small sailboat rudder

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Small boat kick-up rudder

Rigging small sailboats.

….. deck fittings

Some comments on winches have been made previously. The variety and type of winches available to the sailor is enormous, but for the small boat sailor, winches usually are restricted to the smaller sizes used to control the jib and Genoa sheets. Winches can be used for the halyards, boom vang, and mainsheets, if desired. On small boats the cost is usually prohibitive, and the extra power gained is not required, as these lines can be handled by the crew or by other means, such as tackles, equally well.

RUDDER FITTINGS

Small sailboats usually have rudders which are called “outboard” rudders because they hang onto the aft end of the boat in full view. Boats which have rudders under the hull and the rudder stock passing through the hull bottom are said to have “inboard” rudders, but these are usually associated with large boats. The ordinary small boat rudder is attached to the boat with fittings that also allow the rudder to pivot or turn. These fittings are called GUDGEONS and PINTLES. These are arranged in pairs, with the gudgeons usually being attached to the boat, and the pintles fastened to the rudder. The pintles are strap-like fittings with the rudder fitting between the straps, and with a pin at the forward edge which fits into the “eye” of the gudgeons (see Fig. 6-10). As with most fittings, many sizes and types are available. Often gudgeons and pintles come in pairs which have a long pintle and a shorter one. These types make it easier to put the rudder on the boat, as the long pintle will be in position first, thereby acting as a guide for the short one. If both pintles are the same length, both must fit into the gudgeons at the same moment, which is frustrating at times, especially when trying to place the rudder in position when afloat. Because many small boat rudders are made of wood, the tendency is for these to float up and out of the gudgeons, of course, making for an immediate loss of steering and much embarrassment. A device called a RUDDER STOP can be used to prevent this from occuring. These are standard marine hardware items very simple in nature.

For small sailboats which land on the beach, it is desirable to have the rudder “kick up” when approaching shallow waters. Special “kick-up” rudder fittings such as shown in Fig. 6-11 are available, which also have the gudgeons and pintles attached as an integral unit, and perform this function. With a little effort, you can make your own “kick-up” rudder similar to the detail shown in Fig. 6-12.

FIG. 6-12 – One method of making a kick-up rudder using wood. When the pin is removed, the rudder will automatically come up when hitting the beach.

FIG. 6-13 – This tiller extension was made by merely cutting the tiller in half at the forward end and fastening it with a bolt. A more convenient type uses a swivel connection in lieu of the bolt for universal action. The line shown is a rope traveler which can be adjusted in length and is secured to the jam cleat on the deck.

The rudder is controlled by a handle called the TILLER. Sometimes the tiller passes through a hole in the transom (back of the boat), but usually it is located above the aft deck area and pivots up and down so the crew can move about easily. The length of the tiller is best determined in actual use, so it should be made longer than necessary. It’s much easier to cut off a long tiller than to add length to a short one. A device recommended for easier control, especially when tacking or sailing to windward, is a TILLER EXTENSION or “hiking stick,” an example of which is shown in Fig. 6-13. When sailing to windward in a small boat, the boat usually heels considerably and the crew must lean out to windward (or “hike out”) to counteract this. In order to hang onto the tiller in this position, an extension is required, fixed to the forward end of the tiller and preferably fitted with a universal-type joint. Naturally, the length of such a unit is best determined in actual use, so it is best to get a long one which can be cut, instead of getting one too short which can’t be added to.

The next WebLetter will start Part II …how to install the rigging.

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Small Craft Advisor

Build Your Own Kick Up Rudder

William mantis offers up plans for a creative and effective diy rudder.

by Bill Mantis

I built a rudder for my 8.5’ x 4.5’ sailboat—named City Slicker 2. 0—the same time I built the boat itself, two years ago . Since I was in a hurry to get it done, I didn’t bother designing a kick-up rudder, figuring I could make the modification at a later date. But then I lost it. I lost my rudder. How does one lose a rudder? I can’t explain how it happened. I only know I had it when I came ashore one day, and didn’t have it the next time I tried to launch. Fortunately, I’d been designing a kick up rudder before suffering the loss, and I had the necessary epoxy and lumber on hand. Only the material for the rudder blade and new pintles had to be ordered. As a result, I lost only one week of the sailing season.

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How to Build a Sailboat Rudder From Scratch

Introduction: How to Build a Sailboat Rudder From Scratch

This particular rudder is built off of the original rudder for a ~20' Bayliner Buccaneer sailboat.  The original had cracked and rotted pretty badly.  The owner of the sailboat cut the top of the rudder off and made a wooden 'boot' to cap the rudder.  However, it wasn't water sealed with fiberglass, and over time more and more moisture got in until it became so flimsy that it wasn't reliable.   While this instructable is specifically for this Bayliner sailboat with a tiller-style rudder, the instructions should be general enough for you to modify it to work for many sailboats.  With that said, there are many many nuances to fiberglass/composite marine construction, so this type of build will require more research beyond what is covered here.

