Rudder Hold System - ODay 222

[JimGate]

Looking for suggestions on how best to hold my rudder in both up and down positions. Down position will need a drag release as I sail in shallows. Thanks! J

 

[Project_Mayhem]

My 25 hand a pendant line that tied off to a cleat in the cockpit. It had a large steel plate inside to keep it down. This allows for full adjustment with minimal damage if an underwater object is hit

 

[jssailem]

On my M15, I used a length of bungee cord. I experimented with it to get it strong enough to hold the rudder down unless there was a solid surface pushing it up. Once it moved about 12 inches, it pulled the rest of the way up streched out behind the transom. I had to lean over the stern and push the back down into place.

I experienced only one "grounding" event in the 18 years I sailed her. In the middle of the Columbia River, about a half mile downstream from an island, I ran across a silt shoal not marked on the chart. The rudder popped up. The bottom pintle was bent a little, and the centerboard arrived in the trunk with a bang. We glided over the siltbar as my keel stub was a 1.8' draft. The rest of the outing was an uneventfully great time on the water.

 

[JimGate]

Interesting setup. So it was then “spring loaded”. Great idea. Thank you.

 

[pgandw]

The Ruddercraft rudder on my 19ft Mariner uses a small gas strut to push the rudder down with enough force to hold down when sailing. However, any obstruction pushes it up against the strut. The strut pushes the rudder back down again if the obstruction was something like a log (sunken cypress logs are common in my neck of the woods). Otherwise, the rudder kind of rides the bottom - not good on a rocky bottom. There is an uphaul line with a clam cleat to set the rudder higher - the strut continues to push the rudder down to the setting of the uphaul line. The uphaul is positioned to completely raise the rudder in the air, if desired (normally I do this at my boat lift). I love the rudder, it's a great piece of engineering, albeit a little expensive. Unfortunately, it's not legal for class racing.

Fred W
Stuart (ODay) Mariner #4133 Sweet P

 

[JimGate]

Thank you Fred. I never thought about a strut! Next time you’re out, head east! We sail out of Stevensons Pt, first peninsula east of Harvey Point. See you out there! Jim

 

[pgandw]

Thanks for the invite, Jim. One of these days, I want to sail the Eastern Albemarle. Maybe even do the Virginia loop. I have some friends who live on Deep Creek (Little River).

Have to admit, I have not tried going east past Holiday Island. The folks at Harvey Point tend not to be amused when you enter "their" waters, no matter how innocently. And, according to my charts, with another exclusion area to the south of the Harvey Point exclusion area, it doesn't leave a wide and welcoming Sound to transit through to Perquaimans, Little, and Pasquotank Rivers.

So far, my local cruising has been limited to the western Sound - Edenton, Yeopim River, with plans to go to Plymouth and Columbia in the near future.

I have wondered about how all these exclusion areas and "offshore platforms" came to be built in and about Albemarle Sound. We even have one in the Yeopim River. I know that the Coast Guard Air Station at Elizabeth City was a training site for Russian pilots during WW2. And the Navy still occasionally operates blimps just to the SE of Elizabeth City.

But if I talked more, I'd have to be shot.

Fred W

 

[JimGate]

Fred, thanks for the heads up on the restricted area. It’s my understanding now that boating is allowed there but any contact with the bottom could result in …….an explosion. Ok, I’ll go around.