Restoring rudder blades

My old original rudder blades are in good shape but all grey and discolored. I can see very little of what must have been glossy white. I have a list of questions I could use some help with.

- What are the blades made of? Is there any coating?

- How do you clean them and make them white again, can it be done? CAn they be sanded?

- I bought a rudder shim kit with white plastic washers. Where do they go on the upper or lower casting, or both?

- I have white Nylon Nuts on all 4 pivot bolts on the rudder. The shim kit came with stainless with nyloc inserts, what is preferred?

- The black plastic adjuster screws in the lower castings are seized. Do I need them? If so I am assuming I have to drill them out to remove/replace?

O, and several non-blade related questions I just remembered.

- the Grudeons were installed bedded into clear silicon, and they used star lock washers. Is this the right setup?? I am thinking of installing my new ones with star washers, and no silicon sealer, with anti-sieze compound.

thanks!!

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2015 Tandem Island
Massachusetts and Squam Lake New Hampshire USA

The rudders are Lexan. If you can break a few scheckles loose buy some EPOs.

Don't waste your time restoring them.

Upper and lower so the blades don't wiggle.

Toss the nylon nuts. They'll either strip out or break. Use anti seize on the bolts.

If you have just a little weather helm you can probably leave the adjuster screws alone. If you do need to make adjustments then drill them out and replace.

Always bed the gudgeon screws in silicon. Otherwise you may get leaks. Washers would be nice too.

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Members of the forum have had luck soaking the blades in bleach to clean them up.

If your main concern is cosmetic, I would just clean them with a little acetone and then spray paint (using a spray paint designed for use with plastic).

On the boat I just bought it looked like someone puked on the rudder and left it in the sun. First I tried paint came out fish belly white looked bad.Get about 150 grit wet dry sand paper and wet sand it.Then finish off with 220.I steam cleaned mine it helped wet sanding it is what made it look good.

Is the recommended method to install the gudeons and then seal them by adding silicon on top of the screws.

Or is it preferred to lay down a layer of silicon and seal/bed the gudgeons into a layer of sealant?

I am assuming I do not want to put silicon into the threads of the screws.

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2015 Tandem Island
Massachusetts and Squam Lake New Hampshire USA

Same thing with my rudders, when I got my fist boat the white was actually a yellow, and wet sanding did the trick. Bright, and white!

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http://www.GetWetSailing.com It's A Great Day To Sail!

Lowes sells a heavy duty bleach with more chlorine
I put my rudders on the driveway and spray the top side wait 1/2 Coors lite and flip rudder and repeat as necessary. This works great for me the rudders get snow white with very little work,
The cost is not very much with the bleach being about the same price as the beer.
Former Hobie Admiral Gary

Doesn't the bleach do any long term damage? It seems that everything I bleach ends up brittle and breaking later.

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Steve
1979 Hobie 16 "Orange Crusher"
2017 Hobie 16 "Cayman" sails 114795