Painting my rudders ?

Can I paint the rudders ? Will it just peel off ?
Please advise and would love to see photos of any successful paint job.

Gavin



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Depends on what material they are to start with.

Plastic? (ABS, Lexan, Nylon) - probably not.

Fiberglass / Epoxy? (EPOs) - definitely yes.

I have one of the variants of plastic rudders and I gave a best attempt at painting them when I painted the rest of my boat. I used Interlux Pre-Kote for primer and Epifanes Mono-Urethane for the top coat. At one point the Pre-Kote didn't adhere very well and I had to sand it off and stat over on at layer. Once I was happy with that I didn't have any issues with the top coat sticking to the primer. I only had it in the water 3 times at the end of last season after I finished painting and no issues yet. I guess time will tell. I have another set of fiberglass rudders that I have bought since I finished painting, and plan to paint them as soon as at gets a little warmer out.

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2010 NACRA Infusion
2004 F18 Hobie Tiger - SOLD
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I just rattle canned my lexan rudders and they turned out pretty dang good. I believe it is all in the prep work. I spent a lot of time with 400 wet sandpaper trying to get them as white as possible, then went all the way to 1000 to get them smooth, then scuffed them up with a scotch brite, cleaned them real good, and shot the paint. I didn't cheap out on paint so the finish is real nice. I have had one trip on them so far and the bottoms are a tiny bit scuffed and where the castings touch but they still look great.