rudder replacement
since Izzy left me with a broken rudder (see the thread about Izzy for a pic) i am mulling over various methods to replace it.
1. just epoxy the two halves back together, and put a few bronze straps (~12" long) across the repair on both sides of the rudder, bolted to each other.
2. make a new mahogany rudder. using the same manufacturing and attachment methods. nut pockets in the rudder and all. i can use all but one of the old bolts (one broke)
3. make a new rudder out of fiberglass. this method would leave me with the finished rudder having all the bronze rudder stock encased in fiberglass too. this might be difficult to install once finished. i would have to take off the shoe at the bottom, raise the whole boat up high enough to slide the rudder stock up into the boat and in the cockpit. and then replace the shoe again.
4. buy the beat up ariel that is in my yacht yard and currently for sale on Ebay, and strip it of all kinds of parts: rudder, spreader sockets, cleats, etc. and then sell the remaining parts to everybody in the association. wasn't someone previously looking for a rudder shoe, an icebox hatch/cover and some cleats?
when i was done raping and pilaging this boat, i would cut the lead out, sell it to a recycler, and throw the hull away. and Ariel #370 would die, but #3 would live on.....
It sounds like a joke, but really, i am seriously considering it.
any thoughts on the above?
-km
aka, "sell out"
S/V Beyond the Sea
C&C 35 mkIII