Step 1: Previous Rudder

In these photos you can see the extent of the damage.   The rudder was foam-core/fiberglass sandwich.  Think of it as a Big Mac; the three buns of the Big Mac were layers of fiberglass, and the meat was the foam (the yellow stuff).  The only difference was that the buns would have all been connected and fully enclose the meat. First, I cut apart the rudder along its perimeter with an oscillating saw, so that I could use the pieces as templates for the build. In the fifth image you are seeing a piece of balsa (I think) at the edge of the rudder where the mounting hardware was located so as to provide compressive stability for the tightened hardware. In the last image, if you look at the top of the image you can see where the previous owner had chopped off the top of the rudder.  There was a rudimentary wooden cap on that, so you can see how easy it would have been for water to get in.  

Step 2: Rebuild

Because of the difficulty of rebuilding the rudder the same way, I chose to use two sheets of 3/4" solid plywood.  While this increased the overall weight of the rudder, it ensured maximum strength and stability.  There is a good reason that I chose to do it in two pieces:  I wanted to be able to sand the exterior faces of the rudder in order to get a tapered surface, and by doing it in two pieces allowed me to have the piece be level on one side. In the first image below, you can see the old pieces of the rudder all stripped of foam next to the new plywood pieces.  In the background you can see the middle fiberglass 'bun' of the whole kit 'n caboodle.  I scraped away all of the foam because I had originally wanted to save the exterior pieces and reuse them, but the Big Mac style construction made it more difficult to reuse them.   Simply place the old pieces on your sheet of plywood, trace, then cut out with a jigsaw.   If for some reason, you only have one template to work with, and you are using two pieces of ply that will later get glued together, be sure to flip the template over before tracing, so you have mirrored pieces.   The customer asked for a little more material at the top of the rudder, as you will see in the last images of the Instructable.  It ended up making it look a little strange, however.

Step 3: Sanding

Unfortunately, I only took one image of the sanding process, shown below. As I mentioned, it is good to sand the two pieces separately, although this picture is of the two already glued together.  A handy trick is to imagine your surface and the lines of ply as the lines on a topography map.  The curved edge of the rudder closest to us in the image is the narrowest edge, from the little notch all the way down the side to the very bottom of the rudder.  This is because it is the edge of the rudder that points forward when it is on the boat.   I started by using a disc sander, but it was too slow, so I switched to a grinder.  The grinder worked well, but it was a bit too fast, so if you decide to use one, be very judicious in your use of it, otherwise you will end up with big divots.  

Step 4: Fiberglass Layup

As I already alluded, there are many many variations to fiberglass construction.  For this project I used chopped strand mat (which you can see in the first image), and a woven fiberglass cloth on top of that, with vinylester resin.  Later on in the project I switched to West Systems Epoxy 105 and 205, because it was on hand.  This type of layup requires you to use both the mat and the cloth in one process.  The general idea is that you cut your mat to about the same size as your rudder, pour your resin on top, spread it and around, then immediately lay on the cloth (that you have also already cut to size), and the resin underneath should be enough to saturate the cloth.  Often, however, it wasn't, and I had to mix more up really quick and pour it on top of the cloth to get it fully saturated.  This is where you will need to conduct more research on mixing ratios of resin, temperature, amount per surface area, etc.  Generally, I was able to get about 30 minutes of working time out of each batch. In the back is a finned roller that you use after you mix and start pouring the resin to remove the air bubbles from under the chopped strand mat and to spread the resin around.  After a while the roller gets all gummed up, and I ended up using just my gloved hand to push out the bubbles, and I found that a simple plastic spreader worked best for spreading. Don't worry about the stuff that hangs over the sides.  Originally I wanted to have it fold over and seal the edges at the same time, but this was near impossible, as we will see soon, and I just let it hang and harden from any of the spilled over resin.  I dealt with it later with a lot of sanding.

Step 5: First Layer and Sanding

The order I used was as follows: Glass one side of the rudder, let cure. Cut off excess edge stuff and rough sand/grind. Glass other side of rudder, let cure. Cut off excess, sand until flush. Glass edges based upon which were generally 'up' when clamped in a mostly horizontal way (images 4 and 5). Glass the remaining edges. Sand the nasty edges until flush. The first image is after the glass on the faces have cured, showing the excess.  The third image was after sanding the excess from the faces.  The following  images were taken doing first layers of the edges, after the faces.  

