The geometry of adding a horizontal component to the skeg-hung rudder proved a head scratcher. I could have simply slapped the end plate on the rudder-only portion of the combination, but for reasons known only to my subconscious, I wanted it to be cooler than that. I also want to be able to remove the skeg shoe without dropping the whole rudder. An endplate that extends forward under the shoe interferes with that.
Having puzzled and puzzled 'till my puz'ler was sore, I concluded that the rudder, pivoting around a center under the skeg, would get a smaller portion of the end plate than I intuited. The skeg itself needs a plate with the aft 3/4 perfectly round so the rudder plate can pivot clean around its perimeter with no room for a pesky stray line to get squeezed in between.
I very carefully established the true pivot center and tacked on the quasi-circular skeg endplate and its matching rudder endplate. Then I took the skeg and rudder off the boat and brought the now-even-more-awkward-and-heavy-to-move kit into the basement. I'll round over and glass 'em on a day that's too hot to work on the boat.
I'm also trying to figure out a rudder stop. With the conversion to a tiller and a rudder tube, the boat no longer has a quadrant below decks with its glassed-in heavy duty stops. I'm considering adding a top plate to the rudder with stops, but the structure would be huge. Below is bit of cardboard showing how much the rudder swings, and consequently how big the plate would need to be. I don't like it.
I'll probably build in the stops up in the cockpit - a key below the tiller head that bears on stops somehow attached either the cockpit sole or the rudder tube. In any case these things have to be silly strong: the leverage produced by the tiller or rudder itself when making a sternboard* is considerable.
* making a sternboard is one of those fancy boaty phrases that make me feel all nautical. It just means going backwards.
Hi Scott! Great that you've started a blog, which I found through the JRA forum post. So glad for the link!
ReplyDeleteAbout the endplate, is the circle at the bottom of the skeg the finished piece? If so, it could be concerning as far as picking up weed, and even more for things like crab or lobster pot buoys. It's truly unpleasant to have a line stop the boat dead, especially when the spot that has hooked involves diving! Even when it can be released from the cockpit, it can raise a ridiculous amount of heck.
But maybe I'm misunderstanding the picture…
Anyway, so great to see the boat!
~ Shemaya
Hi Shemaya,
ReplyDeleteGood question. It's not quite the finished shape, for exactly that reason. At the moment, it makes a perfect lobster pot hook. I'd like to cut the forward portion of that circle back so it's flush with the skeg's leading edge, allowing lines to slip off. I think I can just about do that and still keep the forward points of the rudder portion from projecting past the skeg piece when the tiller's hard to port or starboard. Just.