By some stroke of dumb luck I recently acquired a free set of EPO rudders. I was at a yacht club walking through was kind of a grave yard of unused catamarans and a member asked if I saw anything I wanted off a very sad looking Hobie 18. The yacht club was going to chop it up and throw it away, but I wasn't leaving without the EPO rudders. The first one came off easily, but once I looked closer at the second, half hidden by some weeds, I realized that the lower castings was broken and the bolt through the rudder was bent to a 100 degree angle. Once I got it home I used an angle grinder to remove the head of the bolt. That freed what remaind of the casting and allowed the bolt to pass through. Unfortunately whatever catastrophe caused this left the rudder in bad shape, but fortunately I want these rudders to find new life on my Hobie 16. The new rudder holes should be well clear of the damaged section. Now I am faced with what would be the best way to rebuild the missing chunk of the top of the rudder.
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My thoughts were to build it back up with marine tex epoxy. I'll also fill the bolt holes and re-drill for H16 pattern.
1. Should I build it back up in layers so the epoxy can cure or does that not matter?
2. Should I remove any loose bits and apply or should I cleanly cut out the damaged section and build from there?
3. Is there a better way to do this that I'm not thinking of?
4. I know there are a lot if instructions out there on repairing EPOs. If you have one you recommend over others I would greatly appreciate the guidance.
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