Are these EPO's?

Alright, Ive been looking to get a set of EPO rudders, and in my search, I found these:

http://s156.photobucket.com/albums/t32/ ... nt=004.jpg
http://s156.photobucket.com/albums/t32/ ... nt=003.jpg
http://s156.photobucket.com/albums/t32/ ... nt=002.jpg

The lady who owns them says that she thinks they're fiberglass because of how light they are and that they dont have a sticker on them, but she doesnt know if they are EPOs (or even what EPO is). What do you think?

Never argue with a woman, buy them as fiberglass!

the tips of those look like they have been ground down a bit, which leads me to think they are plastic. Be careful buying online from someone who really has no clue what they are selling. maybe get them to weight it and we can try and get you a weight of an epo and take it from there.

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Brad Stephens
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I'm no expert but the surface doesn't look that on my '86 EPO's unless those rudders were refinished. The surface finish on mine is flat black but very smooth. It is hard to tell from the pics, but the finish looks a little bumpy, especially in your first pic. EPO's are Epoxy and fiberglass cloth matrix. I believe they were all painted with a black UV barrier. On mine, the fiberglass fabric weave shows through (looks silver-white) anywhere they have been scraped or rubbed- see the area to the right of the sticker and the area scraped by the lower rudder casting in the second pic. I can't see any fiberglass weave exposed where the chips have broken off the tips of those rudders either.

Is there any residue where the rectangular EPO stickers might have been?

EPO's are very hard and rigid. If you rap your knuckles on EPO's they produce a higher pitch sound that the plastic rudders.

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Alan
'86 H16, Sail #89057

Those are not EPO's. They are the black plastic ones.

You can see the flow patterns from the injection molding process in the finish.

The real give-away (not shown in the photos) would be the bolt holes.

On EPO's, you can see the yellow-brownish foam core. On black plastic, it's solid throughout.

Black plastic rudders weigh about 6 lbs each. EPO's weigh about 3.5# each. There's a huge difference.

Thanks for the opinions... I happen to have a picture showing the bolt holes as well, but the resolution kind of stinks.

http://s156.photobucket.com/albums/t32/ ... G_2936.jpg

This will probably just confirm your opinion.

Yep. Solid black all the way through.

They're not bad rudders . . . they're just not EPO's.

I agree. They are black plastic.

The performance of the EPO would far exceed these, but the bigger difference is the price. Plastic blades are half the price when new. If you need blades and these are cheap ($120.00 each for a new 2007 Nylon Blade) then go for it, but these are not the EPO that would sell at double the cost.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

On my white rudder blades there is a sticker, on which is written "Carbon reinforced".
What kind of blades do I have?

Today my Hobie has been covered by snow .

Chriss

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1994 HC16

Hobie Europe rudders - something we don't see here in the states (except on Tigers & FX-Ones)