Step 6: Additional Layers and Difficult Spots

I don't remember exactly how many layers went on total, because after sanding where necessary, sometimes more wood gets exposed, and all that's required is a simple patch.  The first image is after fully sanded face and edge layers.   There are some really difficult spots that you need to pay attention to.  Generally, corners are the spots you need to look out for.  It's like trying to wrap a piece of paper over a 3D form without letting any edges lift.  They will tend to lift up one end of your saturated cloth and allow air to get right in there, which means you'll have to sand that air bubble out and re-do it later.  The very bottom tip of the rudder was one of them.  Although the second picture is after I had drilled the holes for the hardware, it's useful to see the method for tackling those difficult spots.   Visibile at the tip of the rudder is a bit of blue painter's tape.  For that spot and others, which I will mention later, I basically taped the heck out of it, making a small well, and poured in enough resin to cover it.  You can also see in this picture, how it has started to get thick/bulky.  That's normal as layers build, you just need to sand it down flush later.  Sometimes the tape gets sealed in there, so I just left it in.

Step 7: Notes of Caution

If, after a good amount of sanding, your rudder has patches of white at the surface and you can feel a clothy texture when you run your fingers over them, it means the cloth did not get fully saturated and means the surface is not fully sealed.  When this happens, it is sufficient to mix up a new batch of epoxy/resin, and spread it over the surface(s) without the need for another layer of cloth.  The entire surface is sealed when all of it feels smooth/looks glossy and hard, although some spots may still be bumpy. After you think you've sealed the whole rudder and you go to sand it smooth, you may uncover more white patches or air bubbles.  It's extremely frustrating to think you're almost done and find another one of those, but it pays off to patch them properly. If there are some air bubbles or pockets that just don't seem to patch up and keeps reappearing after you sand this product is really helpful: http://www.marinetex.com/marinetexepoxyputty.html.  It's a putty-like marine epoxy, so it serves the same purpose as regular epoxy, but it is much more workable and can be packed into a hole to completely seal it.  The is the best product for repairs of deep scratches or small punctures in a fiberglass surface.   The notch at the top of the first image was one spot that I taped significantly in order seal every spot with epoxy.  This is the point where I switched to epoxy from resin, as I had run out.  The purple is the natural color of the epoxy after it hardens.  

Step 8: Hardware Holes

This step is extremely important and tricky.  If, by chance, you have the previous hardware which mounts the rudder to the transom of the boat, great.  Use them as guides as you don't want to make your rudder thicker than the original and not fit into the hardware.  If you don't have previous hardware and your boat needs a very specific bracket, go buy it early so you can make sure to construct your rudder to fit into those, otherwise, just buy some to suit. Use this tutorial to help you get the holes right:  http://www.boat-project.com/tutorials/drill.htm. Basically, you need to drill your holes bigger (1.5x, I think.  The tutorial with specify this.) than the hardware needs.  You then fill the hole with epoxy and let cure.  Then you drill your holes again with a bit sized for your hardware.  After painting, get some sealant (specified in the tutorial) and coat the bolts, holes and the inside face of the bracket immediately before placing them on the rudder. It's really important to drill your holes square through the rudder.  If you don't, you'll find when putting the bolts through, that they won't meet with the bracket holes.  If you're slightly off (like I was), you can just enlarge the hole at the problem end.  If you're really off, you'll have to sand the paint away, drill the new hole, fill with epoxy again, re drill, then paint.

Step 9: Painting

Painting a boat or any underwater surface is another realm that has a large amount of nuance, specificity, and also varying opinions.  It is still a bit unclear to me, but the most ideal situation is to find a marine paint that actually bonds with your fiberglass/epoxy surface.  Interlux makes really good products and they have tutorials on which paints to buy and how to apply them:  http://www.yachtpaint.com/usa/diy/default.aspx. Before painting, you must 'cut' the surface (a light sanding), so there is surface for the paint to bond to, and you will need to remove any oils or chemicals that are on the surface with acetone or a similar product.   The paint will usually specify a total thickness of paint required to be considered sealed, and will allow you to calculate the number of coats from the average thickness per coat.   Next use a top-side paint (I think we used an auto-body paint) to cover the surfaces above the waterline to make it look nice. Lastly, apply a bottom paint (also called anti-fouling paint) below the waterline of the rudder.  Bottom paints, especially, vary greatly by geographical location, type of water, EPA legal restrictions, etc.  Their purpose is to prevent organisms from attaching to the submerged surfaces, so naturally, they will contain certain chemicals and/or metals.  Copper is a common ingredient in anti-fouling paint, as it slowly leeches from the paint, preventing any organisms from attaching permanently.

Step 10: The End!

Attach the hardware and tiller, and you're ready to put it on the boat!!! (That's my pops holding the rudder.)

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Why Rudder Craft?

At Rudder Craft we build every sailboat rudder with the singular focus of improving your sailboat’s steering performance. In order to accomplish this our sailboat rudders incorporate a hydrofoil design, as a matter of course. Sailboats ranging from the West Wight Potter 15, all the way up to the MacGregor 36 and Catalina 42, will find a more accurate helm once a Rudder Craft hydrofoil sailboat rudder is installed.

Why Hydrofoil?

Operating on principles similar to airplane wings, the foiled sailboat rudder design generates lift as the sailboat makes way. By employing the sailboat rudder to reduce drag, and increasing the force the sailboat rudder is able to exert, any sailboat will find themselves performing better: weather helm is reduced, tacking is crisper, points of sail are easier to keep, and helm effort is greatly reduced in light and moderate air.

Why Use a Kick-up Rudder?

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My Cruiser Life Magazine

All About the Rudder on a Sailboat

The rudder on a sailboat is one of those important parts that often gets overlooked. It’s hidden underwater most of the time and usually performs as expected when we ask something of it.

But when was the last time you seriously considered your sailboat rudder? Do you have a plan if it fails? Here’s a look at various designs of sail rudder, along with the basics of how it works and why it’s there.

Table of Contents

How are sailboat rudders different than keels, how does the rudder work, wheel steering vs. tiller steering, full keel rudder sailboat, skeg-hung rudders, spade rudder, variations on designs, emergency outboard rudder options, looking to sail into the sunset grab the wheel, steer your sail boat rudder, and get out there, sail boat rudder faqs.

What Is a Boat Rudder?

The rudder is the underwater part of the boat that helps it turn and change direction. It’s mounted on the rear of the boat. When the wheel or tiller in the cockpit is turned, the rudder moves to one side or another. That, in turn, moves the boat’s bow left or right.

When it comes to sailing, rudders also offer a counterbalance to the underwater resistance caused by the keel. This enables the boat to sail in a straight line instead of just spinning around the keel.

Sailboat hull designs vary widely when you view them out of the water. But while the actual shape and sizes change, they all have two underwater features that enable them to sail–a rudder and a keel.

The rudder is mounted at the back of the boat and controls the boat’s heading or direction as indicated by the compass .

The keel is mounted around the center of the boat. Its job is to provide a counterbalance to the sails. In other words, as the wind presses on the sails, the weight of the ballast in the keel and the water pressure on the sides of the keel keeps the boat upright and stable.

When sailing, the keel makes a dynamic force as water moves over it. This force counters the leeway made by air pressure on the sails and enables the boat to sail windward instead of only blowing downwind like a leaf on the surface.

The rudder is a fundamental feature of all boats. Early sailing vessels used a simple steering oar to get the job done. Over the years, this morphed into the rudder we know today.

However, thinking about a rudder in terms of a steering oar is still useful in understanding its operation. All it is is an underwater panel that the helmsperson can control. You can maintain a course by trailing the oar behind the boat while sailing. You can also change the boat’s heading by moving it to one side or the other.

The rudders on modern sailboats are a little slicker than simple oars, of course. They are permanently mounted and designed for maximum effectiveness and efficiency.

But their operating principle is much the same. Rudders work by controlling the way water that flows over them. When they move to one side, the water’s flow rate increases on the side opposite the turn. This faster water makes less pressure and results in a lifting force. That pulls the stern in the direction opposite the turn, moving the bow into the turn.

Nearly all boats have a rudder that works exactly the same. From 1,000-foot-long oil tankers to tiny 8-foot sailing dinghies, a rudder is a rudder. The only boats that don’t need one are powered by oars or have an engine whose thrust serves the same purpose, as is the case with an outboard motor.

Operating the Rudder on a Sailboat

Rudders are operated in one of two ways–with a wheel or a tiller. The position where the rudder is operated is called the helm of a boat .

Ever wonder, “ What is the steering wheel called on a boat ?” Boat wheels come in all shapes and sizes, but they work a lot like the wheel in an automobile. Turn it one way, and the boat turns that way by turning the rudder.

A mechanically simpler method is the tiller. You’ll find tiller steering on small sailboats and dinghies. Some small outboard powerboats also have tiller steering. Instead of a wheel, the tiller is a long pole extending forward from the rudder shaft’s top. The helmsperson moves the tiller to the port or starboard, and the bow moves in the opposite direction. It sounds much more complicated on paper than it is in reality.

