Pictures of tilt rudder on Aminee

[Mark]

Hi

some have asked for pictures of my rudder setup which apparently is a non standard fixture. I attach these below.
There are two cords associated with this mechanism; one for letting down the rudder (which has the red ball) and the other for pulling up (which has a green ball) attached to cord to keep them separate. I have added a guide to the up cord to keep it in place and then cleat it in place on the rudder arm in the cockpit - this prevent cords from going over the stern and tangling with the motor ( which once happened).
I have no idea of the origin of this rudder but it seems very well made
more pics in the next post

[Mark]

Control lines in more detail

[Mark]

Steering assist

there is also a small black box on the rudder arm which sits underneath and if you have a cord across it can be used to fix position of the rudder for short periods in a certain position, works best in light wind when you have it straight and need to do some minor adjustments, anyone have one of these?

[TrueBlue]

Great Pics Mark.

That looks like the drawing of a swing rudder in the file area.
I just had quick look at the one I have saved.

Mine is missing some detail though but easy enough to figure, especially now with pics

[LarryW]

Mark,
Thanks for the great pictures. It would be nice to have a tilt rudder, that is going on the list. A friend gave me one from a TS16 but I think it is too small for our boats. I putting that on my want to do list.

Larry

[zebedee]

Steering assist

there is also a small black box on the rudder arm which sits underneath and if you have a cord across it can be used to fix position of the rudder for short periods in a certain position, works best in light wind when you have it straight and need to do some minor adjustments, anyone have one of these?

I thought they were called a Tiller Tamer, but that turns out to be someone else's version of the same idea. I can highly recommend a proper tiller pilot, eg an Autohelm ST1000+, for around $600; they revolutionise solo sailing.

[Yara50]

I have fitted one of those tiller lock devices on Yara's tiller. It has a shock cord part and adjustable tension. Useful to lock tiller when not in use, and also for short periods away from the tiller. I also have the autopilot, with the pin mounted on the top of the tiller, so it does make it difficult to have the tiller extension as well. Yara has the drop type rudder, rather than the pivot. It is a little more difficult to raise and lower, but it does mean that it never hits the outboard prop. We also have a hinged tiller, which is good to free up the cockpit when at anchor. The pivoting design is very similar to that on many Careel 18s.
Just one other point- it looks like you have just a hook to connect the mainsheet to the traveller. Would be a good investment to replace with snap hook, which would prevent it falling off at the most inconvenient time.

[Mark]

Would be a good investment to replace with snap hook, which would prevent it falling off at the most inconvenient time.

Noted and actioned today with a twisted shackle, even though i have never has an issue with the S hook. Anyway another little thing ticked off the list, thanks for the prompt

cheers

Mark

[zebedee]

If anyone is thinking of building a new rudder stock and rudder from scratch, here are some photos of mine for ideas:




The black shockcord passes over a couple of sheaves at the bottom of the rudder stock and is entirely adequate to pull the blade down at speed.
Since the second photo was taken, I've removed a rivet from the rudder stock so that the rudder blade can be raised clear of the water which is important for reversing in shallow water (such as when you run aground...).

The blade is roughly twice the length of the standard rudder for the Dennis and is actually deeper than the centreboard. Apart from maintaining steerage at high angles of heel, this also lets me feel the approaching bottom and avoid grounding...

If I were starting from scratch, such as for a standard Investigator, I'd give serious thought to a drop rudder rather than a swing rudder, with an open backed rudder stock. Inma (over in TSP) has this type of rudder on an RL24.

This Sabre Dinghy is a very good example of the sort of design I mean:


The shockcord across the back provides the friction to keep the blade down, and allows it to kick back if it grounds. With the draught of the Investigators keel, even quite a deep rudder blade doesn't need to kick back very far.