1. The rudders were not originally wrapped in fiberglass. So, in theory, it should be ok to strip the glass and use bare wood. Nonetheless, there probably was a reason someone decided to use the glass. If you re-glass, use epoxy resin. Also, I think Jerry Montgomery recommends a squared trailing edge 1/16" thick, which is almost impossible to achieve when wrapping with glass. I made my own rudder and wrapped it with glass and ended up with a squared trailing edge 1/8" thick. 2. The area where the handrails are attached may be solid glass--not sure about that. In any event, you can usually remove the handrails without removing the bungs by unfastening the nuts below. If you do have to remove the bungs, they are sacrificial--you will need to buy or make new ones. Traditionally, the bungs are set in varnish and then cut and sanded smooth. -----Original Message----- From: Andrei Caldararu via montgomery_boats <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2021 10:09 AM To: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com Cc: Andrei Caldararu <andreicaldararu@yahoo.com> Subject: M_Boats: Maintenance questions Hello fellow Monty owners, first off, I apologize for having to register a new account on the mailing list, somehow my old account seems to have been bungled up and I was not able to recover it. I have two new maintenance questions: a) The rudder on my 1982 M-17 is the one-piece solid mahogany style. When I got it with the boat about 10 years ago it was wrapped in fiberglass, and coated with a couple of layers of some marine varnish. This summer I kept the boat moored in fresh water, and last time I went to it I noticed that large parts of the fiberglass were peeling off. Is the fiberglass needed, or should I just remove it and re-coat the wood with varnish? If I need to redo it all in fiberglass, what should I do to prevent it from peeling again? b) I have a small leak into the cabin around one of the screws that holds the wood hand rails on top of the cabin. I understand that it is important to re-bed the hand rail before the moisture gets inside the balsa core of the cabin top. What is the procedure for doing that? To begin, how does one remove the small wood caps that are covering the screw heads, without destroying the caps? What material do people recommend for the bedding procedure? Thanks,Andrei.