How do I get my rudders full down?

[Kieran Brown]

Hope someone can help me with what seems a simple question. The boat's a Windrush 14, and the manual says to "pull the rudder line so the blade is full upright, lift tiller bar at the same time, then relase the line letting the weight of the blade carry it down. When beyond horizontal, lower tiller to drive blade down."

This is fine on dry land, but on the water the blades only drop to horizontal, and I can't get either of them down further without pushing them with the end of the tiller extension (and almost going for a swim).

All moving parts look OK, and seem quite free. Is there a trick that I'm missing?

Regards, Kieran

[warbird]

don't touch cords. Lift tiller arm right up high so weight can gain pace.

If not the rudders are floating which means you got hollow ones! : )

[MikeDean]

Kieran,

I have had some similar experiences with Windrush rudders on some boats. I found that even though they dropped happily on shore, they wouldn't drop whilst sailing (as you have described). Usually I solved it by adjusting how tight the nut/bolt was through the rudder blade/housing. Even though they seem free, there was enough binding to slow them sufficiently so they wouldn't "sink". The nuts should be the locknut type,so you should be able to make these fairly loose.

(Also I agree with Warbird - no need (normally) to mess with cords whilst dropping rudders)

Regards

Mike Dean

[Kieran Brown]

Thanks guys - I'll try loosening the nuts and forget pulling on the rope (I think I'll also pull some slack out so they can't contribute to the problem as well).

Your suggestions are much appreciated. Kieran.

[Yeti2300]

Make sure that the spring mechanism is not faulty. If the system is all in order you should not have any problems with the rudders - provided of course that you have the boat de-powered when trying to lower them. Check out the WA windrush site for details on how these rudders work. http://au.geocities.com/windrushassociation/page_tipsandinfo/deeprudders.html

[Nacraholic]

Kieran

The technique i use is and rarely causes me an issue (when it does its just my bad timing)with rudders all way up

-pull rope whilst lifting tiller arm

-let go of rope and push down on tiller arm as rudder lowers into water.

If rudder goes 3/4 way down, try wiggling rudders back and forth whilst pushing down on tiller arm. If rudder stops at horizontal position then pull back up, then repeat dropping sequence and try slightly different timing when pushing down on tiller arm.

Once u have timing correct you will be dropping the rudder back down in a second without concentrating. A good way to practise is to head downwind, and do a jibe every 30 - 50 mtrs or so, popping and dropping rudders each time.

Hope this helps!

Ryan

[darcy1945]

Check 1, the weights havn't been removed from the. bottom of the blades. 2, The 2 rollers in each stock are in good cond and rolling freely. 3, The springs in the tiller have not been replaced with lighter springs(Check the effort to lift the tiller arms against another boat without the problem)

[Kieran Brown]

Thanks for all suggestions! Everything is loose, except that the cord on one is binding, so I'll pull that one apart and investigate...

How could I tell if the weights have been removed - or should this be obvious?

Kieran.