Update (1) - retaining of rudder cassette spacer

After launching the boat I stopped updating the blog. After two full seasons of sailing there are some things to mention that might be helpful or interesting for other F22 builders....

So starting with something small: the spacer in my rudder cassette is bolted with 6 mm nylon threaded rod with normal ss nuts. This might seem a bit weak solution, but till now it hasn't failed. The good thing is that in the event of the rudder breaking out, there will be no or not much damage to the cassette. I had the rudder breaking out once while motoring about 6 knots and running into probably some mud, and the nylon 'bolts' holding the spacer at the back of the cassette were easily cut by the cassette, freeing the rudder.

One thing I learned from this occasion: make a small retaining line for the spacer (the rudder is also tied to the boat with a piece of rope, by the way) to make sure you don't lose the spacer when the rudder breaks out, like the example above. I could easily collect the spacer when I lost it (it floats - it's made of cutting board which is apparently lighter then water) because I lost it in calm circumstances, but it's probably not possible to collect it with a lot of wind and waves. With the rudder and the spacer retained - and 2 or 4 spare 6mm bolts - it should be no more than a few minutes work to get the rudder up and running again.