Outrigger Paddling

 Tonight I finally got to install the new 3D printed pedals. I work with SketchUp and exported the file to STL. From there I went to 3D Print Hubs and chose a hub in Connecticut. I went back and forth with the owner of Diversified Manufacturing Tech while I refined the basic design. He suggested the carbon fiber/nylon material named "onyx." I spent considerable time engineering the holes through which the bungee cord and rudder lines would connect, and during attachment I had a friend hold the rudder while I toyed around with the length of the lines, seeking the right amount of tension. 3D printed ONYX pedals, $20.80 total Not only are the pedals great, Andrew even did a follow up. A lot of customer service for $20.80, and he threw in a tablet stylus as a business promo gift. As someone who owns three tablets, I really appreciate that. So, here is his plug: Diversified Manufacturing Technologies website . My first SketchUp drawing based on the old pedals Not

Did you know we live in a mostly metallic world? That salt you like to shake on your dinner? Metal. That saltwater you like to play in? Metallic water. Those rusted rudder cables that snapped on you just when you least expected it? Rusted metal. So what is metal, and why do we think our stainless steel cables are strong, say, in comparison to plastic? If you've landed on this blog, it's because you like me need to swap out your rudder cables, and you've come across an alternative cable, likely named Spectra. As you can see from this periodic table of the elements, most of our elements are metal. Loosely defined, a metal is an element that bonds atomically with itself in a fluid manner. Stainless steel is an alloy of iron and chromium as well as other metal elements namely nickel and molybdenum (Mo, number 42). What makes your rudder cable strong is not so much the willingness of its metal elements to bond to one another but the number of strands wound into the cable.