Hutchins Foiled Rudder Blade

[Chief]

Just an FYI to folks looking for power steering. I ordered a foiled rudder blade for my 23 direct from Hutchins. They sell the blade and needed accessories to retrofit the existing rudder assembly. The kit price is half the cost of the ida sailor rudder. Pretty good deal from the factory, I think.

[Billy]

That's what I did.

[fried fish]

Could you share what the cost was for that foiled blade?

[Billy]

I think I paid $350. But I don't remember. I did give them my old blade and they installed the new one. I also had them fix the loose play in the pintels and gudgens. That also included the lifting mechanism.

[BruceW]

You can call 727-443-4408, ask for Matt Hutchins, the parts mgr, and he will explain what you need and send you diagrams and a quote. For a 23, it's about $450, with $50 off for sending your blade back, plus shipping.

[Billy]

You can call 727-443-4408, ask for Matt Hutchins, the parts mgr, and he will explain what you need and send you diagrams and a quote. For a 23, it's about $450, with $50 off for sending your blade back, plus shipping.

That sounds right.

[Chief]

It is the foiled rudder that I purchased. I paid $450 for the kit which comes with the control arm needed to raise and lower the blade and various sundry other components to do the retrofit to existing rudder assembly. They offered me a $50 credit if I returned the flat blade but I opted to avoid the shipping trouble and just buy a new one outright. Nice to know I will have a spare blade in storage, anyway. $450 for the Hutchins kit vs $900 for the ida sailor ruder made this a very easy choice. Plus, I have the assurance of Com-Pac quality which, in my estimation, is without equal.

[BruceW]

Good choice; in fairness to ruddercraft, though, they have a replacement blade competitively priced  to the Com-pac one. The $900 is a complete assembly that also includes a tiller.

If I am choosing between Com-pac and the Ruddercraft replacement blade, I'm taking the Com-pac because of the push-rod, even though you have to drill and tap for the extra plastic piece.

I am also interested though in being able to keep the rudder completely out of the water, and you can do that with the Ruddercraft complete assembly, which I may not have done justice to above. Here's a link: http://www.ruddercraft.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=29&products_id=134.

I'll be flipping my coin to decide here in the next few weeks myself, and I'm sure that any of the above will do a great job.

Bruce

[brackish]

Well not to throw a wet blanket on the party but I hate mine (Hutchins foiled rudder, the mechanism not the foil).  Not to worry though, I'm currently working on the modification hardware that will eliminate the problems that should have been obvious from the start and will offer sketches of same on this site when tested.  It is fairly easy to keep the foiled rudder from popping up aft, from other than a grounding or hitting an object, by an elastic loop or a shear pin.  Unfortunately, the control arm tab will slide out laterally, i.e. either port or starboard with almost no pressure, and when that happens, the rudder pops up about 15 degrees and weather helm increases dramatically.  I was told by Hutchins I need to "bend" the control arm to correct that condition.  That thing is what a solid 5/16" SS rod that is not going to precisely bend.  IT NEEDS TO HAVE SOMETHING TO KEEP THAT FROM HAPPENING, EITHER ON THE TWO TILLER YOKE PLATES OR ON THE COMPOSITE PLATE THAT THE ROD TAB IS SUPPOSED TO LOCK UNDER.   I'm debating which to do, either would have been easy on an OEM basis, but not so easy as a retrofit.

I have never gone for a sail that I've not had to reset the rudder numerous times.

The other problem I can live with, that is the rudder will only lift to horizontal and the bottom 3" stays in the water all the time and gets grass/scum on the leading edge.  It would be nice if it lifted all the way out to avoid that.  Not sure there is any point to lifting it and leaving that much in the water.

[BruceW]

Good to know, Brackish. I imagine with your background you can make the fix; however, I'd rather avoid that issue altogether. I'd enjoy seeing what you come up with.

[Chief]

I will be interested in your fix also. Thank you for sharing details of your experience with it thus far. I still feel good about my choice given the price and company of origin. If necessary (that is, if my rudder cannot be retracted fully from the water) I will likely apply antifouling to the blade. I am keen to learn if I will have the same problem as you with the blade pulling up while under sail. If so, I will HAVE to fix it; my Catalina 22 rudder did that and it was ANNOYING--until I smacked a shear pin through it. Thank you for the head's up.