Rudder is made of....

[Sailor John]

Hello all,
Some conversation around the club this morning re the painting of our boats rudders. I always antifoul mine.
This led to this question:
What's your rudder made of? Aluminum? Stainless? Other? And, what paint do you use on it?
Any ideas?
Thoughts are appreciated.
Sailor John

 

[Cricket]

Most likely the original rudder was bronze (or nibral) with a bronze or stainless shaft.
A lot of replacement rudders are made from stainless with stainless shaft because it's easily welded.

We prime with 2 part epoxy and paint with whatever bottom paint we're using.
Doesn't hold up like it did with zinc chromate primer and the Trilux with TBT.

Haven't messed with Prop Speed, some probably have on the message board.

Micron 44 with TBT was the best paint we ever used, 33 was a close 2nd, no slime on the sides, no growth on the bottom.
It's a long way from TBT paint to where we are now using water based bottom paint, whatever the yard used last year wasn't actually bad.

 

[pdog]

I use Propspeed on my underwater metal. When I used bottom paint I was using interlux ultra. Always primed all the underwater gear with inter protect 2000 prior to the bottom paint being applied to the metal. Worked well but for my boat i prefer the Propspeed. I am getting 2 years out of the prop speed as long as i stay off the bottom.

 

[SEVEN]

Bronze. I always coat mine.

 

[Sailor John]

Thanks all,
Some really great and useful information here. Our club is freshwater based (Great Lakes) so growth is somewhat limited to 'slime' and zebra mussels. Many power boaters here use Interlux
Bottomkote or the Bottomkote XXX.
Never even thought of bronze for the rudders, but could certainly be that.
Sailor John