I have drilled out the old knotted ends of the rudder lines. They were embedded in epoxy in the rudder blade head. Difficult to drill out accurately as the soft rope allowed the drill head to move around. A drill press would be a good idea, but I don't have one. The rope ends pulled out easily once the knots were drilled out.
New ropes pushed through and a simple overhand stop knot tied. Then worked in epoxy thickened with silica. All seems pretty sound. It will need a little sanding when it has gone fully hard.
I have cut out the damaged trailing edge and epoxied in a marine ply block, which I shaped on the band saw, (really excellent for this sort of work). Then when it had set I cut back the excess and sanded smooth. I will cover it with epoxy and copper foil next time I mix some up. Final stage will be getting the blade back in the headstock, which might be a bit of a challenge. One of those multi-arm jobs I suspect.
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