Hi all, I've been diligently working on my Weekender almost every day. I try and acomplish 1-2 things onthe boat a day 7 days a week.. So much liitle stuff to acomplish.  Â
I'm currently working on the rudder box and rudder. I should point out I am using a tiller and the Duckworks Pintels. Anyway I have my box and rudder built, I just have to Shave down the rudder.  My question is about glassing them and painting. Should I just epoxy the box and rudder or glass them?. I'm worried about if I glass the box and rudder if it will increase the thickness.....  My plan is to paint the box but I was just going to varnish the rudder a natural wood color..   Can I get some help please?
I glassed the inside and outside of my rudder box but only because at that time of construction I was in the glass everything flat mentality. The inside even has graphite mixed in the epoxy. The box sides are plywood so my intent was to sel the edges and aid in abrasion with the graphite. In retrospect I think it would have been fine with just a coat of epoxy.
My rudder blade is mahogany. I used a belt sander to rough shape it and then a palm sander to finish. I epoxied a piece of copper pipe, cut to size, in the hole where the rope, that lets you raise and lower the blade, comes out. I felt it would add strength to an area that might wear a bit and perhaps chip out. I oiled the blade with Interlux Premium Teak Oil. My thought here is the blade will require yearly attention to deal with little chips and dings. I also oiled my dagger board blade for the same reasons.
This is my first boat and I am no expert on wood and water so take my comments for what they are worth. Teak oil is not mentioned much on the forum but it penetrates and helps protect wood from UV rays.
On kickup rudders, you ARE going to have some isolated damage. Dings, divots, scratches, etc. are very common and should be expected. Since you're going to have to deal with this, a fully encased (sheathed) assembly) will just cause you difficulties (trapped moisture).
I like to see the leading edge reinforced with metal or my personal favorite a well saturated in epoxy, length of rope. The sides of the blade left to receive it's abuse, except in the circular area, where the blade lives and rotates within the rudderbox. In this area I place a piece of 'glass cloth or better yet, Dynel or Xynole fabric, naturally set in epoxy. These serve as abrasion resistance disks of material. A Teflon disk used as a spacer between the box and the blade will greatly reduce friction.
The inside of the box gets the same treatment, 'glassed or other abrasion resistance fabric applied only in the area where the blade will rub. The rest left to get beat up, touched up and repainted as needed.
All parts are well coated with epoxy initially (three or more coats) to seal the wood and stabilize moisture content.
That's my 15 cents on wooden kickup rudders.
Ideally, rudders are best made from inert materials, such as 'glass, composite, HDPE, UHMWPE, some metals, etc. These don't have the issues associated with them as do wood or 'glass covered wood that's going to see some abuse. Most of my rudders now are foam and 'glass or HDPE, which solves a lot of problems.