With the temperature around zero and first thing in the morning below zero, not much work has been done on Naiad. Trying to do anything without gloves means that you have to stop every 30 minutes or so and go back in the house to allow your fingers to warm up as working with gloves on is a recipe for disaster. It's just as well that Naiad is about ready to go into the workshop.

Still, one or two things have been done.

One of the things that needed to be tweaked is the rudder blade downhaul. If the line is allowed to go slack then it can get jammed between the blade and the stock which makes it difficult or impossible to lift the rudder blade. Once or twice I have needed to lift the entire rudder off the pintles due to the blade being stuck in the down position. The solution is easy. Take a length of 2mm stainless round rod.

Bend the end as shown.

And cut off the bent end to form a fencing staple, sort of, and repeat three times.

Drill two 1.5mm holes in the rudder blade and gently hammer in the staple over the groove along which the downhaul should lie. When it's not being jammed, that it.

The last of these staples broke through the side of the blade due to my drilling in the pilot hole at an angle instead of straight down.

So, two new holes and the staple went in correctly. The incorrect holes will be filled with epoxy later.

This is the result.

The down haul ties to the screw in the blade and runs under the staples. This should prevent it from getting jammed.

I cut several wedge shapes out of the Purple Heart I purchased.

These fit under the new chain plates as shown and will be loosely attached to the hull and plates with a sealant, probably Butyl Tape. The chain plates on the port side could be fitted and fixed in places but I think I'll wait until Naiad comes back out of the workshop and do them then as I want to sand back the paint where the chain plates lay in the hull and put some epoxy on any bare wood there and that will be easier with Naiad upside down.

The rudder blade was taken into the house to warm up since it will be epoxied the next time I mix up a batch. I really need to find a way to heat the workshop, or at least Naiad when she is in there so that the epoxy work I'll be doing will get a chance to cure properly.