Hi
I'm working on the rudder now and it seems to me that bringing the tightening rope further up would make it more accessible and easy to use. Its a bit far at the back. It would be simple to add a small hole on the rudder arm and attach the rope to the top of the rudder arm. Maybe just make the attachment cut out, which is rectangular now just a bit longer. Has anyone tried this? There is enough room for a small cleat on the back of the bit that projects through the arm. Or even change the shape of the projection not to be pointy and put the attachment for the deployment rope there.
Is this scandalous talk or is there a good reason why not. It would damage the look a bit though.
Christine

I think the rudder is a good place to experiment - you can easily swap it out - so there isn't much risk in changing the design. Assuming you still hang it with compatible hardware, you can always start with the stock design and then change it, or start with something altered and revert to the stock if you ever change your mind.

My number one complaint about the stock rudder is that it tends to pop off when you're underway. This is an incredible inconvenience to say the least! I have done various things to my rudder to get it to stay on including: wrap hair ties around it as an impromptu bungie, wire it on with a piece of copper, and finally I drilled a hole in the pintle to accept a pin.

I assume others have had this same trouble and similar solutions, although come to think about it I haven't seen much discussion - comments anyone?

My number two complaint about the stock rudder is that I have difficulty putting it back on when I'm hanging over the stern of the boat and it's popped off leaving me holding a tiller attached to a pretty bit of floating wooden sculpture. Fortunately, fixing problem one pretty much eliminates worrying about number two.

Compared to problems one and two (now solved) I haven't been too bothered by reaching back to set the cam cleat to lock the rudder down. It could definitely be made more convenient, and I think David Bixby had a fancy cleat arrangement so you might want to check out his page.

I've also wondered if it would be advantageous to have a somewhat longer blade. That would be an easy substitution, I just never bothered to try it (I do sometimes think the rudder lacks a little bite). I suppose that if it was taken too far there might be other implications, and I really don't know how sensitive the design would be to those sorts of changes.

- Bob

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Bob Santore,

Christine,

Start with this thread: http://get-outside.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/679608126/m/5...=106604326#106604326
and then do some searches for "rudder." These issues have been much discussed on this forum.

In the link above I talk about a quick release cleat for my rudder deploy line. In practice, my rudder stays down with a bit of internal friction and no cleat is needed. I built giant (about 6 inch diameter) washers out of thin flexible plastic kitchen cutting board material to place between the rudder blade and the inside walls of the rudder closet. This reduces wear, adds a little friction to keep the blade down without needing to cleat the line, and keeps the rudder blade from flopping inside the wood box. I sanded and sized the inside spacing of the closet halves carefully before assembling to allow the correct spacing for the finished rudder and thin plastic washers.


Somewhere on this forum, it was discussed that having the rudder deploy line stick straight out the back of the rudder stock is not as convenient as it should be. Bringing the line up and forward would certainly be an improvement in my opinion.
David.

I haven't had trouble with my rudder pintles popping off the gudgeons, but for those who do, installing a simple rudder hold-down would solve it. Here's the link to the Duckworks site that has them.... complete with picture.

rudder hold down

The fit between my pintles and gudgeons is so tight that having it pop off accidently is not something I worry about.

Julie K.
"Sanctuary"

How did you get the tight fit Julie? by pinching the gudgeons? Does that make it difficult to turn?

My rudder would just float out and off until I secured it with a pin. Even tied to the dock a passing wave could bring the rudder off. There is no slop in the fit of the rudder hardware, it just seems to smoothly pop straight off.

The hold-downs on the Duckwork site look like they'd work better on a boat with a flat transom. (and they are simple! I like simple.)

the tight fit "just happened".... as a function of needing to do some minor adjustments in sides of gudgeons to conform to the actual curvature of the stern.... in my case, all parts of that assembly (pintles, gudgeons, rudder and stern) needed a little "persuasion" to fit together....

Julie K
"Sanctuary"

Thanks for the info and links.
I guess I will add some device to keep the rudder from floating up and will think about a new spot to cleat the rope.

I just came back from a week in the sun. I got to sail a sunfish! in March! We are still up to our tush in snow here so that was a treat.

I have modified the rudder to allow the rope to pass up and possibly to the front. Depends on how the cleat fits and how it looks. If this doesn't work well I will simply fill and cleat at the back.


http://www.christinedemerchant.com/rudder.html