Rudder hold down rope...

[Frank]

I have a new 2002 H260. We were coming into a shallow creek. The sails were down and the center board up, all was well and the rudder pops up. Apparently the rudder hit bottom and something broke lose. On shore I raised and inspected the rudder. The rudder was fine and the hold down rope was fine. I looked at the large 1 inch hole in the rudder and the small knot at the end of the rope and I'm assuming there was a break-away devise holding the rope in the rudder. Is that the case? I have a make shift retainer at the end of the rope now, but I'd like to replace it with the correct part. Having a break-away is a great idea and I do not want to defeat that safety function. The owners manual didn't address this issue.Thanks,Frank

 

[Jeff]

knots

Appearently Hunter uses different knots to secure this, as the new 260 I fixed earlier this year had a single half-hitch securing it to the clevis at the bottom of the turning block. Yours must have had an end knot placed in the clevis that pulled through. On my 260, I take the line over the stanchion and back down to a spring attached to the upper rudder post plate. Between the friction on the stanchion and the spring, there is enough resistance to hold the rudder down unless you pick up weeds or hit something. I have pictures on the photo forum.Jeff Peltier.

 

[Tony Johannsen]

Rudder Line Break

I had a similar situation pulling out of a cove earlier this summer. I hit a log on the bottom of the lake with my rudder and actually snapped the half inch line that holds the rudder down. I had to drill out the knot that was tied into the small hole on the rudder due to the glue that was filling the hole where the knot was. I just got another half inch braided nylon line and replace the damaged piece by tying a half hitch through the hole. It's worked fine for the remainder of the summer.

 

[Mike Gardiner]

Fire the guy who designed this!

I also have noticed that not only does the rudder want to pop up, it wants to do it at the most inopportune moments...it can be scary and is downright dangerous. I have tried standing on the tightening handle, extending the handle with a large wrench, all to no avail. My dealer checked with the factory and the answer that I got back was to use the "rudder tie down" which can be cleated on top of the rudderpost. This works, but of course I no longer have any kick-up capability in the event of a grounding or striking an object. My compromise is to cleat it with slack in the line. Sorry I can't offer a solution to what appears to me to be a design problem with safety implications, but if anyone has a solution, I also am very interested. On the positive side, this rudder has outstanding sailing balance and is a very good performer with this one little exception.