On my Guillemot L, I decided to make a skeg in the same manner that P&H does theirs. Havin 3 cables on hand, I am making 3 skegs… more yaks to come. LOL
I drew out the pattern of the skeg on a piece of 1/4 inch mahogany plywood and covered both sides of it with 4 oz glass and one coat of epoxy. I also did one side of the rest of the plywood I had left to make the box out of. I will fill the glass for the box before cutting it to size and put that side to the inside. I will cut the blades out on my bandsaw and glue the cable in before filling the weave.
Here I am cutting the blades out on the bandsaw
Next I cut a slot in the top of the skeg inwhich to epoxy the cable to
And drill oversized holes for the cable in the top and connecting bolt through the sides. I then tape the back sides and will fill all with epoxy when I do the fill coats.
Starting the slide block, I inserted a 3/4″ core box bit in my router table, and set up a center line on the fence
I took a mahogany block 1 1/2 X 1 1/2 X 6 inch block and laid out 2 marks 1 3/4 inches off the center line each way. Lineing up the left line I lowered the block down on the router and slide it till the right hand line met up with the center line
This created a rounded groove like this
which I then epoxied inside to seal it up
I put the sides of the box together and taped them in place. I then mixed a little wood flour with epoxy and made a 1/4 inch tongue depressor in which to fill all of the inside corners with a small fillet.
I marked the ends of the handle block to drill the holes for the rod and cable
Then I placed the block on the kayak so I can plane it to match the shape of the kayak body, then I marked how it sat on the inside
removing the block from the boat, I planed and belt sanded the underside of the block and reinstalled it, tacking it in place using hot melt glue so it can be removed at a later date.
Then I installed the slide bar and handle to make sure everything works, but then removed both
Moving to the skeg box, I started fibreglassing the outside
I cut the box slightly larger than the tapered shape of the skeg
I finalized it up by drilling a 1/4″ hole thru the box and skeg, using a 1/4″x1 1/2 S.S.bolt, fender washer, and rubber washer on the outside of the box, spacing the skeg with 2 S.S. fender washers on each side, and another rubber washer, S.S. fender washer and a S.S. acorn nut to hold it all together.
Drilling the top of the box for the cable and cable tubing, it is ready to install.
