More rudder & skeg

Added some gussets to the rudder to stiffen it up. Some who've seen it on the forums suggested beefing it up. I have the materials so the cost is virtually nil, except for the Stainless Steel welding rods at $4 a pop!

Please no comments on welds. I'm no welder!

Yesterday I cut a wedge from solid white oak, destroying the blade in my benchtop band saw. Ended up giving that away to my Dad! ;-)  Useless for that kind of work. Anywho, I need a variety of fasteners to hold the skeg to the bottom of the keel. Couldn't get exactly what I wanted so I made my own.

Home made stainless steel bolts

I intend to weld these to the backing plate. The skeg, if it ever needs to be removed, will come off the bottom. The studs will stay in place.

I also discovered that I need some back & forth adjustment on the skeg. Because the keel bottom is not exactly level a wedge is required to level the skeg. This causes the bolts to 'lean' aft and don't directly line up with the holes in the skeg. I fashioned a template out of some scrap aluminum for the plasma cutter to cut the slots in the skeg.

Template for adjustment slots in skeg

I still have to figure a way of 'locking it in' position once it's bolted up. Likely some lag screws straight up into the wedge.

Got some bad news on the engine saga. The mechanic who was to service it up and quit. They now have no one to work on it. I'll be picking it up tomorrow and looking for another mechanic. I do know that it's the fuel injection pump that's the issue. If I can get it off myself I can take it for service myself. All the other things I needed done I can do myself.

Off to see the friendly machine shop guy!

Standby....