wrote:
I am rebuilding a Laser sailboat made in 1975. I had a bare hull with
NO fittings at all on it, mast, boom, a sail, dagger board, broken
rudder, and a box full of blocks from various boats, some may be Laser
parts.

Another item for attention is the mast step/socket. These tend to wear
out around the bottom. You can mold a new socket & fiberglass it in, or
get a kit.


The boat seemed to have clamcleat style cleats on either side ofht
ecockpit instead of camcleats. Could this be right?

Sure. It's a actually a pretty good system, assuming that the cleats are
in a good position for sailing (ie ready to hand but not likely to bite).


There is no tiller and I am loathe to spend money on a new one so I may
make one. Looking at the fitting for the tiller on the tiller box that
holds the rudder, there is a squareish mount for the rudder. Did a
wooden rudder simply fit into this?

Yep

... The pin that fits into the top of
this through the steel mount on the rudder box, was it simply to hold
the tiller in place?

Yep

... What kept the pin from coming out?

Gravity & friction. Works pretty well IIRC.


... How long
should my rudder be?

Well, what do you want to do with the boat? If you want it to be class
legal, you have to buy a rudder or at least make a close enough copy to
pass visual inspection.

There may be a pattern on the Laser class web site, www.laser.org

Another thought is to make your own rudder blade. Lasers have tiny
rudders, they're too small for really controlling the boat well
(especially in a chop) and tend to give Laser skippers a habit of
oversteering.


... This hole looks to be no more than 1'X1" which
seems sorta flimsy, what about this?

Yes, you need to make the tiller strong & stiff.


The cord that attaches to the forward edge of the rudder may be to haul
th erudder down after launching but I am not sure how to lead it.


It comes up over a pin in the rudder head, around the side of the
tiller, and to a small cleat on the tiller.

Fun boat, good luck with fitting it out. It will be interesting to hear
your comparison of this boat to the Mini-Cup

Fresh Breezes- Doug King