My H16 is a 1984 model. I believe the rudders are the lexan ones but I am not sure. They are white, they felt like they had a little bit of texture to them and they feel solid. I weighed one of them and it was just over 6 pounds. I have lightly wet sanded one of the rudders and it is very smooth now. All of the metal work on my Hobie is black and I am thinking about painting the rudders black to match the trim. I was going to use some appliance epoxy for this. Anyone ever do this and have any pointers on how to get a nice finish? Also, would I be correct in thinking the rudders may be lexan polycarbonate being that they weigh 6 pounds?



Edited by martyr on Jul 08, 2016 - 11:24 PM.

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Marty
1984 Hobie 16 Redline Yellow Nationals, "Yellow Fever"
Opelika, Al / Lake Martin
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Yea probably the plastic ones you have. The rudders and daggers I have right now I used that appliance epoxy on. I think in the future I'm just going to use regular enamel. A weird problem kept happening with the appliance epoxy. Some sort of the propellant or who knows what would come out of the can and make a little dot where no paint would stick.

Literally I'd keep spraying the spot and the paint would cover the spot and then move away from the area and kept leaving an unpainted spot. Maybe I had a bad can.

Besides that the repaint / curing time is annoying. If you repaint it after half an hour or whatever it says on the can, the new layer will curl and not go on smooth. It probably took a week before that stuff was actually dry enough to polish. The enamel is all done in like a day.

I had seen a rudder time line where I believe it was 1984 when Hobie started making the rudders out of Lexan Polycarbonate. The rudders that I have are very solid feeling, like a dense feeling. If you hit them with your hand, there is a very solid thud. Thank you for the heads up on that paint . I had heard that the apliance epoxy took a long time to cure and that there was a risk of a crackle like finish.



Edited by martyr on Jul 09, 2016 - 06:37 AM.

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Marty
1984 Hobie 16 Redline Yellow Nationals, "Yellow Fever"
Opelika, Al / Lake Martin
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I had seen a rudder time line where I believe it was 1984 when Hobie started making the rudders out of Lexan Polycarbonate. The rudders that I have are very solid feeling, like a dense feeling. If you hit them with your hand, there is a very solid thud. Thank you for the heads up on that pain . I had heard that the apliance epoxy took a long time to cure and that there was a risk of a crackle like finish.

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Marty
1984 Hobie 16 Redline Yellow Nationals, "Yellow Fever"
Opelika, Al / Lake Martin
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I had seen a rudder time line where I believe it was 1984 when Hobie started making the rudders out of Lexan Polycarbonate. The rudders that I have are very solid feeling, like a dense feeling. If you hit them with your hand, there is a very solid thud. Thank you for the heads up on that pain . I had heard that the apliance epoxy took a long time to cure and that there was a risk of a crackle like finish.

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Marty
1984 Hobie 16 Redline Yellow Nationals, "Yellow Fever"
Opelika, Al / Lake Martin
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Don't know why it posted 3 times, moderator please delete the extra 2 posts. Thanks.

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Marty
1984 Hobie 16 Redline Yellow Nationals, "Yellow Fever"
Opelika, Al / Lake Martin
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I'm currently painting an entire NACRA 5.7 including the rudders. I would avoid appliance epoxy simply because it is intended for non-marine use and certainly would not provide the UV resistance you need. Marine epoxy paints are available for a reasonable cost (your project would need a quart to build multiple coats). I am using Interlux Perfection on the boat and rudders.

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Tom
NACRA 5.7 (1984 Sail 181)
Pennsylvania
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Thanks so much, I guess it would make better sense to use a marine paint, definitely want to do this right the first time and not "over".

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Marty
1984 Hobie 16 Redline Yellow Nationals, "Yellow Fever"
Opelika, Al / Lake Martin
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Thanks so much, I guess it would make better sense to use a marine paint, definitely want to do this right the first time and not "over".

Dang multiple post again, how do I delete the extra posts?



Edited by martyr on Jul 09, 2016 - 08:05 PM.

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Marty
1984 Hobie 16 Redline Yellow Nationals, "Yellow Fever"
Opelika, Al / Lake Martin
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This forum seems to always generate an error when you submit a post Just forget it and don't re-submit it.

I'm sure you will get great results on those rudders. My brother-in-law has the black Hobie rudders, and the coating had eroded to expose fiberglass fibers. Sanding and any marine paint will look great. The 2-part epoxy marine is very tough, and kind of expensive, but will give good results, better than original.

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Tom
NACRA 5.7 (1984 Sail 181)
Pennsylvania
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I found some kind of stamping on my rudders also. Both have XX-1 AH on them. I am assuming that this is a mold number, so I guess it is safe to assume that these rudders are the lexan polycarbonate rudders that hobie started making in 1984. No biggie to me, I'm not racing the boat so they will be fine. They are in near new condition and feel very solid.
Also, there are metal sleeves inside the bolt holes on these rudders as well and I assume this is normal.



Edited by martyr on Jul 10, 2016 - 11:48 PM.

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Marty
1984 Hobie 16 Redline Yellow Nationals, "Yellow Fever"
Opelika, Al / Lake Martin
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newer spray paints do this. you must either spray wet coat on top of wet coat or wait 48 hours (or more).
otherwise the new coat will peel up the older coat, completely destroying your work. There are lots of stories about this on google and youtube.

i have brand new ruder and castings from Mystere. The person whom i purchased the boat with painted them orange. He used rustoleum2x (http://www.rustoleum.com/…er_Gloss_RealOrange.ashx) - no primer, decent results

I used rustoleum auto paint (and primer) recently on some spars and castings. Had decent results.
I did find in 2 or 3 of the cans (out of about 10) that regardless of how much mixing I did (and I did a ton), some cans would spray solvent and not pigment. Found this in both primers and paint cans. Made for a PITA and extra expense.

Quote

Besides that the repaint / curing time is annoying. If you repaint it after half an hour or whatever it says on the can, the new layer will curl and not go on smooth

Lexan rudders really don't take paint like polyester and epoxy will. Best results I've seen were using the spray paint specifically made for plastics. Even then, they will be scratched before too long where they pivot in the casting and on the leading edge/tips from hitting bottom. To me this looks worse than no paint at all. Some have reported good results at approaching the original white from just bleaching or wet-sanding, but personally I wouldn't waste the time and effort. Those 30 year old plastic rudders are apt to snap at the waterline whenever you load them heavily. Best option is to find a set of Gen 1 EPOs.....those are worth refinishing!!

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Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16
Clinton, Mississippi
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