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Tom;
<P>The Rods should be Bronze, Silicon Bronze, not stainless steel as it
will become active when enclosed in the wood and corrode. Stainless should
never be denied air as it becomes Active rather than Passive, look to any
good table of noble to less noble metals.
<P>The bronze should be drilled and tapped into the rudder shaft at 90<SUP>o</SUP>,
use a jig and drill press as this is critical. A blind hole 3/4 of the
way through, tapped the full depth, would be best to prevent the rod from
worming through the front of the rudder and jamming against the dead wood.
<P>I would add external strapping and to make it hydrodynamically invisible
would route the boards 3/16 - 1/4" depending on the silicon bronze strap
thickness, fastened with copper, or bronze rivets right through.
There should be 3 straps, one at each, rudder post as the post is divided
at the propellor cutaway.
<UL>
<LI>
1 strap near the bottom pin but not over top of the drift rods that you
have drilled for.</LI>
<LI>
2nd strap near the intermediate point again not over the drilled rods running
into the post.</LI>
<LI>
3rd just above the aperature but again not over the bronze rods going into
the post.</LI>
</UL>
Do not over tighten the rods as the rudder will expand when submerged along
its width. Use quarter sawn mahogany or better - teak.
<P>At our Club we have some teak taken from HMS Victory's Refit in the
early 1990s at Portsmouth, from below the waterline, this was pre Trafalgar
(1805) teak because the subsequent repairs were in oak. The
ship was originally planked in teak, I believe in 1769. The
teak was in remarkably good shape but the oak it was attached to was riddled
with worm and rot. The teak now forms the base for the Victory Trophy
with the blackened worm eaten oak forming the "decorative" upper part of
the trophy. It is quite a conversation piece to be sure.
<P>Glassing over solid wood is always going to give you grief in the long
run, as the wood will expand along its width and crack the glass, letting
in more moisture and expanding the crack. Then when hauled the moisture
cannot leave and voilà, rot begins.
<P>I digress, the point is that using teak and not glassing it over will
result in a rudder that will last you the longest, unless you back into
something and always lift the boat out of the water by the counter and
turn the rudder to make sure you haven't got it trapped by the sling.
<P>Contact Wooden Boat for more info.
<P>Great project, good luck.
<P>John
<P>Rap1208@aol.com wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE>From: Rap1208@aol.com
<P>Tom, good move on the name change! Glad the pictures will be helpfull.
I
<BR>haven't seen a rudder apart, but one old, neglected example in my yard,
had
<BR>the wooden pieces drifting apart. It was made of more or less
verticle
<BR>boards, with what appeared to be long pins connecting them. My
Ariel had an
<BR>arrangement much like that. I drifted the pins in with a hammer
and large
<BR>punch, and the boards tightened up. ( I also classed it over)
Also might be
<BR>very long threaded bronze rods, I'm not sure. but the rudder
can be
<BR>constructed with mahogony, and glassed over, if you like. Guess
you'll have
<BR>to inprovise. Long threaded rods, bronze or stainless, brased
or welded to
<BR>the rudder shaft would work. you have to carefuly drill the boards
, then
<BR>slide them on. About 3, I would guess, then counter sink slightly
at the
<BR>trailing edge, and use nuts to tighten. YOU CAN DO IT
<P>Russ
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