Rudder Post Fiberglass Repair

[Brett I. Miller]

Upon haul-out last fall I noticed some delamination on the backside of the rudder post on my CD25 (#669). At the suggestion of my yard manager, I stipped off all loose material exposing the bare stainless of the rudder post (except where the rudder is attached) and recoated with several layers of West Expoxy and one layer of fiberglass mat. I looks quite good and I'm ready to paint. I was wondering whether I needed to apply a barrier coat or other protective layer to the bare epoxy surface before I put on bottom paint. I plan to re-do my bottom next fall, so I would like to minimize the complexity of the job this year. Any danger in just going with anti-fouling paint at this point?

Thanks in advance for any response.






mill7846@mlb.com

[John]

Upon haul-out last fall I noticed some delamination on the backside of the rudder post on my CD25 (#669). At the suggestion of my yard manager, I stipped off all loose material exposing the bare stainless of the rudder post (except where the rudder is attached) and recoated with several layers of West Expoxy and one layer of fiberglass mat. I looks quite good and I'm ready to paint. I was wondering whether I needed to apply a barrier coat or other protective layer to the bare epoxy surface before I put on bottom paint. I plan to re-do my bottom next fall, so I would like to minimize the complexity of the job this year. Any danger in just going with anti-fouling paint at this point?

Thanks in advance for any response.

By using epoxy resin to make the repair you have basically already barrier coated the repair. Epoxy is basically impervious to water absorbtion. At next haulout you could improve the resistance by adding something like West barrier coat additive to more epoxy and applying a 20 mil buildup of the mix to your existing repair location.