I cut a piece of tapered wood to glue to the skeg before I install the skeg...look OK?

Curt,

That'll work. I never had a problem with the skeg as it was designed. The only thing I did differently was to put a wormshoe on it.

George K

Thanks much George...could you advise how you added the wormshoe, what it covered, how attached, made of what, etc.   I'm still thinking of the rope trick, but want to hear other people's methods.

Thanks!!

   Curt 830/997-8120

Well, it didn't look exactly like Laszlo's version! I used some #1 pine about 3/16" thick and the width of the skeg. You can use any hardwood, I use pine because it's readily available down here in the south. I used thickened epoxy to glue it on and some small brads to hold it in place. I just left them in and epoxied the whole thing before painting the bottom. I sanded it into the profile of the skeg fore and aft so it really only covers the bottom. When it gets worn down close to the plywood just grind it off and put on another. Should last for years.

George K

   Thanks George..this is very timely because I am ready to epoxy the 3/8" rope to the skeg and stem tomorrow...so I am hearing that this is an alternative to the rope eh?

So....if I understand it right, you have the bare wood of the skeg, then regular encapsulating epoxy layers (like 3 coats?), then your thin wood strip epoxied onto that epoxy, then paint?   So did you cover the wood strip in epoxy before painting, or did you paint the bare wood?

All of my surfaces (stem, skeg, daggerboard, and rudder) will be covered in cloth directly on the wood, wetted out, then the rope, then two more coats of epoxy...I'm gathering your weave fill coats go under the sacrifical wood, where my plan was to put the weave fill epoxy on after the rope is on...just wanting to make sure I understand what  you did...Wish I knew someone that has done both the wood strip and the rope trick to know which to do!!!

Thanks!

Curt 830/997-8120

Curt,

Take a deep breath and don't sweat it. The manual doesn't say to do either, right? So you know you can build a perfectly good boat that way. You are the builder, so if you do one and don't like it you can change it to the other next season. There's no law that says you have to get it in the final form on launch day.

That's part of the fun of building your own - the eternal tweaking and adjustment ever after. So flip a couple of coins and pick one or the other, or neither or both. It'll be a fine boat whichever way you go.

Have fun,

Laszlo

Curt,

You're making it too much work! This is supposed to be fun. I just epoxied the wormshoe directly on the plywood skeg. The thickened epoxy will waterproof the seam between the wormshoe and the skeg. Then I coated it with 2-3 coats of epoxy, then primer and paint. I didn't use any cloth on the skeg. Not necessary. The wormshoe is meant to be sacrificial so don't spend a lot of time on it. As Laszlo said, either one will work just fine.

George K

Sounds good, thanks guys!  I see the principles of the different approaches.

Curt 830/997-8120