January 8, 2025

PT11-51

Wednesday

To begin, I finished removing the masking tape from the new foot cleats.

Next, I worked on the layout and preparation to install the rowlock risers.  These were centered 2″ and 22″ on each side aft of the bulkhead in the after hull section, and at these points I installed two layers of masking tape to cover the gunwales, and marked at the appropriate measurement using a straight ruler as shown in the book.  Then, I marked a line in 13/16″ from the gunwale edge to center the risers longitudinally.

I masked off the risers, and, with each one in turn clamped in place properly aligned with its two centering marks, used a knife to cut the gunwale masking tape along the outline of the riser.

I epoxied the risers in place with the usual thickened mixture–no clamps required.  I carefully cleaned up the squeezeout from around each riser and let them be to partially cure.

Several hours later, the risers had cured enough that I could remove the tape from the gunwales, but I wouldn’t remove the tape from the risers themselves till the epoxy had fully cured overnight.

I dry-assembled the rudder case parts so I could drive alignment nails (for use during final glue-up) and check the fit of the now-completed rudder in the assembly.  First, I clamped the two plywood halves together and drilled the 1/4″ through-holes at the two locations (one for mounting the rudder, the other for the tiller).  Then I inserted the rudder in the space–it fit with only a slight friction, which I felt was correct–and, with a drill bit inserted through the hinge pin hole, checked its general orientation and operation, all of which seemed good.  The tiller as is fit nicely in the upper section of the rudder case, which meant that now I could go ahead and varnish the tiller to complete it.

I was tempted after the dry fit to go ahead and glue up the three parts of the rudder case, but it promised to be a fairly fussy process and, as I’d used up my self-allotted time for the day, I didn’t want to feel rushed through the process (there’d be a bit of fiddly glue cleanup inside the case itself), so I left the final assembly for next time.

Total time billed on this job today: 2 hours