Rudder stock and tiller

I really like the design of the stock and tiller on this boat. It is very Mothie. What I mean by this is that it’s minimalist in every sense and super light. There is nothing superfluous or unnecessary in the design. The great thing too is that the rudder foil itself adds stiffness to its structure so that it becomes surprisingly stiff.

Essentially it is just 1/8” aluminium plate bent into a d shape.This is then riveted to another section bent to form a ] shape to make the pintle. A strip of ply is bonded to the underside of the section that forms the tiller and this is also cut out to make it even lighter! As I said, there is no unnecessary material in this sucker.

However, age had caught up with the structure and the ply had become delaminated from the aluminium, so it was a matter of cleaning off the old flaky epoxy and re-bonding the structure. That was basically all that was needed. I added a depth stopper for the pin so that would not drop down too far and drag in the water. This is just some black auto epoxy moulded around the pin.

I replaced the old aluminium tiller extension as it was somewhat bent and beat up looking. The new extension is simply a length of bamboo from the garden section of a local hardware store and costs just $2! For a few dollars more, I wrapped it with sports grip tape and also replaced the universal fitting as the original one had broken. Amazingly it is even lighter than the old aluminium one!

There is strip of marine carpet lining the top slot and a split clear plastic hose is sewn onto the bottom slot to provide grip. These were still in good condition so I left well alone.