The end of my Typhoon tiller shaft sits in a bronze fitting at the bottom of my keel. The fitting appears to be very solidly attached with no play. It shows no sign of damage. It was covered with fiberglassed cloth which had pulled away from the metal and which I removed, exposing three bronze rivets that indicate the fitting is riveting to the keel somehow. I have cleaned the area and am now ready to repair it. I’m not sure if I should just rebuild the area with an underwater epoxy filler, or if I should try to stretch cloth from the keel above one side of the bronze fitting to above the other side of the fitting because the cloth helps to hold the fitting on the end of the keel. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks much for any help! Roger
rosenwalds@hotmail.com
Repair of Typhoon Rudder Heel Fitting
Moderator: Jim Walsh
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sloopjohnl
Re: Repair of Typhoon Rudder Heel Fitting
the fiberglass cloth will definitely add strength to the area and hold the fitting in place. grind only what you need to on both sides of the keel to add the cloth, then fair in both sides using west system epoxy (or similar) with a colloidal additive. finish off with a barrier coat if needed and finally bottom paint. my '76 had the pox so i removed all the gelcoat below the water line, applied west system epoxy, a barrier coat and then bottom paint. this has held up very well for the last ten years with only reapplications of bottom paint.
Roger Rosenwald wrote: The end of my Typhoon tiller shaft sits in a bronze fitting at the bottom of my keel. The fitting appears to be very solidly attached with no play. It shows no sign of damage. It was covered with fiberglassed cloth which had pulled away from the metal and which I removed, exposing three bronze rivets that indicate the fitting is riveting to the keel somehow. I have cleaned the area and am now ready to repair it. I’m not sure if I should just rebuild the area with an underwater epoxy filler, or if I should try to stretch cloth from the keel above one side of the bronze fitting to above the other side of the fitting because the cloth helps to hold the fitting on the end of the keel. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks much for any help! Roger