Emergency Rudder for Beneteau 311 or Similar

Aug 20, 2013
173
Beneteau 311 Port Clinton, OH (Lake Erie)
Hello Forum,

Has anyone set up or seen a way to set up an emergency rudder for a Beneteau 311 or similar boat? This boat has a swim platform on the transom, so a simple transom-hung rudder like a J-29 has is not useable as is. I could set up some kind of structure such as windvane would use, but that would largely block the swim platform, put some weight on the transom, and would be quite a lot of expensive gear to have on standby in case of some major fault in the regular steering gear.

I have an emergency tiller; I'm not talking about that. And I have a drogue I can pull behind the boat on lines from one side or the other or both to roughly guide the boat.

Does someone have a better idea?

Thanks.
 
Aug 20, 2013
173
Beneteau 311 Port Clinton, OH (Lake Erie)
Hayden Watson,
Are rocker stoppers those anti-roll things that fishing boats hang vertically off outriggers to reduce rolling? What type and size worked for you?
 
Sep 22, 2018
1,869
Hunter 216 Kingston
Hello Forum,

Has anyone set up or seen a way to set up an emergency rudder for a Beneteau 311 or similar boat? This boat has a swim platform on the transom, so a simple transom-hung rudder like a J-29 has is not useable as is. I could set up some kind of structure such as windvane would use, but that would largely block the swim platform, put some weight on the transom, and would be quite a lot of expensive gear to have on standby in case of some major fault in the regular steering gear.

I have an emergency tiller; I'm not talking about that. And I have a drogue I can pull behind the boat on lines from one side or the other or both to roughly guide the boat.

Does someone have a better idea?

Thanks.
 

Attachments

Aug 20, 2013
173
Beneteau 311 Port Clinton, OH (Lake Erie)
Hunter216,

Thanks for the reply. I am familiar with adjusting the sails and the positions of the sailors to balance the helm and steer the boat. On some boats and on my Sunfish steering this way is easy to do, but not on my Beneteau 311. I can adjust the sails to steer a fairly straight line, but any change in the wind or my position will turn the boat. My boat will hold a straight line longest when sailing to windward, but even then a gust will cause the boat to round up or a lull will head the boat down. So it takes near-constant attention. If I move from the cockpit to the cabin to retrieve something or make a sandwich, for example, I have very little time. Probably the reason the boat is so twitchy is the relatively small fin keel and the lack of much lateral resistance or keel-like shape from the hull. Also, I sail on the Great Lakes and the winds are usually pretty shifty. I can get the boat to sail straight for several minutes but that's about it.

I am not sure if I could balance the sails to steer a straight line off the wind.

I am also familiar with various sheet to tiller steering methods, and I intend to try them this year, but with wheel steering these methods may be a little trickier to implement.

Thanks.
 
Apr 5, 2009
2,774
Catalina '88 C30 tr/bs Oak Harbor, WA
Hayden Watson,
Are rocker stoppers those anti-roll things that fishing boats hang vertically off outriggers to reduce rolling? What type and size worked for you?
Yep, I have 4 rocker stoppers per side for my C30. They each have a 7.8-lb vinyl covered mushroom anchor to hold them down. I put them out almost every time I anchor or tie to a mooring. Here in the PNW we have big currents and the boat has a hard time deciding whether to lay to the wind or current. The stopper ussually tip the scales to the current and I don't end up all tied in knots.
I started doing that after one night when the wind and current were about even and my anchor watch track was all over the place. When I went to haul the anchor I found that my rode had lassoed every sunken log in the bay and it took several very hard hours to get my very expensive 35lb CQR off the bottom.
Since I already have the things I gave the steering a try and dog-gone if it didn't work as advertised. Just make sure you use a mid-ship cleat and not the stern cleats because it will not turn nearly as well.
 
