Kembali

In the Guider the rudder, rudder post and tiller are all mounted in a cassette as a unit that inserts into a rudder trunk at the aft end of the cockpit. The cassette can be raised and pinned so it is fully down for sailing, or halfway pinned to act as a skeg while rowing, or fully raised for beaching the boat. The rudder itself is built up by stacking foil shapes cut from plywood. The stainless steel rudder post extends through the cassette.

The main deck is built up from three pieces per side, with puzzle joints and epoxy. Then the two sides are mated along the centerline. Finally, both sides are fiberglassed with 3" overlaps in the cloth. I used peel ply fabric on the upper side to get a nice smooth surface. I didn't have a table wide enough to hold the deck piece, so I used firring wood to support it during this process. I u

The rudder trunk is inserted through the slot I cut in the hull, as shown in an earlier installment. It aligns by way of notches in the frames. A small amount has to be trimmed off, and the rest is faired into the hull. The primary tool I used for this was a Japanese pull saw. After everything is flush cut and sanded smooth, the joint is reinforced with FG tape.

The centerboard trunk is slotted between two frames and is aligned by notches in the hull. To accommodate the passage of the centerboard, a slot has to be cut in the hull between the two inner walls of the centerboard trunk. I tried a variety of tools to do this, but finally realized the ideal tool for the job was a flush trim bit on my router. I chased this up with a roundover bit and then the joint between trunk and hull was reinforced with FG tape.

What followed was a lengthy process of saturating, fiberglassing, fairing, sanding the hull (so MUCH sanding, so MUCH DUST). Everything on this boat will be painted because I loathe varnishing. The only thing I did differently from the CLC instructions was to put lengths of Kevlar tape at the bow and stern for increased abrasion resistance. This process required about 6 weeks of work (June 15th - Aug 23rd).