The rudder - a Heike, Alanna and Sarah production
September - October 2023
Rudder rebuild
Raybel is a barge for everybody, so with support from Women in Boatbuilding, we wanted to address the diversity profile of our shipbuilding team and help to bridge the gender gap in this very male dominated community sector.
Applications were invited for trainee positions, from women with some previous experience, and were able to offer three positions, with two taken up (the third, from a Danish trainee was scuppered by post Brexit employment rules).
These were paid traineeships over three months, between September and November 2023. The work included tasks such as woodwork, metalwork, surface preparation, painting, lubricating, and access via gangplanks, ladders, and scaffolding.
We’re pleased that feedback from both the trainer and trainees was positive in the case of the trainer and highly positive for the trainees, and that Sara has been able to put the skills she learnt into practice since, through paid work.
A big thanks to Heike and the traineeship team for doing a sterling job and bringing such a wealth of energy and dedication to the project.
The rudder stock is a 15-foot piece of oak carefully shaped to match the cast iron steering head. The blade is Douglas fir and the rudder tapers from 15 inches to 8 inches. It's all held together with 24mm threaded bar.
The buid also featured in a tv documentary which is due to be screened in 2024.
Back on deck
Meanwhile, on deck the companionway hatch – the main route into the barge has been rebuilt and laid on brass runners. Neat felt flashings were fitted around the windlass heads. The woodburning stove was repaired and refitted against the steel bulkhead. A hole in the bulkhead – cut to allow access to tighten nuts was patched up.
Painting of the steel frames started with etch primer 2 coat paint system. All the new timber topsides received at least two coats of primer then a colour as specified by our onboard colour consultant Faye. Bryan painted in the bright yellow go-faster stripe and arrows. Colin painted all the hatch battens then weeded the wharf. Raybel is looking very smart in her new colours.
Big Alan fitted the glass prisms into the deck. These refract daylight down into the barge. They are notoriously leaky, so best Sikoflex boat mastic has been used to fix them down.
And the new steel lantern hatch was welded together and painted with several coats of primer by Stephen, who has also made the wooden windows and seats at his home workshop. Dedication!
Images: process of rudder constructiob from carving the sections to fitting together and final shaping.
