I'd left the rudder assembly until now due to lack of space in my workshop/polytunnel. However, the time came to construct a sort of slipway from the polytunnel into the outside world (or my back garden as it's sometimes called) so that work could proceed.
The rudder plans show two cheeks spaced apart by the thickness of the rudder but of course, if you do this you end up with a rudder firmly clamped between the cheeks which really need a couple of mm extra space to allow the rudder to swivel. I also inset some 1 mm tunfnol washers in both the cheeks and the blade to help smooth the swivelling.
I find these drop rudders a bit of a pain in use, so routed out a recess in the blade to hold about 2 kg of lead (this being enough to counter the buoyancy of the blade). Hopefully then, I'll only need a single line to raise the blade - really no telling until it's in the water. (Voice from the future: 2 kg wasn't enough; 3 kg probably)
The decoration shown is of course quite unnecessary and matches some equally pointless art nouveau on the bow - but I like it!
Next came the spars - nice lengths of Douglas Fir - which, after simply hours of planing and rasp work, came to resemble mast, boom and yard - finished with about 10 coats of oil. I'm presently working on the fittings and rigging - but more of that in a future post.
Also, today I started to plan the outboard well detail - something I've been putting off for as long as possible. I really, really don't want to cut an opening in the hull and I don't yet have an motor - huge expense - pact with the devil possibly called for!
