Rudder and Stock Again

When I started making the rudder and stock I did not realize how much work would be needed to complete them. Shaping them from plywood took long enough, and now I am sheathing them with one coat of 6 oz woven roving. I’ve used fibreglass tape to wrap around sharp edges.

In practice it is not supposed to be possible to make woven roving bend around a sharp edge, but thin tape will sit quite well on a 90 degree turn, providing there is just a little convex curvature along the edge. Where there’s an absolutely sharp 90 degree turn at an edge, then I agree woven roving cannot be made to conform to adjacent surfaces.

One trick I have found useful is to wait ten or fifteen minutes after softening the tape or woven roving at the edges with epoxy, then make it comply with the form by pushing and prodding it with a brush. Even five hours after applying epoxy when it is dry to the touch, woven roving can be squeezed or pushed into place with ones fingers.

When all surfaces of the rudder and stock have been sheathed, I’ll need to wash them with a little detergent; then after they are dry, I’ll have to fill the small cavities that naturally occur within the woven roving. To do this I’ll use soft filler powder mixed with epoxy, applied with a squeegee.

Finally, I’ll attach the upper pintle, but that cannot be done until I am certain where to fix it, and that will not be possible until the transom is in place and the lower special gudgeon has been fixed to it.