I think I figured it out. After reading a blog comment posted by Bill, I realized I epoxied the chainplate to the deck when I redid my deck. I also have the rig as tight as possible(45/46). I'm wondering why my cabinside doghouse has fine cracks along the fiberglass near the chain plate area on both sides. The stress from the rig is pulling the deck up. Looks like I have an excuse to buy the Fein Multimaster now. That would be the perfect attachment and tool for cutting close to the chainplate and bedding it like a normal boat owner. I'm then going to actually layup a 6" wide layer or two of glass tape at the seam where the cabin sides meet the deck. I'll run it the entire length to try and reinforce the area. Then paint it gray again. Thanks Bill. Even though you were unaware that you helped.

Rob - glad I could help without even trying. The chain plates definitely need to float from the deck. Isolate the area and leave a small void you can fill with caulk around the perimeter of the chain plates. I still need to do this and it is on my list for the next off season, or maybe the year after.

It has been a while since I posted on my blog and done some work. Today I started work on my rudder and transmission. You can read about it in the Latest Blog Entry. Here are a couple of teaser photos.

Where can one find the stainless sleeves for isolating the rudder core? 3/8" ID. I am in the process of drying, barrier coating and sleeving the mounting holes on Rauzer II.

The sleeves I used were supplied with the rudder from IdaSailor, on the class web site. You could probably get a piece of SS pipe and use a tubing cutter.

I disassembled the shaft holding the conical clutch assembly and posted some information on my blog. Here's a picture of the seating surface that the conical clutch mates with.

The right one has not been worked on yet, so you can see the glazed surface that causes the clutch to slip. I already used emery cloth on the left one.

The cone clutch surface is shown below, along with all the other pieces that make up the assembly.

Read more on the Blog Post

I will be interested to hear if just resurfacing those surfaces solves the slipping clutch problem. On Rauzer II the cone had to be replaced as the surface on the 'forward' side was worn. It was barely noticeable to the naked eye, but once replaced, it engaged as it should. A friend had the same problem and simply flipped the cone so the less used side, previously used for 'reverse' was then used for 'forward'. He may still have had some slippage in reverse, but I don't know. If I was going to all of the trouble of taking the thing apart because the clutch was slipping, I would replace the cone. In a car you don't just resurface the flywheel. You put in a new clutch plate as well. jmho fwiw

Al - Thanks for the comments. I thought about replacing the drive cone and have read on various other forums with people who had success by just removing the glazed surface. My take is that the clearances would only change if the cone was worn, and if that happened, there would be metal bits in the the oil. Since the oil was the original honey color and I didn't see any particulates, the drive cone should be good. I'm also lightly lapping the cone surface to remove any glaze on it. Regarding automobile clutches - these are a different animal as the clutch plate has pads that actually do wear and you see dust collected inside the bell housing.

As it stands, I'm only out my labor and a tube of gasket sealer for the transmission case to bell housing joint. The problem I had was the engine would not easily engage in forward gear when warmed up. I had to run the engine through various RPMs before the clutch would engage. It would engage just fine when the engine was cold. This will either fix it, or I'll be in the same state I was before the rebuild. Besides, it gives me boat work to do in the basement when it's 20 degrees outside.

If this doesn't fix it, I'll take it apart next winter and put in a new drive cone. With the parts in hand, the entire rebuild in my basement would take less than 3 hours now that I know how it is assembled and adjusted.

Bill - I would still flip the cone so the more worn side engages the reverse gear. imho

I donna know. The way Bill likes to buzz into that slip with a decent prevailing wind coming up the E. passage at his back ... better it should slip in forward than reverse.