South Coast Sailboats
Replacement rudder
One of my earlier projects was to replace the original rudder.
I made a much larger rudder (about 200% larger) and got great
results from this project. I ran it about twice as wide and a
little deeper. This was a big improvement over the original configuration.
I made it out of some pressure treated 2 x 10 that I had doweled
together.
A couple of years ago, I broke off my rudder in the Delaware
River. That was probably the best thing that could have happened
to that weak miserable piece of trash that the builder called
a rudder. I built my own rudder (much larger) by taking dimensions
off the stern of "Kickback", and then turning that into
a rudder worthy of a Viking ship (probably almost big enough.
Anyway, I made the whole thing out of pressure treated two
by tens (very easy to come by). For the rudder surface I doweled
and joined two pieces of 2x10 together and then belt sanded both
front and back edges to a pointed fin. The vertical back of the
rudder was setup to meet the lower rudder and ride up over the
stern. The tiller started out as a 2 x 10 and was cut down to
give you a long handle and a wide thick yoke that slips over the
vertical piece (set in-place with a12" long 1/2" hex
bolt). Yea, pretty hard core, but the boat turns on a dime. Can
be instantly influenced by a quick jab on the rudder, and responds
really well to the influence of the cotpit tunnel mounted 25 hp
motor I just installed at the end of last season. This rudder
was cheap, easy to build and will probably outlast my boat.
I also recommend using a tiller tamer mounted to the rudder.
Besides keeping the boat from swinging around at the mooring,
it also acts as a rudder lock when under power by sail or motor.
This allows me to cover between 100 to 500 yards distance in a
straight line without putting so much as one finger on the tiller.
(A couple of great recommendations)
Click on the picture
to look at a larger picture
