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One of my deepest fears has come to fruition. 
Friday while surveying the boat; i noticed a top to bottom hairline crack (10" long)in the upper 1/3 of my rudder. I also see some very small ones at the bottom of the rudder about 3 "'s up. The rudder is covered in soft abalative. In addition; it appears there has been some very minor weeping(very small). We've had some very long periods of cold this winter and i'm thinking it's some freeze damage (most likely).
I'm thinking the rudder is structurally fine. How should I approach this?
Should i grind down these sections and re-glass them? How far? Just to solid glass and bridge the crack? or, To the subsurface and glass to the foam? Use epoxy?
Is there a way to install a drain plug(s) in a most likely foam filled rudder; that will work?
I noticed while walking around the yard that this appears to be a common problem. Some rudders actually look broke with huge cracks.
Friday while surveying the boat; i noticed a top to bottom hairline crack (10" long)in the upper 1/3 of my rudder. I also see some very small ones at the bottom of the rudder about 3 "'s up. The rudder is covered in soft abalative. In addition; it appears there has been some very minor weeping(very small). We've had some very long periods of cold this winter and i'm thinking it's some freeze damage (most likely).
I'm thinking the rudder is structurally fine. How should I approach this?
Should i grind down these sections and re-glass them? How far? Just to solid glass and bridge the crack? or, To the subsurface and glass to the foam? Use epoxy?
Is there a way to install a drain plug(s) in a most likely foam filled rudder; that will work?
I noticed while walking around the yard that this appears to be a common problem. Some rudders actually look broke with huge cracks.