Does anyone have a rudder that's not covered in anti fouling? I would like mine to be smoother and more attractive. I think it's made out of wood. Anyone any ideas?

My 26 had the rudder blade covered in many layers of antifouling, lumpy and several different colours. As I leave the rudder fully up on my mooring, where I ground occasionally, I removed all the gunk and sanded the blade smooth, making good the odd dents etc. I then applied 4 coats of 2 pack white gloss. It looks good and I can imagine thhat extra 1% of speed!
I also removed all the paint from ths stock and polished the aluminium, even with 30 years of wear and tear I think it looks better than chipped paint.

Thanks Philip, that very helpful
A few further questions:
Did you paint the area where the rudder fits in the stock and pivots?
What did you use to polish the aluminium stock and did you cover it with anything to prevent further pitting of the surface?
Cheers
steve
Nosy 27

Hi Steve
I took my rudder to bits. A lot of the bolts are difficult, John Bakers idea of antilock nuts was to hammer the ends.
I did paint the whole of the blade, it has worn quickly in the stock.
The inside of the stock, never painted, had only surface pitting.
I cleaned off the paint with stripper and an abrasive disc. I used polish before rebuilding and have applied spray silicon since.

Good luck
Philip