[Public-List] Official Rudder Shoe Project Update (No Joke!)

[Peter McEvoy]

At long last, I am here with an update on the rudder shoe casting project.
My sincerest apologies for allowing so much time to lapse since my last
update- there just hasn't *been* anything to update until recently. I'm
sure it seemed to all that I dropped the ball on this but, I can honestly
say, it's been more of a slow and lazy juggling act. A determined one,
nonetheless!

This juggling act is reaching its climax- I have been contacting various
foundries in the San Francisco Bay Area (I am in the Berkeley Marina) and
have located a foundry that can do the castings. Originally I was going to
cast the shoes myself at my friends studio.  I did manage to cast one
successful shoe and you can see my Picasaweb photo album of the sand
casting process here:
https://plus.google.com/photos/114264171783035578123/albums/5828753185129575137?banner=pwaHowever,
due to health issues in his family and a lack of my own time it
became clear that this would not be a feasible option. But I've found a
foundry that can do them.

So here we are, final call! The offer on the table is for one rudder shoe-
WITHOUT rudder pin hole or mounting holes drilled- for $100 plus shipping
cost. These rudder shoes will be identical to an original, unused rudder
shoe provided by Mike Lehman. If you are interested, please send me a
personal e-mail at peter.t.mcevoy at gmail.com- for everybody's sake, do not
reply to the whole list! I still have everybody's contact info from the
original round of interest, and will be sending out a message to everybody
I have on my list in case they miss this e-mail.

Once I have definitive interest I can get a rough timeline for the
completion of this project, and let you know when your shoe can be
expected. Looking forward to finishing this up!

Pete McEvoy

PS WE ARE STILL LOOKIN FOR A PAIR OF GUDGEONS to make a mold/castings from.
If you have some or some very detailed plans, please do share :)

PPS In the time between the start of this project and now, I hauled out my
A30 for the first time and built a new rudder (my rudder fell off one day
while sailing). I had expected the shoe to be absent from the hull upon
haulout however it was present and in great condition! Here's a link to my
album on building an A30 rudder:
https://plus.google.com/photos/114264171783035578123/albums/5828753185129575137?banner=pwa.
I used vinylester resin fiberglass around a core of Divinycell (a
closed-cell foam material). I built the rudder post in silicon bronze
according to the plans on alberg30.org. The rudder body layout plan was
generously provided by Glenn Brooks- thanks Glen! I've got a good photo of
the plans if somebody wants to add it to the site. The rudder has worked
well thus far- it survived a SF Bay sail this past weekend in 30kt winds
gusting 40! Makes me want to beef up my chainplate bolts and deck step...