Fairing Stainless Steel with epoxy

I have couple of SS rudders. The welds around area where shaft meets blade are not smooth, they have splatter marks. Just not perfect. There is also some little crevices that can lead to corrosion. I was thinking of acid washing, then fairing with epoxy filler, sanding and then painting rudders with epoxy paint. Then perhaps antifouling. So I would be treating it like aluminum. I know SS need oxygen to prevent corrosion and that encasing can actual make corrosion worse. Any ideas on this, is there anything I can do to Stainless like zinc chromate to mitigate problem. thanks

 

Better off to buff off the spatter and have someone TIG the crevices and then buff smooth...leave the stainless uncovered.

Steve

 

As lewis mentioned, get it welded proper, think about electropolishing then, we have only positive experience with El. polish treatment. Do not cover it, you know why.
Regards
Richard

 

please dont buff ss, yes fill with weld, and then abrade as rough as you can , sandblasting is best
All my alloy yachts have ss rudders ,so many times I have been there and done that as they say)
anyways its is possible to accurately fair in the skin like this, to late now, but next time eh♠

 

Stu, do you mean polishing when you say buff? If so, why not? We made the experience that El polishing gives the best density to the surface, therefore the best corrosion resistance.
Regards
Richard

 

rich, if you tried stick paint to a polished rail it would fall off, buff in my lingo means polish, maybe in other places it means abrade? so abrade as much as possible, prime and then do your high build paint, or use altex number one, and just build it to say 250microns, then antifoul when tacky
maybe it's just different terminology

 

If the boat is to live in the water paint it as Lazyjack says, if it is taken out of the water, polish it.

 

Welcome Stu,
have understood right, that you meant polish. Same terminology! But we just El. polish our ss trimtabs and rudder shaft and do´nt apply paint.
Naturally if you MUST apply paint on ss you have to blast or abrade prior to priming / painting.
Regards
Richard

 

So should I paint or not...Doesn't welding affect Stainless. I have seen zincs on some SS rudders and not on some....thanks again

 

yes if you are in water paint,
what is your boat? wood? steel? cant advise much abt Zn until we know

 

If the welds do not affect the performance, best to have a few sacrificial anodes. Since you haven't mentioned the material of the boat, as noted above, you really need to consider the "whole" environment:boat material, shaft, prop, fastenings etc. If you paint it when the paint eventually peels off, as it will, you're back to square one.
If your whole boat is a mixture, then you'll need anodes of some sort anyway.

 

Sorry about missing this most important information. My Boat is Aluminum, zinc chromated, epoxyied, faired and painted. Bottom paint will not have any copper. Propellers are bronze, no choice on that. SS shafts. Drives are fixed surface piercing, Rudder are right behind barely in water. Boat will be used not everyday, not trailable but not run everyday. Mainly at anchor with many trip in between, I hope.

Thank

 

Well considering the cornucopia of metals you have, i assume you have some protection, such as anodes of some description somewhere?.. But if the performance of the rudders are not really affected by the welds, why worry? You have many other potential sources of corrosion not just the rudder.

What type of SS is the rudder 316L?

 

The rudder is 316L ... It is a matter of efficiency and looks really... yeah a few zincs

 

Well..since you already have zincs in the aft end and the rudder is made from 316L, other than poor/sloppy workmanship in the weld, is it really worth all the hassle to correct?
Since once you address the problem, the underlying corrosive environment and electrical potentials still exits, you can't change that. Sure you may 'extend' the life of the weld, potentially. But considering everything else, if the rudder is easy to inspect, i would just leave all as is, maybe add one more anode perhaps, if you're still concerned.