Laminating the Rudder Blank

After not doing any "real" boat work yesterday (I did some straightening up and studied the plans a bit), today I am setting up to laminate the rudder blank tomorrow evening.

Here is a picture sequence of the dry fit test of the lamination process:

The WorkMate draped in plastic (to catch the excess epoxy squeezed out by clamp pressure) with wood supports in place (to hold the blank off the work surface; allows room for clamping and helps keep the excess epoxy off the bottom side of the blank)



The seven staves to be glued edge to edge to form the blank.



The staves turned up on edge to make it easier to coat the edges with epoxy. Since both long edges of the five inside staves need to be coated with epoxy, I will coat one edge this evening and the other edge tomorrow evening.



Once the edges have been coated with epoxy - and epoxy thickened with a filler into a more paste like consistency is applied to one edge on each stave - the staves will be laid flat and then clamped together



To assure the blank does not twist or warp from the clamping pressue, additional clamps and pieces of lumber will be used as shown to flatten the blank while the epoxy sets up and cures.



Normally I would paint the epoxy on to the edges with a small foam brush, doing one stave at a time. However, I decided to try something a little different tonight. I will clamp the five inside staves together to create a larger surface and apply the epoxy with a roller or a plastic spreader (haven't decided which yet). If the pieces are clamped tightly together the amount of epoxy dripping down the sides should be minimal. I will remove the clamps before the epoxy cures (becasue if I didn't I would have a rather largish block of wood that would not make a very good rudder!)



The epoxy will be applied to the edges of the two outside staves with a brush. Those two pieces are different sizes than the other five staves so they are not easily clamped with the other five staves.

One additional step needs to be done before I start mixing and applying epoxy. I need to tape all of the wooden support pieces with shiny brown packing tape. Epoxy does not stick to the tape which means none of those pieces will became glued to the blank.