Since we’re saving time making the bow sprit from aluminum stock, that eliminated the anticipated fun of trying to make a carbon fiber tube. But we found an outlet – the six foot steering connection rod you’ll see soon between the new tiller pivot point and the rudder cassette.

I don’t have much success getting all-around-glassed parts off the mold or mandrel, So thought we tried the method where you start with a thin fiberglass layer and make a lengthwise slit to get the new tube off the mandrel.

Once this thin tube was free, we rewaxed the mandrel (which was a piece of metal electrical conduit) and slid the tube back on with the idea that the finished carbon layers would not get stuck to the mandrel. Since we’re “free styling” on this project and it’s the primary steering linkage (a REALLY important part) it seemed that five wraps around with 9oz unidirectional carbon was prudent. Well that many layers of hot epoxy plus the vacuum bag smashing it in and no PVA mold release, etc meant no way was that finished piece sliding off the mandrel. So we made another slit and went back and resealed it afterwards. The result is a pretty thick tube that is comforting-ly stiff when you lean hard on it with no flexing.

The only metal in the steering system will be stainless steel nuts and ball joints embedded in each end of this tube, plus the bolts to connect pieces. Everything is built now but the rudder bearing I bought isn’t right and needs to be replaced. So stay tuned for the completion soon on that project.

And now to cardboard… It’s not the most elegant way to dream up bathroom cabinets but it works for us. The trick here was designing around the hand pump for the Lavac head and the big mounting brackets where the port side forward beam bolts to the center hull.

If you’re wondering, it takes six quarters of NFL championship games to cut, recut and generally fiddle with angles to get that mockup done. (poor Packers!) You’re seeing 14 panels that need to be made, adding up to roughly 4′ x 6′ of surface area. Large sheets of double sided laminations were curing on the vac bag table during the two football games.

And today began the cutting and fitting, like solving a big jigsaw puzzle. One nice trick for cabinet face openings is lining up center points of 4.5″ hole-saw cuts and connecting the arcs.

It’ll probably take a few days to get this all built out, as there are many intermediate curing steps on adjoining all the panels.

I remember fondly the day we tore out the 8track in the Chevette and got a Cassette deck. Dorky car with a Radio Shack tape player – geez. Now we’re getting a carbon fiber rudder cassette on a good boat – I like this a lot better than the high school parking lot.

The cassette is built around the rudder for an exact fit, but it has to be oversized to allow low profile carpet to glue along the inside faces. That gives the rudder a snug fit and abrasion prevention. So to create that 4 millimeter gap it was another trip to the fabric store for some 1mil vinyl. (Wrapped in four layers)

The photo above shows a wax bead laid along the edges to form a nice radius of the cassette lip.

Made a paper pattern to get the vinyl sized just right:

The white plastic at the bottom will be the sacrificial break away area in case the rudder strikes something – the cassette is designed with a give-way point rather than destroy the rudder or the stern hull structure.

Then six layers of carbon fabric made an 1/8″ cassette body.

After the epoxy cured a few hammer blows got it separated from the rudder, and looking good.

And this is roughly where this piece will mount on the boat, after many more steps to create the hinge for turning the rudder and the attachment point for the tiller. Probably another 20 hours for this primary steering build.

When rudder parts are curing, work goes on in the aft cabin. Floor, bunks, and closet bulkheads are installed. To get the seat backs to conform roughly to the curved hull shape, this telescoping “Third Hand” tool is pushing the two sides in to shape while the fiberglass dries along the bottom edge and I can go eat dinner :)

With all the cassette talk, the radio got tuned to 80’s music in the shop all day. Took a break from NPR for AC/DC and Duran Duran sing alongs – hope that’s not the chemicals getting to me!