skeg back edge and rudders

[Éric Bouvéron]

Bonjour, 

Since it is mentioned on the building guide that the back edge of the skeg should not received cloth, how do you protect it? Is a simple epoxy coating enough to protect the plywood? Same with the front edge of the rudders? 

With thanks, 

Éric

[Budget Boater]

I have always glassed the trailing edge of the skeg, and leading edge of the rudders. No issues

Ship worms can, and will, eventually get through epoxy and paint alone, but not e-glass.

[Éric Bouvéron]

Lucky you! If I am pleased with my results on flat our curved areas, I always end with a terrible result on corners not rounded, like the triangular reinfrcments on the deck. I am concerned about the two points I mentionned and yes, am afraid of the worms. I use a 200gr/m2 cloth all over my T21. May be I will try with a lighter one on these two areas.
Thank you for your answer, Budget Boater,
Éric

[Marty Peters]

 Any "sharp" corners are much more prone to dinks damaging the glass . I would if possible always round any corners to a nice radius and glass with multiple layers of lightweight 3-4 inch glass tapes until you get the required thickness. Trying to bend heavy cloth over an external or internal bend / angle  / fillet / corner, nearly always results in the cloth pulling away unless you are using some kind of vacuum bagging..

[Robert Hughes]

Do you know to use the cloth with the fibres running at 45 degrees to the edge if going round tight corners?  If you are cutting strips from a roll of cloth it's easy to cut them at 45 degrees.  You still need some radius but the cloth will co-operate a bit better.  Dressmakers do this with cloth if they want it to take a difficult shape more easily.

[Éric Bouvéron]

Thank you for all your answers. I will of course try again... Hope it will work!

[Budget Boater]

I generally do not go around sharp corners, the skeg/rudder being the only ones I can remember there being on the Tikis we have built. We simply add a piece on the flat and take a razor knife and trim when curing, then hand sand to ensure we don't go through at the 90s.