Aug 20, 2013
173
Beneteau 311 Port Clinton, OH (Lake Erie)
Hayden Watson,

Thanks for the reply. Did you use all 8 rocker stoppers (both sets) for the steering drogue or just 4, and did you also use the mushroom anchors?

Thanks.
 
Apr 5, 2009
2,774
Catalina '88 C30 tr/bs Oak Harbor, WA
Hunter216,

Thanks for the reply. I am familiar with adjusting the sails and the positions of the sailors to balance the helm and steer the boat. On some boats and on my Sunfish steering this way is easy to do, but not on my Beneteau 311. I can adjust the sails to steer a fairly straight line, but any change in the wind or my position will turn the boat. My boat will hold a straight line longest when sailing to windward, but even then a gust will cause the boat to round up or a lull will head the boat down. So it takes near-constant attention. If I move from the cockpit to the cabin to retrieve something or make a sandwich, for example, I have very little time. Probably the reason the boat is so twitchy is the relatively small fin keel and the lack of much lateral resistance or keel-like shape from the hull. Also, I sail on the Great Lakes and the winds are usually pretty shifty. I can get the boat to sail straight for several minutes but that's about it.

I am not sure if I could balance the sails to steer a straight line off the wind.

I am also familiar with various sheet to tiller steering methods, and I intend to try them this year, but with wheel steering these methods may be a little trickier to implement.

Thanks.
I have been thinking of attempting to steer with sheet-to-tiller on my wheel. I am thinking that if i tie the control line and bungy to the bottom half of the wheel it should work as normal. That is what I always do when I have a tiller sailor trying to helm. I have him hold the wheel on the lower side and drive it like it is a tiller. End of problem. :dancing:
 
Apr 5, 2009
2,774
Catalina '88 C30 tr/bs Oak Harbor, WA
Hayden Watson,

Thanks for the reply. Did you use all 8 rocker stoppers (both sets) for the steering drogue or just 4, and did you also use the mushroom anchors?

Thanks.
Just one set of 4 + mushroom. Provides pretty good pull on my C30. When dragging both sets I cannot get more than about 3-knots at 2000 rpm. (Please do not ask me how I know this fact.) :kick::facepalm:
For normal use, I have a bowline loop on each set that I drop over the primary on each side and lower it over the side. For the E-steering, I used my anchor rode and tied the byte through that loop about 30' from the end and had the bitter end on one mid-ship cleat and the the other side was on a snatch block and then lead to the primary. Pretty simple.
 
Aug 20, 2013
173
Beneteau 311 Port Clinton, OH (Lake Erie)
Hunter216,

Most of the sheet to tiller methods have the line or sheet crossing to the opposite side to pull on the tiller, so if the control lines were linked to the upper part of the wheel the crossing could be avoided. But I have two concerns when sheeting to the wheel:

1. A tiller moves through a relatively small arc to go from centered to hard over, and the actual range of motion used is small. On my wheel, it takes 1 1/2 turns to go to hard over from centered, and the usual control range is 2+ spokes either way. If the control lines were tied more to towards the center of the wheel rather than the perimeter, perhaps enough range of motion could found. If not, some sort of block and tackle could be used to magnify how much the wheel moves compared to the sheet.
2. Many of the sheet to tiller methods have the sheet pulling quite hard on the tiller, with a bunch of bungees on the opposite side. When going to windward the jib sheet pulls very hard, maybe hundreds of pounds. I don't want to put that load directly on the wheel. I would be concerned that once the wheel gets pulled to 90 deg, then the remaining sheet load would be trying to remove the wheel from the pedestal. It might be possible to have the sheet and opposing elastics connected to a ring or carabiner, and the carabiner attached to a wheel spoke. As in 1. above, a block and tackle might be used to decrease the load and increase the amount of motion.
 
Apr 5, 2009
2,774
Catalina '88 C30 tr/bs Oak Harbor, WA
When I am sailing, I typically hold course with about ±1 spoke of movement.