I am going to use a tiller,my rudder is per plans but two pcs of 7/16 ply laminated and glassed,hoping to use the extra weight to keep it down better.......using duckworks pintels and gudgeons..........not sure how to make rudder box........I assume the same width material as the rudder sandwiched and rising to tiller...........any thing I should know?   bruce
Bruce,
I went with the tiller steerting as well. I just built the rudder box same as in the plans and then bolted on extra plywood to come up and hold the tiller above the transom. It works great and is so much more responsive than the wheel steering. The hardware from Duckworks work great! Good luck and Good Sailing!
thanx tracy. that looks great!a picture is worth a thousand etc...............does it have any side flex? I was wondering if I should lengthen the transom piece to get the gudgeons and pintels a little further apart,haven't painted yet and am walking around it second guessing everything................how do you like the suzuki? they seem to be the lightest and I'm leaning in that direction...........thanx again  bruce
Bruce,
There is very little flex if any with the 1/2 inch plywood that I used. Remember all you are doing is steering the boat...it doesn't take much twisting force. I thought the same thing when I was building my boat. I have been very pleased with the performance of the steering set up.
The suzuki that I have is perfect for my needs...it pushes the boat along just fine. I have not used it as much as I thought I would though. I have mostly just been sailing in and out of the dock area. Have fun with the finishing stages.
thanx again tracy, have ordered my gudgeons from duckworks and will wait to make rudderbox till I get them and can see how much clearance is needed to avoid doing it twice..................learning a little patience after getting ahead of myself on a few things..............I am on the icw so have strong tides to contend with , making the motor more of a priority here..........everything is coming out great and really enjoying the building process............might build something else when this one is done..thanx again    bruce
You can never have too many boats Bruce
I've had several boats and am helping out with my neighbor's project in between............check out his web site................10 year project and he does everything to the nth degree....farreachvoyages.com................it's worth a look ,he's more devoted than all of us put together....................................bruce