Leaderboard

Though I waffled back and forth on this for a while, I decided ultimately to go with an electric outboard, at least for now. If we feel like we need a small 2-stroke, I'm confident we'll find one 2nd hand very cheaply once we're in Mexico. I took it out for a little 5NM stroll through the estuary where our boat is kept. Was really satisfying, I can't believe ho quiet these things are. In fact, the noise the water makes against the hull is far louder than the motor itself, especially at the speeds I was running it (100-230W for 3-4kts). I do need to come up with a bracket for it to mount on. Today I used some plastic material so I wouldn't damage the relatively soft wood. Unfortunately the rudder gudgeons are bolted through basically right where the bolts need to be for the engine mount, so I think I will just 3D print something with ASA (UV resistant) that slips over this bit on the inside, and maybe a thin metal plate on the other side. Or I could swithc to screws... I thought there was a good reason I through bolted them, but I really can't think of the reason given the force on the rudder is so minimal.

Feb 12 Side stringers and sheer clamp installation. Sheer clamp - 3, 1" strips, plan says they should be 16'9" they are just short of 19' by my tape. We cut them out of the nicest 2x12x20' SYP I could find, bring a friend to the lumber yard, they dont like it when you "rat f#ck" their stacks without putting everything back as it was. Lumber yard employees are usally very helpful but their helpfulness will disappear as you tell them " theres a good one on the bottom of this stack" We busted 5 of the strips before figuring out the deal, the grain needs to be vertical, at the turn of the bow they actually curve upwards and twist, the wood bends safely when you bend it perpendicular to the grain direction rather than parallel. We thought it was good, as you can see the next morning we arrived to find the outside one exploded in the night. every one that broke, broke while bending around temp frame one. the bottoms of the bracket are sitting in the pictures below, both pre coated with 1708 on the "inside"