Used a 23/64” X 12” drill for the drifts on the trailing edge of the rudder. I tried an 11/32” bit, but mahogany is so dense that in testing, I couldn’t get the drifts to go in all the way (I used steel bar for practice on a strip of mahogany.) Drifts were recessed about 1 to 1 1/2”. The jig had be shimmed to get the correct angle on some of the holes. Before installing the drifts, wooden boaters recommend using a grinder or chisel to roughen up the bar stock. Supposedly this allows the wood to grip the drift as the wood swells in water. Others say its an unneeded step. All say to install drifts on angles to each other to lock them into place. One photo shows the angles that the drifts create if you extend them until they intersect. The third plank is locked and can’t be pulled off.
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