Skeg Diagnosis needed
Posted by Infinite_Spinach_880@reddit | sailing | View on Reddit | 6 comments
Upon taking my boat out for winter I see the following damage on my rudder skeg. Not quiet sure what caused it as I never ran a ground.
When knocking around the skeg seems solid.
Any mire advanced sailors shed light in what might be the cause and if the remedy is just simply filling with something?
windoneforme@reddit
How old is the boat? What are your sailing plans?
If its 40+ years old it either needs to be split apart and a new shaft and tangs put in the reglassed back together, hours of grinding and sanding and much labor.
Or call Foss foam and get a new one made for about $2-4k. Remove the old install the new and off you go. The biggest issues with old rudders is stainless corrodes in anaerobic environments (places with low or no oxygen) like inside a wet rudder under water. The crevice corrosion is hard to spot and won't produce a bunch of rust but will eat through and weaken metal parts.
Unless you are cash strapped and time rich just replace it. In the end it'll cost almost 2/3rd as much to rebuild it than to replace it.
wkavinsky@reddit
That's a rudder, not a skeg.
It looks like the fibreglass has cracked, and the internal rudder tangs are rusting (by the big rust patch).
The rust needs dealing with, then it needs resealing - if you simply fill with something, the rust will expand, get worse, then pop up whatever temporary job you do now.
Infinite_Spinach_880@reddit (OP)
Thanks I learnt something new today! Appreciate the response
CharacterEqual8461@reddit
Looks to me like an old repair that popped open or failed. I’d grind it down and redo it and see what happens next season. Might drop it if possible and bring it inside to throughly dry out before repairing.
Infinite_Spinach_880@reddit (OP)
This was my first impression also, what product would you advise I use for filing?
Infinite_Spinach_880@reddit (OP)
This was my first impression too, what product would you use to fill?