Throttle Installed

Here it is, on the front of the rear seat thwart.  Counter clockwise, Reverse, Clockwise, Forward

Mount for Control Head, Lift Ring and Throttle

 Above and below showing the control head and mocked up mounting. The shaft needs to be shortened. Cutting off the handle was a big leap as there is no going back now. There will be a nice bit of room on either side of the head for storage. The motor well/plumbing fittings sit directly behind the control head and the wires are amply long to reach the motor.  The battery wires will have to be lengthened.

 Flush mount lift ring installed on back deck hatch.  Made two test runs on scrap wood and it fit perfectly, no chips or dings.  Moved on to the boat and was dismayed to see two small chips in surrounding wood. There is no justice. If you squint your eyes and look at it slightly askance, the chips are not so noticeable.

 This, below,  is the throttle/fwd/rev control. I searched the local architectural salvage place for something to use that was a bit funky, this is what I found.   It started life as a door handle, I also found the brass plate.  The square shaft fit nicely into the hole and much to my surprise, if I slid the little button up it locked the shaft into what shall be called the neutral/off position.  To operate the boat one must push the little button down to operate the handle. BTW, the handle is bronze and the plate is brass.  Very nautical or screen doorish as you please.

 Above and below are pics of the mocked up mount.  Turns out I got it right the first time and the shaft goes through the seat thwart at a 90 degree angle. The parts and pieces have been removed and will be painted before re installing.

 What in the world is this? The square shaft attached to the handle/throttle was much to small to fit in the hollow of the shaft of the control head (the bit that sticks out through the seat thwart in one of the pics above) so I whittled a rock maple plug of appropriate size, fitted it the the handle shaft and immersed the whole in a puddle of epoxy, all in a scrap of the shaft yielding (I hope) a perfect fit when cured and removed from the scrap piece. The bit sticking up threads into the handle and is secured with a set screw.  Progress!

A shot of the bow

Steering mocked up, things are coming together

Made some cleats from rock maple (thanks to the Essex dump)

 Early attempts to mock up steering. Not happy with the way it fit together

 I know I talked about stick steering but really wanted the wheel to work

 Some shots of the finish with bright sunlight streaming in the window.

 I am so glad I did not grind it all off when it first appeared too dark.

 Another mockup of the wheel and steering

 The piece of wood acts in the place of a quadrant on the steering arm

 the wheel, the rope and the steering arm

 By moving the oar so only the handle is behind the wheel, I now have more room to set the wheel back a bit and I am beginning to like the look.

 The wheel is hidden on the left of he pic but you can see the two lines heading back to the double pulley on the left of the pic and the single pulley on the right.

 Another shot of the double pulley

 Ane one of the single

 Now I am faced with how in the world to mate this mess (below) with the boat—where to put it? Dismantle it and take the guts and put them next to the wheel?  Mount the whole assembly under the seat?  Not enough room for that I fear

 Poor old battle scarred decks finished with two coates of Minwax Helmsman over color varnish and stain.

Where the batteries will live and other stuff

Oarlock on riser and center seat where batteries will live. I reinforced the floor with an extra layer of plywood under the battery boxes.

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Not happy with my work

Here are some recent pics of the boat. Not happy with the outcome of staining the decks and attempting to pay the seams

When the tape was pulled away, some of the seam compound (caulking) came with it.  Did I pull too soon, too late, who knows?  Several seams came out perfectly, but not good enough.

Also, the stain is too dark. Needed to stop one coat sooner, but there were blotches and unevenness.  Now it is all too dark.  Bummer.  Not liking this at all. Considering dragging out the RO and going back to bare wood and starting again.
Below, the newly painted hull.  Shadows make it look worse than it is.  Actually pretty happy with how the hull came out.  Considered painting the sheer strake a different color but decided on all white.

Skeg, Shaped and Installed

 Skeg roughed out, piece of wood laying on top to show clearance of final hardwood shoe.

 Just about one inch clearance

 Decided to epoxy 1/4 inch SS bolts in place to hold shoe. Also added 1/2 inch marine fir spacer under  skeg to raise it and, because it is beveled it gives the skeg a wider footprint.

 Spent a lot of time aligning the skeg and got is as best I can. Seems to be about perfect.

As you can see, I beveled the trailing edge. I plan to make the spacer the motor sits on about 1/2 inch taller to give the blade a bit more clearance. The shoe will be bolted on top of the skeg and hang out unsupported over the motor and blade.  Hopefully I can find just the right piece of hardwood for the job.