Stowing the Rudder on H26

[Whiskey]

I keep my H26 at a marina that gets a lot of wind and can be a little ruff. To take the weight off the rudder and prevent it from banging around, I have been trying a few different thing. Version 1 (with the pictures) has the Rudder up and a line secure from it to the Main sheet cleat. The tiller is tied to both the stern port and starboard cleats. My latest idea version 2 (apologies about the graphic), has the rope wrapped around the tiller and then back to the stern cleats. I used this for the remainder of the season and it worked great. It removed the stress from the tiller and held during some crazy weather.

My questions is:

1. By lifting the rudder, is that putting too much stress on the stainless steel rudder brackets?
   
   
2. Every time I lift the rudder that high I have to stand on the ladder and get my feet wet. If I drilled a hole in the rudder and attached a rope to lift it out of the water, would hole and the lifting stress crack the rudder? The rope that's inside the rudder bracket only lift it to 90 degrees.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Let me respond to that With the rudder up, take a line around the rudder upward to the port stern rear pulpit base that is on the port hull entering thru the transom. The take that line back and around the rudder blade all the way with the rudder blade to the port side. Then cinch that line around the orginal line as well as the second line and draw them together to tighten up enough and secure it. I TRAILERED ALL BOATS TO INCLUDE THE OTHER WATER BALLAST boats as a dealer and also when hurricanes were coming my way. Never a problem.