Skeg

Today I needed something to do while the fill coats of epoxy cured on the boat. The temp is ALMOST above freezing outside so today was an ok day to work in the un-heated portion of the garage. I pulled my sabre saw and belt sander back out and cut out and shaped the Skeg, also called a Turn Fin. The Skeg attaches to the aft bottom portion of the boat and helps the boat track nicely in turns. Without the Skeg the boat would skid and slide through turns.

I cut the Skeg out of 3/4" mahogany left over from the frames. I just eye-balled the shape I wanted and cut it out with a sabre saw. Here is a test fit after the rough cut. Then I shaped the nose and flattened the bottom cut with my belt sander.

After that I rounded the corners with my Mouse sander. Finally, I brought the Skeg inside where its warm and mixed up a little epoxy resin and encapsulated the Skeg on some wax paper. The entire Skeg took maybe 30 minutes to make.