Maybe an OOPS... Maybe not!

I began glassing the rudder this evening. And, trying to be a bit clever, I may have been just a bit too clever. But I won't know for sure until tomorrow or Saturday!

On my way home from work this afternoon I stopped at TAP Plastics for some fiber glass cloth. I thought I asked for the 6 oz cloth, but it rang up as 8 oz. We double checked it, and yes, he cut 8 oz material. I did a quick calculation and decided the slightly heavier material wouldn't hurt anything. Once home I cut a piece to fit the bottom of the rudder, took another look at the rudder and decided a little more sanding wouldn't hurt anything either. So I clamped the rudder in the Work Mate, pulled out the Dremel, the Mouse, and a sanding stick and went to work.

Finally the bottom tip of the rudder was sanded and shaped to a satisfactory profile with nicely rounded-over edges. I dry-fit the FG cloth and taped off about an inch of the rudder to keep the epoxy from getting where it shouldn't go. I mixed up a small batch of epoxy. Taking a deep breath, I coated the end of the rudder, put the FG cloth in place, and began working resin into the cloth, making sure the cloth adhered to the surface of the rudder. Here's how it looked when I was done.



And a side view...



The whole process went well and I was pretty pleased with myself... until I looked at that second picture. My error is so obvious I cannot believe I didn't see it before I even applied the epoxy. I have successfully epoxied the masking tape to the rudder! Oh, I could still lift the edges of the cloth, remove the tape and, hopefully, get the cloth back in place - but I don't want to take the risk of totally mucking up the cloth, the resin that is already on there and make a bigger mess than it will otherwise be. I will complete this glassing job - once the epoxy begins to set up, I need to apply more and continue until the weave of the cloth is filled.

The extra cloth (showing as white in the pictures) will be cut away and the edges sanded smooth before the sides are glassed. While removing the extra cloth I will remove the tape, and probably have to sand out the tape under the glass and resin.

This may be a big OOPS, or it may just be a minor inconvenience. I'll know tomorrow or Saturday.

Taking a deep breath