So I have been slacking ever since I've sort of come to terms with the fact that I probably won't launch this year. I haven't totally ruled it, but even though this weekend is going to be great weather wise, I don't think there are many warm days left in the year and I'm just not quite ready. 
With that said, I did a mini push over the past few days to get my shit together and get some more of the odds and ends closer to completion. It all started when I picked up a lathe (Rigid w1200) on craigslist for no good reason other than I happened to be looking in tools and this was really cheap. It's not a very good one, but it came with a set of tools and I've never done any lathe work before so I wouldn't really know the difference. I had been thinking about a lathe ever since I saw a nice implementation of a Norwegian tiller arm somewhere out on the interwebs. 
Anyway, I glued up two pieces of sapelle I had laying around early last week and once it cured, I threw it on the lathe and started turning it down. Originally, I was going to do a round hole through the rudder for simplicity's sake (just cut through it with a hole saw), but as I started playing with the lathe I decided it would be fun to have a square cut threw the rudder and have it taper to round on either side. Really no reason other than I was having fun with the lathe. Now that I have a lathe, it's just the most fun toy ever, it's fascinating to watch
Next, I drilled out the rough margins for the square hole in the rudder and then chiseled it out. It took a while to get the fit right, but I finally got a good tight (but not too tight). For the backside of the opening, I drilled a 1.5" hole in a piece of cherry and screwed it on so the tiller arm would seat in the hole. Last up I rounded off the top edges of the rudder to get rid of the angular look it previously had and dry fitted the assembly on the boat. I still have to rout the edges for a little more smoothing, but I'm satisfied with the overall look. Ultimately, I will paint the rudder assembly, but will varnish the tiller arm. 
The second thing I got done this week was to get the bilge pump installed in the port seat tank. On a boat this size having a mounted bilge pump isn't really necessary, a bucket will do, but I wanted something that could drain water under the deck without having to remove them. The pump is a Whale Compact 50 and was the biggest one I could find that would fit in the space I had. It has a removable pump handle and a cover that makes the whole arrangement look tidy.
It was still a tight fit, and getting the hose routed from the bilge, up into the seat tank was awkward. I had previously dry mounted the pump itself prior to painting, but not with hoses attached so it took a bit of work to get it all set. In the bilge itself I mounted the hose to a strum box with a 3 pound lead weight and butyl tape to hold it in place but be movable if necessary. I ran the discharge hose from the pump through the port seat tank to the stern where I installed a discharge pipe as high up as possible near the rudder. I finished it up by sealing up the access plate with caulking and screws to keep it watertight. Finally, I reinstalled the seat tops that I had spent a few afternoons applying way too many coats of Deks Olje oil. The pine I'm using for seat tops soaks up Deks like crazy. Anyway, kind of a mish-mash of accomplishments for the week, but it all had to be done and there's lots more of the same to come as I get closer to launch.
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