of function. So I have filled in all the chips and divots with repair resin and I guess I will rebuild the ground out fiberglass cheek areas and finish grind to as smooth as can be. Now, what should i use to restore a nice uniform color to the restored rudder. Do most of you guys go with white ??? Is it simply a marine grade paint i should use ? Anything I might want to know about pivot plane area before it's too late ??
Thanks
Jeff

Bhacurly · Post by **Bhacurly** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 11:09 pm

Hey Jeff,

Do the prep work, dewax, sand, prime, etc. then put on a bottom coat paint, one designed for below the water line. It's a good first project for painting if your new at it but prep work is where all the time goes. If ya don't dewax and prime well it will show up in the finish with "fisheye's" and bubble holes. Plus it's usually in the water and will look better anyways.

As far as making the cheeks easy for raising and lowering the rudder, I put in some large, thin, UHMW about 8" in diameter. It was hard to find that thin but located what I wanted at an arts n craft shop. To install I cut a dowel the inner width of the cheeks and put them on the rudder, slipped everything on, then popped the dowel out with the rudder bolt.

I also replaced the guide for the ropes to turn around. It was made by someone here I believe, dang I can't remember who, also out of UHMW, but has worked well for me. Here's what the guide looks like... installed and solo...

sungun61 · Post by **sungun61** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 4:48 am

UHMW ?? What's that ? Photos did not load either for some reason. Thanks for the response.
Jeff

tgentry · Post by **tgentry** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 5:05 am

Bhacurly, great ideas. I really like that guide for the lines.

kinghoy · Post by **kinghoy** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 9:57 am

Bhacurly wrote:Hey Jeff,

Do the prep work, dewax, sand, prime, etc. then put on a bottom coat paint, one designed for below the water line. It's a good first project for painting if your new at it but prep work is where all the time goes. If ya don't dewax and prime well it will show up in the finish with "fisheye's" and bubble holes. Plus it's usually in the water and will look better anyways.

As far as making the cheeks easy for raising and lowering the rudder, I put in some large, thin, UHMW about 8" in diameter. It was hard to find that thin but located what I wanted at an arts n craft shop. To install I cut a dowel the inner width of the cheeks and put them on the rudder, slipped everything on, then popped the dowel out with the rudder bolt.

I also replaced the guide for the ropes to turn around. It was made by someone here I believe, dang I can't remember who, also out of UHMW, but has worked well for me. Here's what the guide looks like... installed and solo...

Hi Bhacurly,

I was referred to your comments by some other guys in this forum. I'm rebuilding my tiller/rudder assembly on my old C-15 Mutt and like your ideas. However your photos didn't load. I need to know what the diagram looks like for the lines. I suspect one of the previous owners or someone may have disassembled the tiller/rudder assembly and reassembled it incorrectly. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks for your response.

Alan