text: Although I have been busy with other projects recently I still found time to make the patterns for my rudder fittings.
  I am going to get these cast as they are not available to buy off the shelf like this and this design which I found in Todd bradshaw's book is an old one from Willits Bros canoe makers and is rather good because it allows for lots of places to put screws into the timber.
  My patterns are made of scraps of mahogany which I remembered is a good wood for pattern making as I used to use it when I was learning to be an engineers pattern maker at Charles Keen College in Leicester back in 1981.
  I also remembered we had tapers on our patterns and some were made to split so they could be more easily removed from the mould. I contacted the foundry and quizzed them about this before I made my patterns and sent them a sketch but they told me it wasn't necessary for my pieces so they are just a straight forward copy of what I require with a slight allowance for shrinkage of the metal when it cools.
  Here they are completed and polished ready to be sent to the foundry.
  I will need 2 of each piece per boat and now I have the pattern I have the facility to get more if anyone else would like some.
  When they come back to me in metal form I will still have to drill them for a bolt that will connect the two parts together and the holes that the screws will go into that hold them to the rudder assembly and boat stem and this is handy because if I fit them to different boats I can order more blanks and drill them to suit.