Spars | Zach Wiest's Skerry Build Blog

I got a lot of things done today. I hit up a bunch of different things so I will just list them.

1. After the yard (sprit) was cured from gluing the two pieces together, I got out my router and rounded over the yard and boom with a 3/8″ roundover bit. I love working with the router! It has to be the coolest woodworking tool.

2. I laid out some plastic in my house and glued the two sections of the mast. I also glued the rails together. Each of the four, full-length rails (inwale and outale on port and starboard) are made of three pieces. As usual, I used epoxy thickened with silica for strength. Many clamps were used to put pressure on the seam. I elected to do this in the house because of the flat level floor and limited space in the garage with the boat in there.

3. The daggerboard will produce a lot of drag with its 2′ draft. I began shaping the leading and trailing edges with the sander, to make it more sleek in the water. I will eventually do the same to the rudder.

4. The rudder is a kickup type that rotates aft on a 1/4″ bolt that runs through both halves of the rudder head. I drilled these holes out to 3/8″ and filled with epoxy thickened with wood flour. When this cures I will again drill out the smaller 1/4″ hole. This is done to completely seal the wood from water penetration. I don’t want water getting in there and rotting away the wood!