Started work today on the rudder and steering system, and it was very sobering to fabricate the gudgeons (pivot point for the whole rudder) after reading this morning about the Columbia 30 race boat Uncontrollable Urge losing her rudder and crashing on Sam Clemente Island. It reinforced the idea of doing the very best possible laminating work of these parts. The piece in the photos is actually the pair of gudgeons being built as a whole, and to finish it will be ripped into two separate pieces. It started as a foam form with a piece of G10 fiberglass tube, then 16 layers of carbon fiber. Later today, I added ten more carbon layers wrapping the exposed side of the tube in between the legs.

When they’re done, the fit over the rear post something like this…

I also got the first of the beam fairings fitted, and the shape looks great. But forgot to take a photo – so that’ll be next time.

And a big thanks to Griffin for working today, and rebuilding the cradle that holds the starboard float on land. I broke it last week by improper jack placement as we lifted the hull up three feet to meet the beam. But his work kept me productive on the gudgeons :)