Here's an additional Rudder topic too!

[Decatur]

Hello everyone!   A belated Merry Christmas to all of you!   Yes...I did sail on Christmas Day.  Had a wonderful sail, with some sun and wind, camped over night, a bit chilly but tolerable inside a heated cabin.   I'm sailing in the mid-west (Central Illinois)   So, the lakes that I sail on have lots of floating logs, debris, muddy shallow areas, etc.  Yesterday I had a hard time keep my rudder in the down position.  I know that I had run over a couple of submerged logs.  I had tightened down the rudder lock bolt pretty tight.  Should I put a lock washer or some other fastener to hold the rudder in the down position.  Or is this a safety? to afford the rudder to come up went it hits debris in the water or the shore line?  Just like to know what others do to resolve this issue.  Best Regards   Tim

[JTMeissner]

Tim, unfortunately, the CP-16 doesn't seem to have a good method to resolve this in it's base form.  I have read in other topics about using shear pins or the Hutchins rudder handle, but that seems to be for the bigger boats.  Having just completely redone the rudder (another topic soon), I know this intimately. 

I have had little trouble keeping the rudder in the down position, but understand if you hit anything, it will rise (truly a sign of an experienced sailor :-)).  Only solution on my base CP-16 was to keep the bolt tight which means it takes a lot of effort to raise or lower the rudder, but it then takes a significant bump to accidentally raise it; a compromise at best.

Based on the rudder work, what can be done (which seems like it has been done in the past) is to drill a new hole through the rudder while it is in the down position, and place a shear pin through this for sailing.  The standard bare rudder does not have this hole.  There is a hole in the rudder to place a pin in order to keep it raised however. 

Pictures of lack of hole when rudder down:


Pictures of hole when rudder lifted:


I'm not sure how I'm going to resolve this, but it hasn't been too much of a problem.  Seems easiest to drill a hole for a shear pin while I have the rudder down and it's easy to access, but an unnecessary change if I become a better driver...:-)  I may get the boat all back together with the foiled rudder to see how I like things before I make more changes.

-Justin

[BILL CHEYENNE WY]

I have used "CUT N' SLICE FLEXIBLE CUTTING BOARDS" MADE BY NORPRO for two years and have had no problem keeping rudder blade full down.  I cut a board in half, drilled bolt hole through center of each and placed them on both sides of the blade.  My wife bought these in a kitchen store,but says she has seen them in grocery stores.  This is a cheep and easy fix.