Rudder Foot Braces, Invisible Deck Hold Down Blocks and End Pours

The foot braces, deck hold down blocks and end pours will be much easier to install before the deck goes on.

Here I deviated a bit from the plans and wanted to do my for and aft end pours with thickened epoxy, especially in the aft end where the rudder bracket will be mounted. It will be screwed in through the hull into the solid epoxy mix. I created a dam with a plastic McDonald’s tray and tape to hold the epoxy in place while it cured.

Aft end pour to provide solid material for rudder bracket screws

My second “enhancement” to the plans is installing blocks to the inside of the deck. These blocks will have lengths of bungee running through holes in the block to form loops that will hold down the hatches that will have brackets glued to their underside.

Enhancement number three, I went with a special add ons for the foot brace rudder controls. The first is a mounting stud that does not require any through hull holes. The foot brace mounting studs are epoxied in place with thickened epoxy and fiberglass cloth. The second is a vertical adjustment. The foot pedal assembly bolts the the adjustment kit, then using one of the three possible positions the adjustment block is bolted to the studs.

While I was taking care of the rudder foot pedals I figured it was a good time to run the plastic tubes for the rudder steering wires. To make installation easy and as much of a straight path as possible I did epoxy in some mounting blocks to which the tubes would be fastened. This also required two holes through the bulkhead behind the cockpit.