Planning and Budgeting a Refit—Rudders, Part 1, The Problem Defined

So what's lurking under here? Nothing good, I'll bet. And a quick coat of paint over this almost certainly half-baked repair, and we might never know.

Colin has already shone the bright light of reality on fibreglass boat rudders. Here's a quick summary:

Reality

• It is near impossible for the joint between a metal rudder shaft and a fibreglass shell to remain waterproof for 20 to 40 years, the typical age of the boats we are looking at refitting.
• Therefore, pretty much every rudder on every fiberglass boat we are dealing with in this series has, or has had, water in it.
• If the boat has been stored in a winter climate, it's likely water will have frozen inside the rudder and done further damage.

Worse Than We Thought

That was all bad enough, but then I had a chat with Al Walker at Foss Foam Products in Florida. Al and his team have probably looked inside more old production boat rudders than anyone on the planet. Here's what I learned: