Hello, i notice when sailing that is seems my rudders are night aligned to each other. The are angled away from each other what i think is a significant amount. When hiked out, they produce a significant rooster tail. When i trailered it home for the winter, i thought the rudders where going to clip a car they are angled so far out. Is this normal alignment practices? My tiller crossbar isn't adjustable and i plan on buying the adjustment kit. Does anyone have a measurement on how long the crossbar should be? I would assume the rudders should be parallel to each other. What is everyones experience on this? Thanks

Reid Rechel
H16 Lake Superior

They should be paralell or slightly toed-out, I think. For sure you have a problem if you can tell they are out of allignment visually! Rudders are a really important system, and it is worth it to spend the time to get them just right. Look at your pin to gudgeon clearances, your rake (back to front) AND the allignment. I took about an inch of slop out of my system and the boat sails much better!

Hey

Yeah the rudders are ment to paralell to each other and since your arn't that is a major problem. First thing it could be is, when you last put the rudders on you might of put the left rudder on the right side and vise verse, yes people do do this it is easy even i have done it. The second is maybe the person you got the boat off they might of tryed and fix them and put the castings in the wrong spot. Well there is many ways of stuffing your rudders up but the best person to talk to about these type of things are your local sailors and hobie dealer. Well im going so have fun sailing byebye.

Jules

I agree with Jules. If your rudders are that far out of alignment, I bet they are on the wrong way.

It is worthwhile to give your rudder system a little TLC including new pins, plastic casting washers (kit from Hobie or Murrays, or make your own from milk jugs) and new cams if they are chewed up or hard to operate.

How to measure your rudders and set toe-in properly is breifly described in this "on the Wire" article about mast-rake weather-helm and rudder toe-in. All these things are somewhat related.
http://www.catsail.com/archives/v3-i2/feature3.htm

The rudder arms should slightly bend in towards each other, The upper castings are designated port and starboard. I can measure the distance of H16 rudders for you if you wish. You can e-mail me at [email][email protected].[/email]


Hope this helps,
Brad Stephens
Panama City Beach, FL

You have the rudders reversed. Swap them so that they are on the opposite sides. As a poster pointed out the castings angle the arms tword the center.

It sounds like your rudders are on backwards. Your rudder arms are supposed to bend in towards each other, The upper castings are designated port and starboard. This is a very common problem that cause people to do modifications to there system just to find out they messed them up more. Take off you cross bar, move the port rudder assembly to the starboard side on the starboard to the port, reinstall you cross bar, let me know if that helps, if not call me and I will see what I can do to help. If you don't want to remove you cross bar, there is a way to twist everything around to accomplish the same outcome, easiest way is the 1st way I suggested!

Thanks,
Brad Stephens
850-235-2281
www.sunjammers.com
info@sunjammers.com
Authorized Hobie/Vanguard Dealer