Steering

I have been working recently on the steering for my little boat.  The rudder came to me cut to shape but needed to have the leading and trailing edges tapered to provide a smooth flow through the water.  The following picture shows the rudder shortly after I finished with the bevel.  Note the upper left corner of the picture.  I have been wearing gloves for a good bit of the work.  Safety first.  Target Zero!

The picture shows the rudder cheeks temporarily in place along with the rudder hardware.  As you will see in the next few pictures the hardware wasn't yet located correctly.  That is why I "dry-fit" everything before drilling, screwing or gluing. 

You might notice the different colors along the edge of the rudder.  The rudder is mahogany plywood and when tapered each layer (ply) has a different color.  When painted it will all be white.   As the rudder is tapered I can judge how evenly I'm shaping the wood by the uniformity (or lack thereof) of the colored stripes.

This week work started on the tiller.  It too was cut to shape but needed to be rounded and smoothed.  The tiller cheeks had to be fitted and glued on so that the tiller can be attached to and removed from the rudder.

The above picture shows the tiller in place on the rudder.  The tiller is made of solid mahogany and I plan on varnishing it because it is a beautiful piece of wood.  I stained the tiller cheeks so that they will contrast with the remainder of the tiller.

 The pictures above and below show the rudder and tiller in place.  The holes for mounting the rudder hardware have been drilled and the rudder mounted temporarily.  The hardware will be removed for painting.  The pintles on the rudder itself have been permanently installed by using copper rivets (copper nails inserted through pre-drilled holes cut off and peened over).  The pintles fit over the rudder cheeks very snugly and I decided to install them permanently and paint around them.

So what is next?  The rudder comes off as does its hardware.  The thwarts come out.  Then she gets turned over to have the keel fitted and installed.  While that is being done I will also be beveling the centerboard (as I did the rudder) and attaching its stop block.  Once the keel is finally screwed, glued and bolted in place there will be more sanding and then paint.  I can hardly wait.  I'm thinking a June launch is not out of the question.