Rudder

Alison Gai
12/4/2008
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Rudder Glassed

Tree stump with ply glued on Taking shape
The trailing edge requires 1 sheet of ply. Using the drawing I worked out the widths and cut the ply accordingly leaving a small off-cut.
The leading edge is the same only the sheet was cut to length first then into strips. Leaving a bigger off-cut.
Clamping was a problem as I didn't have enough clamps that could reach the middle. For the 1st few layers I drilled holes and clamped it with bolts. With later layers my bolts were not long enough so I used screws to clamp new layers to previous layers. All the bolts and screwws came out before the next layer was applied.
I cut the foil in 2 plans first, Leading/Trailing edges, then thicknes, shank to tip. After this I planed the foil shape using the ply layers as a guide.
One big blob Rudder in the Raw
After shaping the shed is wall to wall wood shavings, feet thick!
My son said I was making a giant wooden blade to a swiss army knife.
Its big and heavy. If I ever hit anything with it, I think the back of the boat will fall off!

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