Not long after its maiden voyage, I decided that my Guillemot L could benefit from a skeg. A trip across Lake Champlain on the New York/Vermont border in a 10-15 knot breeze with winds at a forty five degree angle from the stern convinced me that a skeg was the only way I could manage the boat in any stronger winds. I liked the reports by Etienne Muller and Mike Trutwin and decided to combine what I thought would be the best of both.

I was covetous of Mike Truwins use of a carbon fiber control rod in a teflon sleeve. I also liked his design for the skeg housing which placed the control rod close to the deck to avoid snagging on gear bags as they are stowed in the stern. I also liked the high aspect ratio foil shapes used by both Mike and Etienne. I liked the hinge pin rig used by Etienne and his drawing that outlines how he sealed the box into the hull.

First, I designed the skeg with Autosketch software full scale. The dimensions were determined by: 1.) My desire for a 9" length of exposure of the skeg, 2.) A large bearing surface for the skeg on the inside of the box to minimize flopping when deployed, 3.) The position of the skeg was such that I could comfortably reach the back of the skeg box from the stern hatch in order to bond it to the inside of the hull. 4.) The distance from the inside of the hull to the inside of the deck.

I printed the parts full scale, cut out the parts, and transfered them onto Baltic birch plywood. The skeg is on 6 mm plywood and the skegbox sides are on 3 mm. I sanded a foil shape into the skeg with a belt sander.

The picture below shows my one contribution to this design: a hinge to connect the CF control rod to the skeg made from a single piece of UHMWPE. I had purchased the plastic sheet 12"x24"x3/8" of ultra high molecular weight polyethylene many years ago from Small Parts Inc. and used it to make the top hinge. I used G-Flex epoxy to glue it to a dado in the top of the skeg. I drilled side holes to accomodate the CF rod into a pocket hole on the end of the hinge.