Even large sailboats will often be equipped with an emergency tiller. It can be attached quickly to the rudder shaft if any of the fancy linkages that make the wheel work should fail.

Various Sail Boat Rudder Designs

Now, let’s look at the various types of rudders you might see if you took a virtual walk around a boatyard. Since rudders are mostly underwater on the boat’s hull, it’s impossible to compare designs when boats are in the water.

Keep in mind that these rudders work the same way and achieve the same results. Designs may have their pluses and minuses, but from the point of view of the helmsperson, the differences are negligible. The overall controllability and stability of the boat are designed from many factors, and the type of rudder it has is only one of those.

You’ll notice that rudder design is closely tied to keel design. These two underwater features work together to give the boat the sailing characteristics the designer intended.

The classic, robust offshore sailboat is designed with a full keel that runs from stem to stern. With this sort of underwater profile, it only makes sense that the rudder would be attached to the trailing edge of that enormous keel. On inboard-powered sailboats, the propeller is usually mounted inside an opening called the aperture between the keel and rudder.

The advantages of this design are simplicity and robustness. The keel is integrated into the hull and protects the rudder’s entire length. Beyond reversing into an obstacle, anything the boat might strike would hit the keel first and would be highly unlikely to damage the rudder. Not only does the keel protect it, but it also provides a very strong connection point for it to be attached to.

Full keel boats are known for being slow, although there are modern derivatives of these designs that have no slow pokes. Their rudders are often large and effective. They may not be the most efficient design, but they are safe and full keels ride more comfortably offshore than fin-keeled boats.

Plenty of stout offshore designs sport full keel rudders. The Westsail 38s, Lord Nelsons, Cape Georges, Bristol/Falmouth Cutters, or Tayana 37s feature a full keel design.

A modified full keel, like one with a cutaway forefoot, also has a full keel-style rudder. These are more common on newer designs, like the Albergs, Bristols, Cape Dorys, Cabo Ricos, Island Packets, or the older Hallberg-Rassys.

A design progression was made from full keel boats to long-fin keelboats, and the rudder design changed with it. Designers used a skeg as the rudder became more isolated from the keel. The skeg is a fixed structure from which you can mount the rudder. This enables the rudder to look and function like a full keel rudder but is separated from the keel for better performance.

The skeg-hung rudder has a few of the same benefits as a full keel rudder. It is protected well and designed robustly. But, the cutaways in the keel provide a reduced wetted surface area and less drag underwater, resulting in improved sailing performance overall.

Larger boats featuring skeg-mounted rudders include the Valiant 40, Pacific Seacraft 34, 37, and 40, newer Hallberg-Rassys, Amels, or the Passport 40.

It’s worth noting that not all skegs protect the entire rudder. A partial skeg extends approximately half the rudder’s length, allowing designers to make a balanced rudder.

With higher-performance designs, keels have become smaller and thinner. Fin keel boats use more hydrodynamic forces instead of underwater area to counter the sail’s pressure. With the increased performance, skegs have gone the way of the dinosaurs. Nowadays, rudders are sleek, high aspect ratio spade designs that make very little drag. They can be combined with a number of different keel types, including fin, wing keels , swing keels, or bulb keels.

The common argument made against spade rudders is that they are connected to the boat by only the rudder shaft. As a result, an underwater collision can easily bend the shaft or render the rudder unusable. In addition, these rudders put a high load on the steering components, like the bearings, which are also more prone to failure than skeg or full keel designs. For these reasons, long-distance cruisers have traditionally chosen more robust designs for the best bluewater cruising sailboats .

But, on the other hand, spade rudders are very efficient. They turn the boat quickly and easily while contributing little to drag underwater.

Spade rudders are common now on any boat known for performance. All racing boats have a spade rudder, like most production boats used for club racing. Pick any modern fin keel boat from Beneteau, Jeanneau, Catalina, or Hunter, and you will find a spade rudder. Spade rudders are common on all modern cruising catamarans, from the Geminis to the Lagoons, Leopards, and Fountaine Pajots favored by cruisers and charter companies.

Here are two alternative designs you might see out on the water.

Transom-Hung or Outboard Rudders

An outboard rudder is hung off the boat’s transom and visible while the boat is in the water. Most often, this design is controlled by a tiller. They are common on small sailing dingies, where the rudder and tiller are removable for storage and transport. The rudder is mounted with a set of hardware called the pintle and gudgeon.

Most outboard rudders are found on small daysailers and dinghies. There are a few classic big-boat designs that feature a transom-hung rudder, however. For example, the Westsail 38, Alajuela, Bristol/Falmouth Cutters, Cape George 36, and some smaller Pacific Seacrafts (Dana, Flicka) have outboard rudders.

Twin Sailing Rudder Designs

A modern twist that is becoming more common on spade rudder boats is the twin sailboat rudder. Twin rudders feature two separate spade rudders mounted in a vee-shaped arrangement. So instead of having one rudder pointed down, each rudder is mounted at an angle.

Like many things that trickle down to cruising boats, the twin rudder came from high-performance racing boats. By mounting the rudders at an angle, they are more directly aligned in the water’s flow when the boat is healed over for sailing. Plus, two rudders provide some redundancy should one have a problem. The twin rudder design is favored by designers looking to make wide transom boats.

There are other, less obvious benefits of twin rudders as well. These designs are easier to control when maneuvering in reverse. They are also used on boats that can be “dried out” or left standing on their keel at low tide. These boats typically combine the twin rudders with a swing keel, like Southerly or Sirius Yachts do. Finally, twin rudders provide much better control on fast-sailing hulls when surfing downwind.

Unbalanced vs. Balanced Rudders

Rudders can be designed to be unbalanced or balanced. The difference is all in how they feel at the helm. The rudder on a bigger boat can experience a tremendous amount of force. That makes turning the wheel or tiller a big job and puts a lot of strain on the helmsperson and all of the steering components.

A balanced rudder is designed to minimize these effects and make turning easier. To accomplish this, the rudder post is mounted slightly aft of the rudder’s forward edge. As a result, when it turns, a portion of the leading edge of the rudder protrudes on the opposite side of the centerline. Water pressure on that side then helps move the rudder.

Balanced rudders are most common in spade or semi-skeg rudders.

Sail Rudder Failures

Obviously, the rudder is a pretty important part of a sailboat. Without it, the boat cannot counter the forces put into the sails and cannot steer in a straight line. It also cannot control its direction, even under power.

A rudder failure of any kind is a serious emergency at sea. Should the rudder be lost–post and all–there’s a real possibility of sinking. But assuming the leak can be stopped, coming up with a makeshift rudder is the only way you’ll be able to continue to a safe port.

Rudder preventative maintenance is some of the most important maintenance an owner can do. This includes basic things that can be done regularly, like checking for frayed wires or loose bolts in the steering linkage system. It also requires occasionally hauling the boat out of the water to inspect the rudder bearings and fiberglass structure.

Many serious offshore cruisers install systems that can work as an emergency rudder in extreme circumstances. For example, the Hydrovane wind vane system can be used as an emergency rudder. Many other wind vane systems have similar abilities. This is one reason why these systems are so popular with long-distance cruisers.

There are also many ways to jury rig a rudder. Sea stories abound with makeshift rudders from cabinet doors or chopped-up sails. Sail Magazine featured a few great ideas for rigging emergency rudders .

Understanding your sail rudder and its limitations is important in planning for serious cruising. Every experienced sailor will tell you the trick to having a good passage is anticipating problems you might have before you have them. That way, you can be prepared, take preventative measures, and hopefully never deal with those issues on the water.

What is the rudder on a sailboat?

The rudder is an underwater component that both helps the sailboat steer in a straight line when sailing and turn left or right when needed.

What is the difference between a rudder and a keel?

The rudder and the keel are parts of a sailboat mounted underwater on the hull. The rudder is used to turn the boat left or right, while the keel is fixed in place and counters the effects of the wind on the sails.

What is a rudder used for on a boat?

The rudder is the part of the boat that turns it left or right

Matt has been boating around Florida for over 25 years in everything from small powerboats to large cruising catamarans. He currently lives aboard a 38-foot Cabo Rico sailboat with his wife Lucy and adventure dog Chelsea. Together, they cruise between winters in The Bahamas and summers in the Chesapeake Bay.

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• Paddle Board

What Is a Sailboat Rudder? An Overview of Its Function and Design

Sailboats have been used for thousands of years to traverse water. They have undergone many changes and improvements over the years, and one of the essential components of a sailboat is the rudder.

Quick Facts

Understanding the sailboat rudder.

The rudder is a vital component of a sailboat that plays a crucial role in steering and maneuvering the vessel. The rudder works by changing the direction of the water flow around it, which moves the boat in the opposite direction. Without a rudder, it would be impossible to navigate a sailboat effectively, especially in different water and wind conditions.

