Weather helm

[bruce]

Come on guys. Bub has already rationalized the purchase, he just wants I little encouragement that this thing is worth it!

Bub, is you boat on the trailer off season, rather than in the sling? Much easier to work on the rudder. It was close to 70 here in RI today, there is hope!

[Bub]

It's in the sling year round. I can have it hauled near here if necessary. And I can maneuver a powerboat under the rudder while making the change. Or hang over the stern.

[Bub]

Update here. I went ahead and ordered the Replacement foiled sleeve to install. It's not installed yet due to poor service either from the Vendor or FedEx or both, so if you order I would caution you to be very vigilant about production and delivery schedules. When I finally get it installed and have a warmer day I'll test drive her and report.
Fair Sailing.

[bruce]

Very exciting! Look forward to your report.

[Roland of Macatawa]

Bub,

Looking forward to hearing more about your purchase of the Ruddercraft foiled rudder blade.

Regards, Roland

[Bub]

OK. After very poor delivery timing my new blade finally arrived. Nice looking product!!
However, there were no instructions or drawings about placement of the hole to be drilled and I could not reach the factory during the time I had scheduled the work. So we drilled it in what seemed to several of us experienced sailors to be the correct spot. Now, the rudder will not drop into the full vertical position but stops at an angle clearly aft-ward of vertical.

I haven?t sailed her yet but assume this will adversely affect performance. Any ideas if that is correct are appreciated. Also any suggestions about how to rebalance the rig while I figure out how to correct the problem are most welcome.

[bruce]

Sorry for your problem, Bub!

Can you take some photos of the installation and what's preventing the rudder from hanging vertical. The aluminum core and HDPE foil can be trimmed with hand tools if needed. I recall a PC owner had to trim the core of the his Ruddercraft rudder a bit where it was hitting the cast rudder head. His blade was predrilled.

I bet this can be fixed easily, i.e. without redrilling the hole.

[bruce]

I'd forgotten there has been an issue with posting photos. I still can't post a jpg or png, but following deisher6's success on posting a pdf photo of his sewing machine I tried that in the Testing forum.

Worked for me! Still limited to 250KB, so watch your size.

[Bub]

Tried to attach photos without success, probably user error!
Anyway, I suspected the problem was caused by the top of the SS blade binding on the inside surface of the rudder head, causing it to stop approx 10 degrees aft of vertical. So I spent another hour or so, dropped the foil enough to allow it to hang vertical, then raised it enough to reattach the bolt. That worked in part. The blade is now in proper alignment, but now it cannot be raised in shallow water, because the binding prevents it swiveling in the opposite direction.
It appears that the original rudder blade was rounded on the top edges to allow it to rotate fully while the replacement was not. Not a smart design and the error was frustrating and totally avoidable.
Hopefully the design of the foil will deliver performance commensurate with the high price and hours of unnecessary extra work.

[bruce]

Thanks, Bub. Sorry they didn't do a better job providing instructions. They know there's issues, so they deliver it undrilled.

Sounds like you can use the old blade to lay out what you need to trim off the new blade to make it work both ways. Line the pivot points up accurately, of course.

When Roland talked with Ruddercraft (see p. 2 of this thread) they confirmed the core is 3/8" aluminum. Much easier to cut than SS, with a jigsaw for example. Or you could use a grinder, watch the heat around the HDPE.

[Roland of Macatawa]

Bub,

Sorry to read about your trouble with the Ruddercraft replacement blade.
Best wishes in getting it remedied.

Regards, Roland

[Bub]

The hole was placed perfectly laying the new blade on top of the original. The issue arose because the profile of the head of the new rudder blade is not identical to the original. There was never any mention that the excess metal would interfere with the rotation of the blade, only the need to drill a new matching hole in the same spot as the original. The head actually needed to be trimmed in two places for it to work. There is no reason RudderCraft could not have performed that work in manufacture, or AT LEAST provide a warning about the inadequate clearance if further trimming was not performed. That failure caused extra expense, and about 4 hours of wasted effort.

[mikehennessy]

You may have changed my mind on a purchase...  Thanks!

[Bub]

RudderCraft agreed to a reasonable adjustment for my costs, and the Rudder itself is impressive looking. I have pictures to share with the owner so they will be able to decide how to modify the head, or inform purchasers how to modify onsite.

So my take away is that I would go ahead and decide about the purchase based on the product itself.
Good sailing to all.!

[Bub]

I have not posted in over a year due to Covid and my aversion to sailing alone, in all but the most moderate conditions.
After the trimming of the two problematic edges of the rudder head, the rudder rotated correctly. I sailed her twice in May of 2020. There seemed to be some improvement in lighter air, but honestly, I cannot be certain how much improvement the foiled blade makes, due to limited use so far.

I am anxious to sail much more often this year and will share any observations after more extensive trials in varied conditions. At the least I would hesitate recommending the product unless the vendor modifies the rudder head so that the only field modification is drilling the hole in the proper location on the head.