automotive hardened clearcoat on Rudder Blades

My Hobie Getaway lives at Whiskeytown Lake in Northern California. Last year we had the Carr fire there which burned everything around it including most boats at one of the marina's. My marina survived however it got real hot to the point of the tarps I put over the tramps basically disintegrated. I also could not get to the boat after that all winter long until Yesterday, as they had the road to the marina closed due to the fire damage. The boat is all fine however my rudder blades have that sort of weathered look, where they have micro fiberglass shards on them. I am sure that if I ran a 1000 sandpaper and wax I would be fine. however the temps in the summer get to over 110 for weeks at a time so I am considering the sandpaper then hardened automotive clear coat.
Any reason that I should not go this route?

Soo I found some articles on refinishing damage using epoxy, but in my case i think that might be overkill so I am going to proceed with the urethane hardened clear coat. If it does not hold up I can always sand it back then do the epoxy. I am in kind of a hurry as I plan on sailing next Sat.

Hope you got your answer, but me and a buddy clear coated a wood surfboard he built. That is, over the epoxy-glass. Worked fantastic. Tricks I've learned are:
1)-use a respirator
2)-its a mechanical connection between the rudder and the clear, so you must sand down to give it "tooth" and get rid of oxidation. 600grit should be fine for spraying.
3) wash the rudders/object before sanding with Dawn dish soap and water, wet sand, wash again, wipe with paint degreaser/dewaxer, then shoot the clear.

Guessing you've shot paint before, so basically clean the rudders to get any grease/wax, etc. Off before you sand or you might get get fish eyes in your clear.

It'll always sand out...

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ChuckC
H21SE- 408

I'm not sure that you would be able to build it up thick enough, without a lot of coats, to be able to sand it out perfectly smooth.

I'd probably try some spray on polyester filler first, and sand that out. Some checking needs to be done to see if it will stick to epoxy, but I expect it will, since I have heard of it being used over epoxy primer.

It's expensive stuff though, and takes a special spray gun. Maybe ask a body shop if they use it, and how much to spray your rudders when they're spraying it on something else.

I know for sure if you sand to 400 or 600 grit it'll stick just fine to epoxy. Use a satin and you will see fewer imperfections.

As I said before, we clear coated a 9 foot wood surfboard that was redwood/cedar and covered in System 3 epoxy and 4 and 6 ounce ounce glass. Came out great; David has ridden it several times, but hates to risk a year of his hobby life around rocks, etc... Now it's a "hanger queen".

When I completely fair my rudders, etc. I'll do it in epoxy and shoot a single stage catalyzed urethane over epoxy primer.

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ChuckC
H21SE- 408