Work through 3/12/2008

Another item that needs to be installed before the deck can be mated to the hull is the skeg box and the control line. The skeg itself is carbon fiber set made by another one-man shop. While he mostly makes composite kayak paddles he also make components for kayaks including rudders and skegs. His adjustable skeg has a foil-shaped foam core blade that’s covered in carbon fiber.  The skeg box is solid carbon and S-glass. The control cable is spun stainless steel. It’s a real complete kit.  He supplies a plastic slider that mounts on the deck.  I’ll be making my own out of wood.  I could have made a skeg and box myself but it was quicker just to buy one.

On boats built with solid fiberglass hulls (ie commercial kayaks) you just cut a slot and drop the box in place. It can even be done after the boat is assembled. With a wood core I have to take a few extra steps. I first cut a slot in the hull where the skeg will reside. Simply cutting the slot and sealing it with epoxy wouldn’t be enough. I cut it about an 1/8″ larger than the blade. Then I plug it with thickened epoxy. When cured I cut the final opening. The plug seals off the wooden core from any moisture. I can then bond the skeg box to the hull…

I set the skeg box into the opening and raised and lowered the skeg a few times filing the opening as needed to get a smooth operation.  The leading edge of the blade was taped off some electrical tape to protect it from future work. It pulls off in one piece and is resistant to sanding/scratching.  Regular paper tape wouldn’t have held up as well (Tip from Pat).  Time to bond it to the hull.  I roughened up the hull and the box with some P80 sand paper,set it in to the opening with the blade about half-way down, and held it in place with some masking tape.  I then ran a small bead of hot glue along the bond line.  It prevents any epoxy from leaking into the box and onto the pivot, blade, etc.  I then ran a fillet of epoxy, colloidal silica and chopped fiberglass strand around the hull/box interface.  Pat says the fillet is usually enough but I covered the joint with a layer of 4-oz glass anyway… just in case.

The control cable has to run into the cockpit.  It passes through a hole in each bulkhead (drilled oversized, plugged with epoxy and redrilled).  I’ll later run a bead of silicone around each hole to seal them.  To prevent the cable from moving around during operation I made some walnut and stainless-steel clamps that get bonded to the underside of the deck.  During the mating of the deck to the hull I’ll run the cable through the bulkheads and the clamps. That should be fun…  I’ll make and attach the control slider after the deck is joined to the hull.