Finishing the Bow and Stern

I finished the stern by first drawing the outline of the rudder cheek on the rudder half.

Then I followed the line down the stern. I used a power plane followed by a belt sander to quickly dress up the stern.

The bow I dressed similarly.

For both I painted a coat of West Epoxy.

The rudder and centerboard

I stood up the rudder half on the stern and marked off how to trim it so it conforms to the stern. It needs to conform in order to look good and to accomodate the hinges.

Editor's note: this is incorrect. The rudder must be cut to the offsets provided in the plan. Though they follow closely the profile of the stern they are not the same curve!

Here I planed and sanded the half to conform to the contour given on the plans, which is basically an even taper from the leading edge at 1 1/2" thickness to a trailing edge of 1/2". The plywood is naturally a good indicator of the topography.

Here I have epoxied and clamped the rudder together.

I used a similar procedure for the centerboard. I will apply a layer of fiberglass and epoxy for improved strength and abrasion resistance.