DIY rudder

[betty boop]

reading baot Mart on the way to work today-- interesting read on a DIY rudder to assist those slow movers amongest us. anyone ever dabled in such a thing? seems a relatively good idea for little £ but I wonder how useful it would be .

[jokaboat]

Seemples

Rig a bridle from the stern cleats, tie a loop at the mid point and attach a small child/wife/mother in law to the loop. Pull on bridle on appropriate side to change course.

Some people prefer inanimate objects like buckets but that's much less fun

[betty boop]

Seemples

Rig a bridle from the stern cleats, tie a loop at the mid point and attach a small child/wife/mother in law to the loop. Pull on bridle on appropriate side to change course.

Some people prefer inanimate objects like buckets but that's much less fun

shouldnt they be running/swimming/being dragged behind the boat anyway?

[NikTheGeek]

I was thinking about that too. I do a lot of river boating at 6mph. However, I reckon he's missing a trick. If you attached a rudder above the anti-cav plate, it would come in to play at slow speeds becasuse a lot of the leg will be in the water. At planing speeds the water should be level with the cav plate and anything above the cav plate would be out of the water - ie no drag. I'm almost surprised no one has invented such a thing. (This is the point where someone normally says "it won't work because...")

Nick

[jokaboat]

Has already been done



Clicky here

[NikTheGeek]

I'm always too late to make my million!

Anyway, I'll do a reader review of one if you can get one to wangle its way up here....

[jokaboat]

[ian h]

£202 !!!!!!!!!!! and thats the starting price
http://www.seamarknunn.com/acatalog/Out ... udder.html

Think thats a little steep for the ruddersafe

[NikTheGeek]

£202 !!!!!!!!!!! and thats the starting price
http://www.seamarknunn.com/acatalog/Out ... udder.html

Think thats a little steep for the ruddersafe

http://www.compass24.com/web/catalog/sh ... es/4860331
£139 - still steep, but cheaper. However, this one doesn't show up on chandlerycompare.com for some reason

[salamis]

While I was rebuilding our first motor boat a 16ft Beaves cabin cruiser I bought a Mariner 5hp so we could use the boat from Purford Marina on the river Wey and enjoy using it while work continued. This was years before any BSS certificates were needed and getting on the river was so so easy. First time out we were all over the place as the low hull depth made steering extremely hard going in fact we ran aground when a cross wind pushed the bow round and we went head first up a bank in a field of horses who legged it to the far side with disbelief written all over their faces! By the time we got back I was completely physically and emotionally drained. A walk around the marina and along the river bank showed that all outboard motor boats had a pretty standard homemade rudder cut from reasonably thick aluminium sheet with two straps cut from the same sheeting which were wrapped around the outboard leg and bolted through the upper part of the rudder blade, next time out and the difference was amazing as the boat seemed to run on rails.
I have often wondered why outdrives aren’t built with a slow speed rudder effect built in above the cavitation plate in one form or another as so many of us need to travel on rivers and waterways to get out to sea?

[jokaboat]

I agree it would be a good idea but I suspect leg and outboard designers just have speed in mind when they do their designs. After all why would you want to use a planing hull at low speed? Ours is not too bad at low speed but it does wander around a bit. I'm impressed by how much steering I get even with the prop not turning when coming into the marina.

That flip up rudder looks the biz, and makes less noise than my idea with the mother in law thing

[Centaur]

I think someone said recently that Monterey's run pretty level and don't need trim tabs as much as some other boats. However, the Smart Tabs that I fitted to my old Maxum 1900 SR3 really did transform that low speed wander. Every boat that I've driven since that doesn't have them seems to wander like crazy! Tabs might be worth consideration if you do much low speed driving.

[betty boop]

£202 !!!!!!!!!!! and thats the starting price
http://www.seamarknunn.com/acatalog/Out ... udder.html

Think thats a little steep for the ruddersafe

http://www.compass24.com/web/catalog/sh ... es/4860331
£139 - still steep, but cheaper. However, this one doesn't show up on chandlerycompare.com for some reason

I'm sold-- lets get one on readers test ASAP. & add the fuel saving to my smart tabs fuel saing and I'll be in credit next time I go out on the water, -- bonus.

[JORIDAPILOT]

This ruddersafe looks really interesting. I have had guests take the helm at low speed and just don't believe how much the boat wanders, pity it is so expensive for a couple of bits of plate.
I would like to see what happens at high speed when it flips up and no doubt bounces all over the place.

Has anyone seen one in the flesh, they say it fits duoprop set ups, Bravo 3 etc, but all the photos show it on a single prop leg.

[Noddy]

I'm not sure that in fixing a minor handling problem this idea doesn't ruin the big advantage of a sterndrive/outboard i.e. the ability to steer then gear. For example - coming alongside a pontoon in forward, with a sterndrive you can steer away to bring the boat nearly parallel, then into neutral, oposite lock, a dab of astern will stop the boat and bring the stern in. With this device fitted, when you put on oposite lock, the bow will turn into the pontoon.