Day 13 - Sanding and Shaping the Rudder and applying epoxy to keel, rudder and deck openings

After removing the rudder from the clamps, I began the process of sanding the epoxy flush. I used a custom sanding block I had built for contour sanding which is basically a piece of 120 grit sandpaper attached to an ⅛" piece of wood with spray adhesive. The only requirement in my opinion is to sand the rudder very flat at this first stage and having the sandpaper tacked down to a flat surface makes that easier:

Once I had it most of the way done, I used my RO sander to finish it off:

Next, I clamped the rudder in a vice and used my RO saner to shape the required contour. The plywood layers provide a very useful guide to your progress and consistency of the shape:

After achieving the shape I wanted, I sanded through various grits to 220 using sanding sponges. They help your sanding conform to the shape you have established:

Test fit on the boat:

The next step is something I wished I had NOT done. I would suggest you DON'T do it either. The instructions recommend applying epoxy around the deck openings as shown. If you are going to varnish your deck, this epoxy will be visible through the varnish both in color and in thickness. I could have sanded it down much more flush before varnishing, but did not, as you will see in my varnish steps and I was very disappointed with the result. The varnish provides all the water resistance you could possibly need for the deck:

I am ok with the instructions to apply epoxy to the RC deck:

I choose to apply the T37 placard to my deck as shown below so I set it into the epoxy I extended from around the rudder access port and held it in place with tape:

As instructed, I applied epoxy to the keel and ballast and sanded the epoxy into the metal of the ballast:

And, I applied epoxy to the rudder:

I left all of that to dry overnight.