Too cold, so I fabricated a retractable skeg

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DKWakulla
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Too cold, so I fabricated a retractable skeg

Post by DKWakulla »

I figured a piece of aluminum angle iron would probably give me the best results for a frame. Cut ant notched out a piece then put a bend in it so that the business end would be in the center line of the boat. Cut and shaped a piece of 1/4" Lexan for the actual fin.

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Made a little sleeve for the hole in the fin to ride on, washer on each side, a nut and a jam nut to keep it free and not backing out.

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Add in a light spring to hold it down, an eye and some paracord.

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Re: Too cold, so I fabricated a retractable skeg

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Re: Too cold, so I fabricated a retractable skeg

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Re: Too cold, so I fabricated a retractable skeg

Post by DKWakulla »

It worked pretty decent first trip out. As such with things I've built for my boat, I usually tweak it a bit after an outing. My boat always pulled to the right fully loaded, and I dialed that fin in a degree or two to compensate, but It needs just a tad more to make it dead level. I can still turn the boat albeit really wide with it down, but the mechanism worked well enough I had no trouble retracting it when needed.
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