I’m nearing the end of the construction process and there are some things I need to fix that I messed up a couple years ago. One of these is the fiberglass at the top and bottom of the vertical stabilizer and the rudder. These were my first fiberglassing attempts and I had no idea what I was doing. Consequently, the workmanship is poor and needs to be fixed before priming and painting. I originally had nearly a 3/8” gap between the top rudder and vertical stabilizer horns and I did the fiberglassing with the rudder attached. I now realize that was not a good idea. So, this time I removed the top two bolts attaching the rudder to the vertical stabilizer and used duct tape to hold it in-place several inches aft of the stabilizer. I filled in all the gaps with epoxy flox, then laid up 5 layers of cloth and epoxy on both horns. I covered the fiberglass with plastic wrap and placed a strip of 1/8” aluminum spacer between the layups to get a perfect fit. It took a lot of sanding and shaping, but I am now happy with the final layup. I used a foam paint roller to apply Carquest OMNI MP282 High Build 2K Primer Surfacer with MH 283 Undercoat Hardener to all the surfaces allowing it to cure over the weekend, re-sanded, and refinished. I did the same to the bottom rudder horn and the two locations for the rudder fairings I fabricated.