Components of a Sailboat Rudder

A sailboat rudder comprises several components, each with a unique function that contributes to the rudder’s overall effectiveness. The stock is the main vertical shaft that connects the rudder blade to the boat’s helm. It is usually made of stainless steel or aluminum alloy and is designed to withstand the forces exerted on the rudder during navigation.

The blade is the flat portion of the rudder that faces the water current and directs the water flow in the opposite direction to steer the boat. The blade is typically made of fiberglass-reinforced plastic or aluminum alloy and is designed to be lightweight and durable. Pintles and gudgeons are the two connections between the rudder and stern that allow for easy installation and removal of the rudder. Pintles are the vertical metal pins that fit into the gudgeons, which are the horizontal metal brackets attached to the boat’s stern.

Different Types of Rudders

There are several types of rudders used in sailboats, each with its advantages and disadvantages. Transom-mounted rudders are the most common type of rudder, and they are mounted on the stern of the boat. Skeg-mounted rudders are attached to a fixed fin called a skeg, which provides additional stability to the rudder.

Keel-mounted rudders are attached to the boat’s keel, which is the central structural element that runs along the bottom of the hull. Spade rudders are free-standing rudders that are not attached to any part of the boat and are commonly used in racing sailboats. The type of rudder used depends on the boat’s size, design, and intended use.

Materials Used in Rudder Construction

Rudders can be made from various materials, each with its advantages and disadvantages. Wooden rudders are the traditional choice and are still used in some sailboats today. However, they are relatively heavy and require regular maintenance to prevent rot and decay.

Aluminum alloy rudders are lightweight and durable, making them an excellent choice for racing sailboats. Stainless steel rudders are also durable but are heavier than aluminum alloy rudders. Fiberglass-reinforced plastic rudders are the most common type of rudder used today, as they are lightweight, durable, and require minimal maintenance.

The sailboat rudder is an essential component that plays a crucial role in steering and maneuvering a sailboat. Understanding the different types of rudders, their components, and the materials used in their construction can help sailors choose the right rudder for their boat and navigate more effectively in different water and wind conditions.

The Function of a Sailboat Rudder

Steering and maneuvering.

The primary function of a sailboat rudder is to steer and maneuver the boat. The rudder’s blade directing the flow of water in a specific direction allows for the steering of the boat as the blade changes direction. Sailors can use the rudder to turn the boat in any direction they choose, allowing them to navigate through narrow channels or around obstacles in the water. It is essential to note that the rudder works in conjunction with the sails to control the boat’s direction and speed.

Balancing the Sailboat

The balance of the sailboat is critical to ensure safe maneuvering, and the rudder plays a crucial role in achieving this. A balanced rudder helps in keeping the boat steady, reducing drag, and preventing unwanted turning. Sailors can adjust the rudder’s angle to keep the boat balanced and on course, especially in rough water conditions. A well-balanced rudder also helps to reduce the risk of capsizing or losing control of the boat .

Rudder Effectiveness in Different Conditions

Rudder effectiveness varies depending on the boat’s size, weight, and water and wind conditions. A larger boat may require a bigger rudder for proper maneuvering, while a smaller boat can work with a smaller rudder. Sailors must also consider the water and wind conditions when choosing the right rudder for their boat. In calm waters, a smaller rudder may be sufficient, but in rough water, a larger rudder may be necessary to maintain control of the boat. Additionally, the rudder’s effectiveness can be affected by the boat’s speed, with higher speeds requiring more significant rudders to maintain control.

It is also important to note that the rudder’s effectiveness can be impacted by external factors such as weeds or debris in the water. These factors can reduce the rudder’s ability to steer the boat and require sailors to make adjustments to maintain control. Additionally, the rudder’s effectiveness can be impacted by the sailor’s skill level, with more experienced sailors able to make more precise adjustments to the rudder to control the boat’s direction and speed.

Design Considerations for Sailboat Rudders

Sailboat rudders are an essential component of a boat’s steering and maneuvering system. A well-designed rudder can make all the difference in a boat’s performance , especially in challenging weather conditions. In this article, we will explore some of the key design considerations for sailboat rudders.

Rudder Size and Shape

The size and shape of a rudder play a crucial role in determining its effectiveness in steering and maneuvering a boat. A larger rudder provides more leverage and maneuverability, allowing the boat to turn more sharply. However, a larger rudder may also produce more drag, which can slow down the boat’s speed.

The shape of the rudder is also important. A well-designed rudder should be streamlined to reduce drag and turbulence. The thickness of the rudder should be carefully considered to ensure that it is strong enough to withstand the forces exerted on it while remaining lightweight.

Rudder Placement and Configuration

The placement of the rudder on the boat can significantly affect its performance. A rudder that is too far forward can cause the boat to become unstable, while a rudder that is too far aft can make it difficult to steer. The location of the rudder must also take into account factors such as the propeller’s placement and the boat’s shape.

