Sunday, August 24, 2014

Rudder Cheeks

Just thought I'd start this post with a side profile of the boat when I showed up today. I continued using some compound on the last part of the port side. On the starboard side of the hull, I wet sanded by hand with 600, 800 and 1500 grit sandpaper. Used a spray bottle of water to wet down the hull. I started doing compound on the starboard side but got about a third of the way through then decided to call it a day. Temps got into the mid 90s with heat index forecasted at 100-105F. I was drinking plenty of water but I didn't want to over work myself in this heat.
 
Once I decided to stop using compound, I grabbed some tools and removed the rudder cheeks. I think they're made of mahogany and they're pretty big pieces of wood. The top of them, where the metal backing is at is where the tiller attaches. So, like the way I refinished the tiller, I'm going to refinish these pieces too. Instead of reusing the old carriage bolts, I have some new ones with hex head on them that will make it easier to remove later if needed.
 






5 comments:

  1. And I notice you took down your mast too but didn't see a mention of it. Is it a wooden mast? Your boat yard looks pretty open there as well and not congested!

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    1. The mast is not wooden. I got the boat ready for when the military moves me early next year. I expected to do a refit for quite some time before it goes in the water again. The area the boat is parked at is a self-storage place. Pretty filled up but plenty of room to do the work I need to do.

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  2. Your boat is really coming along! We thought you would enjoy being nominated for the Liebster Award. it's by bloggers for bloggers. Here's our post about it. http://littlecunningplan.com/2014/08/liebster-award-wed-like-to-thank-you/

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  3. Check the extreme angle of the cheeks against hull. The lower tip can hit and stress and crack. I removed a slight amount of material to eliminate this issue.

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    1. I'll take a look at the lower tips. The only things that have contact that I've seen is part of the tiller on the stern rail at each of the farthest angles. Thanks for the suggestion.

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