Leaning on the collective wisdom again.
I dropped the rudder to pull the shaft and found a crack on the forward side of the rudder, at the top and above the step. It looks like it's been there a while and is well painted over. Due to it's position the crack was not visible before.
I am thinking I need to grind the area back, V grind the crack, fill with epoxy and put on a few layers of cloth as strapping to hold it all together.
Is this overkill? How much stress do we have up there?
Dietrich,
Good you found that. The most pressure is closer to the top and near the shaft. Regardless, your "cure" sounds very appropriate.
There are a number of rudder articles in the Tech Notes Online. I find the Knowledgebase helpful in finding them. Many have to deal with "leaky rudders" which comes from the type of issue you describe.
Good luck.
When I upgraded to the new eliptical rudder I disected my old one. took about 2 hours of banging and sawing, they are made very strong. I would start with the grinding to see how deep the crack is. May only be on the top layer. If deeper I would call Catalina and ask, they are very helpful in situations like this.
Thanks Ken, I just ground out the crack and it went all the way through to the post. The FG skin was cracked all the way down to the step. There is also a crack on top. At this point I'm going to grind the main crack on a good taper and reglass it. I think that is what Catalina would likely recommend. Onward with the belt sander!
If you ever consider switching to a elliptical rudder. I have one for sale 8) PM is you're interested.
Thanks but I think mine may already be elliptical, and now much stronger. 5 layers of cloth including 2 of roving and it laid up nicely. Thanks all.
Detrich : Look in the Mainsheet tech notes and I recommended gouging out the area where the stainless column goes into the rudder layup and fill it with 5200 as well as the your vertical crack.
A few thoughts
Thanks Ron and I think I can still do just that and I have a tube of 5200 that still seems usable.