What's up with my rudder?

[skipperdee]

Hi everyone, new sailor here. I got a $50 South Coast 22 out of a guy's backyard and brought it back to life.

Now I've got it on a mooring can on Lake Michigan and I'm looking down at my rudder:

Loosening the line you see there does nothing, the rudder stays up. I read another forum post about inserting a pin into the rudder to keep it locked down, but the manual I got with the boat doesn't mention anything about that...

What do you think the issue could be? It hinged pretty well on land but in the water it wants to float.

I do also have this, but I dunno what to do with it:

Should I attach it to the rudder?

Add a pin?

Thanks!

 

[JohnShannon]

Is it jammed? If you push on it will it go down? That line could be a pull up or a pull down. If the rudder blade naturally floats is would be a pull down.

 

[dLj]

I'd need photos of the mechanism, but typically you tighten the rope to pull the rudder down. Some have pins, some don't. Would need better photos to get an idea.

dj

 

[justsomeguy]

It hinged pretty well on land but in the water it wants to float.

You need to overcome its buoyancy? And that cleat hitch technique needs work too.

 

[jssailem]

Here is a clue.. The rudder on this boat is being held up by a line to a cleat so the boat can be driven on the road with the rudder attached, or run in shallow water.

The boat's brochure describes the rudder as "a kick up rudder".

You may find this web page helpful scan down to the South Coast 22. There are several pages of reference abou the boat.

South Coast Owners Association

South Coast Seacraft Owners Association

southcoastus.tripod.com

 

[rgranger]

I'm going to bet that you have a small hole in the rudder near the leading edge (see pic). And a cheek block (or holes where one used to be) in the leading edge of the rudder stock (see pic).

That is for a continuous line system like the one I diagramed here.

You run a single line through the jaws of the cleat with enough slack that you can snug it in either position (rudder down or rudder up). My Macgregor 22 (that I used to own) had this system. It did not come with a cheek block but I added it to mine. Without the cheek block the purchase (angle of attack) was off and it took brutal force to pull the rudder down. The cheek block holds the line at an angle that gets you some leverage and makes it all run with little effort. If I were doing it again, I would add a second cheek block for the rudder-up position and make it a little easier in both directions.