I usually start with a pressure washer, but that's easy for me since my boat is at home.  If it is Starboard, it has a surface texture that holds dirt really well.

I have no wood anywhere in my rudder assembly.  Out of curiosity, where are these wooden spacers you speak of?

--Peter


[ Sent From rhodes22.net ]

> On 2024-12-28, at 16:38:43 EST, peter beckerman wrote:
>
> Hello all, It's a partly sunny, unseasonably warm day in western 
> Pennsylvania, perfect for getting a jump on my winter "to do" list.
> Today's task is to start on rudder maintenance. The wooden spacers look 
> like they haven't been varnished for years. In fact there was newspaper 
> stuck to the inside surface dated May 6th 2013! It's unlikely they've been 
> touched since then. So I figured it would be a good time to strip off the 
> old varnish and give it a refresh. While talking the whole assembly apart, 
> my eye was drawn to the plastic (starboard?) sides which are looking kinda dull, 
> stained and dirty. As you can see in the attached picture, the two sides are 
> different shades due to the dirt. My question for the list is: does 
> anyone know a good way to clean and maintain these? Thanks and happy 
> new year! 
> Peter
> 
> <a 
> href="http://rhodes22.org/pipermail/rhodes22-list/attachments/20241228/b30f6f9a/attachment.jpg" 
> target="_blank">IMG_20241228_140932.jpg</a> 
>