Repairing rudder chips
Printed From: Yachts and Yachting Online
Category: General
Forum Name: Repair & maintenance
Forum Discription: Questions & tips on the subject
URL: http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=13146
Printed Date: 27 Jun 25 at 8:38pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.665y - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Repairing rudder chips
Posted By: stonefish
Subject: Repairing rudder chips
Date Posted: 22 Aug 18 at 9:28pm
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Hi, Whats the best way to repair small chips around the edge of a dinghy rudder, in this case a Solo rudder? Obviously it's not going to make a massive difference to performance but it will be one less thing I can blame my poor results on  Thanks.   |
Replies:
Posted By: iGRF
Date Posted: 22 Aug 18 at 10:10pm
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You could try white gel coat repair and use sellotape to contain it, then rub it down afterwards. A better investment however would be a book on racing tactics, those chips won't do anything compared to a bad start. ------------- https://www.corekite.co.uk/snow-accessories-11-c.asp" rel="nofollow - Snow Equipment Deals https://www.corekite.co.uk" rel="nofollow - New Core Kite website |
Posted By: Rupert
Date Posted: 23 Aug 18 at 6:49am
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Do both. Those chips are cheap to mend, using gelcoat filler or even car body filler, and psychologically will help massively, as at the same time sand and polish the blade. You start to get more in tune with your boat, at one with the wind shifts, you become an upwind god. Then you hit a patch of weed and come crashing back down to earth. Nice while it lasts! ------------- Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686 |
Posted By: PeterG
Date Posted: 23 Aug 18 at 8:33am
Yes, gel coat filler is the answer, and easy - but should you perhaps leave them - so you do have something to blame your results on  Or follow GRF's unusually good advice! ------------- Peter Ex Cont 707 Ex Laser 189635 DY 59 |
Posted By: Pierre
Date Posted: 23 Aug 18 at 9:28am
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Yup... gel coat and parcel tape. Works a treat. |
Posted By: Sam.Spoons
Date Posted: 23 Aug 18 at 9:53am
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Plastic Padding type car filler is easier to work than gel coat filler but is greeny-grey colour. IMHO the best book for the club sailor is Eric Twiname's "Start To Win" but "Club Sailor - From Back To Front" by Clive Eplett covers much of the same ground in a similarly down to earth style. ------------- Spice 346 "Flat Broke" Blaze 671 "supersonic soap dish" |
Posted By: Noah
Date Posted: 23 Aug 18 at 10:20am
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Stay away from the brown parcel tape! The tape comes off leaving a right mess of adhesive behind. Plain old sellotape is what I have found works best. All it is doing is excluding air (oxygen) so the gelcoat dries hard rather than tacky. ------------- Nick D-Zero 316 |
Posted By: Neal_g
Date Posted: 23 Aug 18 at 11:28am
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Or get the stryene wax solution to add to the gelcoat ------------- (Redoubt Sc) Miracle 4040 GP14 13407 Crewsaver phase 2 range now available to buy online on at http://www.gibsonsails.com |
Posted By: JimC
Date Posted: 23 Aug 18 at 12:14pm
| The above advice does assume its a gel coated rudder. Not all are... |
Posted By: NickM99
Date Posted: 23 Aug 18 at 2:49pm
| I was going to suggest Plastic Padding too. I think you can now get it in white. |
Posted By: davidyacht
Date Posted: 23 Aug 18 at 4:15pm
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Professionals use 3M Magic tape. I cut up little squares of clear report binding covers, and tape them over the repair, you can squeeze out the epoxy/microfibres and see what’s going on. If you are lucky it will set with no need to fair, just tidy up the trailing edge. Might also consider chamfering back before filling to increase the contact area with the epoxy ... a round file or a Dremel would do the job. Epoxy/colloidal silica/microfibres to a mayonnaise consistency would be my filler of choice. In a world of marginal gains, I would do the repair ... and read Start to Win. ------------- Happily living in the past |
Posted By: stonefish
Date Posted: 24 Aug 18 at 5:11pm
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Thanks for the tips everyone much appreciated. I did buy Start To Win the other day, now I just need to find the time to start to read it and then read it again so I start to understand it!
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Posted By: iGRF
Date Posted: 24 Aug 18 at 5:55pm
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Basically there are three rules you need to learn.
1) To be able to sail the craft as fast as everyone else without thinking about it almost on autopilot. 2) To know how to work out the shortest or fastest route around a course. 3) To start a microsecond before everyone else from the right end of the startline. Simples ------------- https://www.corekite.co.uk/snow-accessories-11-c.asp" rel="nofollow - Snow Equipment Deals https://www.corekite.co.uk" rel="nofollow - New Core Kite website |
Posted By: stonefish
Date Posted: 24 Aug 18 at 6:01pm
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Sounds simple, should have it mastered is a session or two One more question, what's best to use to polish the rudder, is T-Cut too abrasive?
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Posted By: Sam.Spoons
Date Posted: 24 Aug 18 at 6:08pm
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Start To Win is brilliant but you can take a few basics and make big steps (my favourite is "keep it flat in heavy weather") ------------- Spice 346 "Flat Broke" Blaze 671 "supersonic soap dish" |
Posted By: JimC
Date Posted: 24 Aug 18 at 8:18pm
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T-cut is pretty fair [sorry, couldn't resist]. I use it for rudders.
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