Rudder build

This month one of the more interesting projects has been building a new rudder for an old wooden sailing boat. The original rudder had started to rot where the rudder cheeks meet the stock and the pintle was badly worn. The new one was made by joining three planks of iroko together using stainless rods and epoxy to make the capital D shape. The cheeks were then routered out to accept the tiller and bonded on with epoxy. Stainless bolts also helped clamp all this together and were later covered with grain plugs.

The original metal straps were removed, ground up and then several coats of epoxy primer were applied. They were probably unnecessary due to the internal reinforcement but they keep the traditional style of the original.

A nice looking little boat that attracted lots of attention
 from people waiting to board the steam train opposite the quayside

Straps hide a crack in the main spine of the original rudder

Almost all of the original strap bolts sheared off or had wasted away

No wonder the rudder felt a little strange