back up rudder

[Jason]

Greetings!

I will be undertaking the build of a back up rudder system for my compac 16 this winter.  I have read too many stories about people rudders becoming inoperable and their at-sea struggles to make rudders from other parts of the boat and so on.  Whilst I don't do any real serious sailing, I do plan to replicate annually, the 4 day sail I did around Rock and Washington Islands in Lake Michigan this summer, and would also like to sail around the Apostle Islands, and I will rest easier knowing I won't be caught without a rudder in those waters.

When I upgraded to a foiled rudder, I kept the old aluminum plate one, and that is the one I am planning to make the backup rudder from.  I am thinking of adding a second set of gudgeons to the transom, so that if anything happened to any part of the primary rudder assembly, I will just grab the backup and lock it into the set of backup gudgeons.  Would need to build a knock-down rudder/tiller assembly and store it below.  I realize the rudder would be a couple inches off center line, but as an emergency solution it might be simple and effective.   Odds are I will never use it!

Does anyone have a system that worked well?  Maybe I am being overcautious.

Thanks

Jason


Jason Talbot
Sussex
WI

[skip1930]

I sail the same waters in my CP-19. Wait, your willing to drill more holes in the transom and chance hitting the hardpoints glassed into the boat?
Up to you.
Important is a set of no slop bronze bushings to hang the rudder on.
I can't remember any CP-anything breaking a rudder in over ten years.
Over kill on the spares. Where is there this kind of storage space on a CP-16?

skip.

[Jason]

Thanks for the input,  raises an interesting question: has anyone out there ever had a rudder or gudgeon or tiller failure on a compac 16 or 19?

Jason

[NateD]

I think a backup tiller isn't a bad idea you could easily lose your balance and break it off, but I wouldn't carry a spare rudder assembly for coastal cruising if you also have a motor. Let's say your entire rudder assembly fell off, you should still be able to motor back to shore (steering with the motor tiller) on the bodies of water you're sailing.

IF I were going to mount a backup rudder, I would want the mounting point to be as independent from the main rudder as possible. If (and I have no idea how this would happen) your main gudgeons got ripped off the transom, do you think that part of the transom would be strong enough to hand the forces generated by your backup rudder? I would mount it far off center, maybe integrated into my swim ladder. But I think Skip is right. I've never heard of any Com-Pac losing a rudder, and given the storage constraints and area where you're sailing, I wouldn't bother. When I sailed my 16 in the Apostles I never worried about a backup rudder.

[Jason]

Thanks for the input.  Based on all this, I just saved myself from this project!  I am skipping it.  Now if I can talk myself out of the extended bowsprit project I will be down to only replacing my jib hanks with piston hanks over winter. 

Jason

[Bob23]

Jason:
  That's great but don't get decieved into thinking you'll ever be done with your boat projects. Ain't gonna happen...at least it hasn't to me!
  As far as a backup rudder, it's better to keep the rudder and all associated hardware in good working order than to have a backup rudder system.
Bob23

[Craig]

Backup rudder is overkill! In a pinch one could fire up the outboard. I lost a rudder once(not on a Compac!) continued sailing to destination be using the thrust of the OB at low throttle to steer. Not to worry Compac rudders are very robust.

[wes]

My emergency rudder backup is a dinghy oar stashed in the locker. It's also a backup for the outboard!

Wes

[Salty19]

I agree with the guys here on the rudder.  Don't need it...I've read zero reports of them failing (bending, yes, but not failing).

Now the extended bowsprit?  I say go for it..kick out the forestay and get some more sail area, move the COE forward. If I ever get another 16, I'll probably put as big of a sprit as feasible on it (perhaps 2.5-3 ft??).  Maybe a removable inner stay or a flying drifter?     Ok, I've said enough. 

[Jason]

Oars are the best!!  I am very glad I added them to my boat.  Leaving Jackson Harbor under sail with the wind coming from the NE was a risky proposition, and when the wind started blowing us onto a shoal, I couldn't believe how fast my brother was on the oars and had us out of trouble.  Quicker than I could have got the motor started.  We were a couple feet from having a whole different story to tell!

Jason

[Bob23]

Of course, running aground in a CP 16 isn't a disaster of titanic proportions. Barring cold water, you just jump out and pull/push her off.
I was going to mention oars as a means of backup steering. You could install a single socket on the stern and pop the oarlock and oar in to serve as a backup rudder.
Bob23

[Pacman]

+1 on having oars and a single oarlock on the stern for a steering oar.

You might consider having a simple backup tiller and several tiller bolts and nuts stashed aboard.

A simple PVC tube with some aluminum plated mounted to the sides could serve as the tiller.

The spare pivot bolts and nuts are for more likely to be needed and, without a tiller bolt, you can't steer the boat.

If you want to cover the most likely problems, look at fasteners and standing rigging. 

A container of extra nuts, bolts, cotters, etc. and a few simple tools will take little space and yet it can provide good peace of mind.

I have also thought it might be good to have some Spectra line on board to use as a temporary forestay or side stay.

[skip1930]

" has anyone out there ever had a rudder or gudgeon or tiller failure "

Depends what you call a failure.
A worn round hole that is now oval is not much of a failure. Just drill and bush it.
As far as a loss of function on  factory components ... I don't think so. Well some people sailed with a rotting tiller and it broke.

I just remembered at the Sailing Training Foundation in my town the last day of graduation has these kids sailing their Optima sail boats around a triangle course with the rudders removed. Rudder?? 'We don't need no stinking rudder'.

skip.

[JBC]

Dropped a rudder off a Windmill once (metal fatigue I think).  Just stuck our only paddle off the transom and my wife took over the tiller and sheets.  Worked fine, with one exception.  We could only go downwind.  So all the way across the lake we flew and beached the boat.  Took 2 hours to hike around the lake to pick up the car, and another to maneuver around to pick up the boat though a farmer's field.  Luckily, we could simply pick up that boat and get it back on the trailer without launching in mud. At least the oar was better than nothing!  I do think redundancy of some sort is not a bad idea, though I agree with others: an extra rudder is overkill.

Jett

[geodan]

That being the case, I could use your rudder assembly in Florida on a restoration project.  Please see my message posted this evening, Nov. 28th 2013.  geodan@bellsouth.net.