Painting rudders

Has anyone ever painted their rudders? They are a dull white, almost biege color and I would like them to be black. I don't think spray paint will hold up or look good. What type of paint would?

I've spray painted my rudders; looks fine. Just be sure to sand it very smooth afterwards. If you have the plastic rudders, Krylon Fusion should stick pretty well.

yeah, there's all kinda of different spray paints that will stick to strange stuff. and if you dont think it's going ot stick you can do some kind of clear coat on the outside.

Not sure how well spray paint from a can will perform on the old lexan rudder blades... If you really need them to be painted, you could contact a local car pint shop... Those guys use additives in their paints when they paint plastic bumpers ... they might also have a primer that might facilitate better contact to the plastic. Some of the web sites (ICI) might give you some insight on additives and paint. Here is a more general question ... Why do you want to paint those old rudder blades - they suck - even when they are painted they will flex under load. In case you want to spend some $ on blades get some fiberglass blades. In case you want the looks get some carbon or kevlar fiber EPO's. Patrick

I have painted the old rudders. I used krylon fusion (very inexpensive and a relatively new product). I am surprised at how good they look and how tenacious the paint seems to adhere.

However, I have yet to truly field-test them. Scratch tests in the shop demonstrated that they will scratch (and sand) easier than the original surface but the paint really seems to be very chip and flake resistent. I am well aware of the problems in painting certain plastics, and so far, I am pleasantly surprised and impressed with this paint.

You may not need to wet-sand for anything but the smoothest look.

Also, having an auto-body shop paint them would be prohibitively expensive (in my opinion) and unecessary given the availability of Krylon fusion.

As always, the surface should be perfectly clean before application. I ALWAYS use a professional degreaser/dewaxer at least three times over. This follows one or two good detergent scrubs first. Just before painting I sanded the rudders thoroughly with 120 grit.

Dave

P.S Aaronhoy.

Clearcoating a top-coat that will not stick to the substrate on its own just ensures that you spend more time and money on a failed paint-job. This will not help the situation at all.

Would spending $500 on new rudders really enhance the performance and how so? Any real world testamonials out there on the use of epo and kevlar? How can I tell if mine are lexan or fiberglass(what is lexan?)?

Lexan is basically plastic. The difference between plastic and fiberglass rudders IS significant and noticable. I say this because I have one of each on my H16 right now.

It always seems like I'm going slower on starboard tack because I have the fiberglass rudder on the port side and therefore it's the dominant one on starboard.

"SLOWER on starboard," you say then?
Yes, and here's why: the plastic rudder flexes quite a bit more and tends to cavitate and/or stall; therefore I am forced to bear off more when I'm on port tack and so I go faster. The glass rudder is so stiff that it doesn't twist much at all (and therefore cavitate as easily) and so I tend to pinch on starboard tack. I have to think about bearing off all the time.

I'm really looking forward to building another glass rudder when I get back from the Middle East in a few months so that the dang boat doesn't act differently on port & starboard tacks.

Does my homemade rudder work as well as a commercial EPO rudder? Mebbe, mebbe not. But it cost me $40 in materials and a week's worth of evenings instead of $250, and I'm reasonably certain that it works better than a new plastic one.

The writeup on building the first one is in the H16 part of my website for your perusal. (www.JaimeZX.com)

Dave: it depends on what type of clearcoat you use. If the clearcoat stays on and seals, there is no way the paint underneath is comming off. Alot of time in custom car paint jobs where there are some sketchy things and decorations that they are afraid might not stay on they will put an extra clearcoat on the outside to seal everything in. Anyway, i'm not recomending spending the money to clearcoat the rudders, its just an idea. I personally dont bother to paint mine at all.

Hey Jamie,,

Very cool on the home-built glass rudder. I would like to hear your approach on that. Did you make a mold, use a core? What did you do and how exact did the finished product turn out? Uhhh, scratch that, I just re-read your post...I`ll check your website right now.




Aaronhoy,

The clearcoat has nothing to do with the mechanical or chemical bond that forms between the primer and substrate. By thickening up the clearcoat you can temporarily delay the ultimate paint failure by making the actual surface slightly more chip resistent and better "sealed", but, if that primer ain`t anchored/adhered properly to the substrate, I can assure you, it most certainly will start to come off - especially once the first chip or deep scratch occurs - regardless of the clearcoat used.

You do not have to take my word on this - good information abounds on this topic.

Dave

Jaime,

I just checked out your website - nice work on the rudder (impressive). Nice website too!

Dave

Dave: yeah of course the stuff will come off if you get a chip or something. I was speaking under the hypothetical assumption that the clearcoat covers the entire rudder and it thick enough that it doesn't get scratched through. Again, not something i would consider worth doing, but conceptually it would work.

I have heard of "appliance paint" used to repaint rudders with good results and have seen one pair of EPOs repainted in this fashion. "Appliance paint" is intended to refinish washing machines, etc., comes in a spray can and is sold by Dupont or another popular brand.

No, 500.00 bucks spend on EOP's will not make the thing twice as fast. But it will reduce flexing and the before described stalling issue (or it will cause the stalling at higher speeds when the load gets to high). Dumping $ in EPO’s makes only sense if you upgrade the rest of the Hobie (low profile mainsheet system, shorter shrouds / longer forestay for more mast rake, new jib, …)
At the same time $5 for some spray paint will not do anything for the performance. In case you decide to paint the blades black the lexan will show after a few sessions on the trailing edge just from the beaching.
Lexan vs. composite blade... If it looks like you have some sort of seam at leading and trailing edge you have a glass fiber blade. The way you are describing yours I think you have a lexan blade.

Thanks for the info and nice job on the rudder. That krylon epoxy appliance paint you used looks great.