Tiller

Here the lamination for the tiller is glued up and curing. I scaled up the tiller drawn on the plans for the long version using dividers and scale since there were no measurements provided.

As the tiller must be very strong I decided to laminate it instead of just sawing it from a single piece of wood. Most sailboats today have laminated tillers.

I had to make one break in a strip here but it should not be of any consequence.

I fixed up the rudder so the tiller would fit through ok.

The plans called for a peg to fit in the end to keep the tiller from sliding out of the rudder. I made it of the same laminated stock and rounded it with a belt sander.

Rigging

Here's how I secured the removeable boomkin to the deck. This is my interpretation of the plans. After I got this picture I procured some wingnuts. In practice the boomkin is held in by friction. To remove, I would loosen the wingnuts enough to lift the top block and slide it out the end.

I searched through magazines and the web to find out how to do this without avail. Finally I devised for myself how to use threaded rod and wingnuts to secure the top block. It's simple and looks ok.

Seats

I built these seats according to plan except perhaps for raising them a bit higher to see over the cabin top.

Here is a slight departure from plans to avoid interfering with the hatch way. I just have to sew up the canvas now.

Painting

Here I've got everything taped up.

I'm painting anything below the 6" mark which is about two inches above the design waterline with BLP Industrial Epoxy like the bottom.

I'm using the same paint on the rudder and centerboard. It is a two part epoxy diluted with a solvent to make it easy to paint on. The solvent then evaporates within a few hours. Then, over several weeks it cures to a rock hard finish.

Here's the finished stern.

A good thing to have is a full facemask. This works far better than goggles to keep dust out of the eyes. Also it does not fog up and gives a better view.