Moving the rudder aft

Discussion in 'Sailboats' started by Brent Swain, Aug 31, 2010.


  1. Brent Swain
    Joined: Mar 2002
    Posts: 951
    Likes: 38, Points: 0, Legacy Rep: -12
    Location: British Columbia

    Brent Swain Member

    I kept the ruder high aspect, to avoid changing the balance too much. With hindsight, I could have gone for a lower aspect ratio.
    For a fibreglass boat , the best way would probably be to make a form out of foam, glas it heavily, and make the skeg long enough to run right thru the hull into the cockpit sole. This puts a bending load on the skeg, instead of the load being entirely on the skeg - hull joint, reducing reliance on, and loads on the skeg- hull joint..It also lets one do most of the fibreglassing on a work bench, eliminating most of the overhead fibreglassing.
    A sister ship to my pipe dream put a bustle aft of the main rudder, to act as a skeg, which helped a lot , but not as much as moving the rudder aft.
    When I read John Neals book "Log of the Mahina" and how he had to sail with a reef in the mainsail to keep the weather helm on his Albin Vega controlable, I thought she was an excellent candidate for an outboard rudder on a skeg.
     
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