S1 E29 Prepping the rudder for repairs (Dominican Republic)

I spent all morning working on the rudder. After 10 years of sitting in the Luperon Bay, the paint/epoxy had worn off on the edges and worm damage was evident. I needed to strip the paint/epoxy off the rest of the rudder to see if worms had penetrated the wood there as well. Fortunately, there was no worm damage where the paint/epoxy still existed, which was over the bulk of the rudder. The rudder felt solid.
Craig took a look and said a good repair solution would be to step the rudder and sleeve the damaged forward and aft edges with new wood. He also checked out the bushings in the gudgeons, and at the pintles on the rudder. Both will need some attention.
I then took off the rest of the hardware and started taking off the copper rim on the bottom. All that's left on the rudder to get it prepped is to get the rest of the copper off, sand over where the hardware was, and take a wire brush to the small divots in the wood. Then I'll wipe it down with acetone (or whatever cleaning solution works best) and take it to the shop!
While I was working, the guys at the yard also did a test run with a grinder on the hull. I'll need to get down to the fiberglass, where there are some blisters. Because they can get the paint, primer and gel coat off in a few days, I'll likely hire them to do that. I'd like the hull to start drying out ASAP and if I were to do it, it would take me much longer. Those repairs will be a big project!
Thanks for watching! I'm so grateful for you, my patrons, people who are donating and buying off my wish list, and for everybody in the DR who are helping me get the projects done. Links to Patreon and my Wish Lists are on my channel. I have more boat projects ahead and it would help tremendously if you contributed a little. It all adds up.
At this point, I’ve got $3,780 towards getting the new boat officially in my name. The price tag is $25,000 which means I’m still trying to front $21,220. I’ve got boat projects well underway and hope I can pay off the boat in time to go sailing when I finish these projects. If you’d like to help, please send a YT super thanks, donate to my GoFundMe (gofund.me/9ef2...) or send a donation on PayPal.me/NicoleDemetra. Thank you all for your support.
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