Drain your rudder?

[Veloce]

Hi,
Today I have sanded the rudderblade of my Sun Fast 32i and found that there are some small round stains, note they are not blisters; besides a small crack at the front side of the rudder, between the 2 halves. 
I understand that this happens because the rudder is rarely watertight and water insight the rudder may have frozen last winter. Many have reccomended to drill a tiny deep hole from under the rudder, in order to allow water to trickle and the rudder to dry. 
Anyone doing this?
Thanks
Federico

[chuckr]

When we were in Kusadasi the guy working on our boat was also working on a boat with a rudder that was full of water. He did drill a couple of small holes in the bottom and it took some time to drain it. Not sure what he did next but I believe he put some heat lamps around it to try and dry it out. Eventually I think he pulled the rudder but not sure.

[reverie]

I think the vast majority of rudders more than 5 years old are highly likely to let water in at the rudder post.

Every fall, when my boat (2004 SO35) is lifted out for the season, I grab a shovel and dig a small hole underneath the rudder so I can get a drill underneath, then drill a single 3/8" hole into the centre of the rudder from underneath. When I did it a couple of weeks ago, the foam core material left in the grooves of the drill bit was wet, and after a few minutes a few drips of water began dripping slowly. Not much there, but I want to get whatever is in there out before the frost sets in. If there was significant water in the rudder, no doubt it would freeze and split the rudder.

My boat is on Georgian Bay, so fresh water at least.

In the spring, I simply use some epoxy putty (comes in a stick) to fill the hole. Takes 5 minutes in the fall, and another 5 minutes in the spring. Easy.


John
Reverie
SO35