The configuration of the rudder can also determine its effectiveness and balance. A single rudder is the most common configuration, but some boats have twin rudders to provide more steering control. The angle of the rudder blade can also be adjusted to optimize its performance.

Hydrodynamic and Aerodynamic Factors

The design of a rudder must take into consideration the hydrodynamic and aerodynamic factors affecting the boat’s performance. Hydrodynamic factors include water flow, pressure, and turbulence, which can significantly affect the rudder’s performance. The shape and placement of the rudder must be carefully designed to minimize these effects.

Aerodynamic factors consider the wind and air resistance’s impact on the boat’s performance. The rudder’s size and shape must be designed to minimize the wind’s effect on the boat while providing sufficient steering control.

The design of a sailboat rudder is a complex process that requires careful consideration of many factors. The size and shape of the rudder, its placement on the boat, and its configuration must be optimized to provide effective steering and maneuverability. By taking into account the hydrodynamic and aerodynamic factors affecting the boat’s performance, a well-designed rudder can significantly improve a sailboat’s overall performance.

Rudder Maintenance and Repair

The rudder is a crucial component of any sailboat, providing steering and control. As such, it’s essential to keep it in good working order through regular maintenance and inspections.

Inspecting Your Rudder

Regular inspection of the rudder is essential to ensure its continued performance and longevity. A thorough inspection includes checking for cracks, wear and tear, and loose components such as hinges, pins, and screws. It’s also important to check the rudder’s alignment and ensure it moves smoothly and without any obstructions.

During your inspection, be sure to check for signs of corrosion, particularly on metal components. Corrosion can weaken the rudder and cause it to fail, so regular cleaning and maintenance are essential to prevent this.

If you notice any issues during your inspection, it’s important to address them promptly. Small cracks or damage can often be repaired, but if the damage is extensive, it may be necessary to replace the rudder entirely.

Common Rudder Issues and Solutions

One common issue with rudders is corrosion, particularly on metal components. Regular cleaning and maintenance help prevent corrosion and ensure the rudder’s longevity. If you do notice signs of corrosion, it’s important to address it promptly to prevent further damage.

Another common issue is damage to the blade or stock. This can be caused by impact with debris or other boats, or simply wear and tear over time. If the damage is minor, it may be possible to repair the rudder. However, if the damage is extensive or compromises the rudder’s structural integrity, it may be necessary to replace it entirely.

Loose components such as hinges, pins, and screws can also cause issues with the rudder. These should be checked regularly and tightened or replaced as needed.

When to Replace or Upgrade Your Rudder

Sailboat rudders can last for many years, but at some point, replacement or upgrade may be necessary. This includes upgrading to a newer design or larger rudder to improve the boat’s performance or replacing a damaged or worn-out rudder that is beyond repair.

If you’re considering upgrading your rudder, it’s important to consult with a professional to ensure that the new rudder is compatible with your boat and will provide the desired performance improvements.

Regular maintenance and inspections are essential to ensure the continued performance and longevity of your sailboat’s rudder. By staying on top of any issues and addressing them promptly, you can ensure that your rudder will continue to provide reliable steering and control for many years to come.

A sailboat’s rudder is a crucial component that helps steer and maneuver the boat safely. The size, shape, placement, and construction materials must all be taken into consideration when designing or replacing a rudder. Regular maintenance and inspection help ensure its continued performance and longevity.

Rudder FAQS

How does a sailboat rudder work.

A sailboat rudder works by changing the direction of the water flow past the boat’s hull, which in turn changes the direction of the boat. The rudder is attached to the stern of the boat and can be turned left or right. When the rudder is turned, it creates a force that pushes the stern in the opposite direction and turns the bow towards the direction the rudder is turned. This is how a rudder steers a boat.

What is a rudder and its purpose?

A rudder is a flat piece, usually made of metal or wood, attached to the stern of a vessel such as a boat or ship. The main purpose of the rudder is to control the direction of the vessel. It does this by deflecting water flow, creating a force that turns the vessel. Without a rudder, steering a vessel would be significantly more challenging.

Can you steer a sailboat without a rudder?

Steering a sailboat without a rudder is challenging but not impossible. Sailors can use the sails and the keel to influence the direction of the boat. By trimming the sails and shifting weight, it’s possible to cause the boat to turn. However, this is a difficult technique that requires a deep understanding of sailing dynamics and is usually considered a last resort if the rudder fails.

What controls the rudder on a sailboat?

The rudder on a sailboat is typically controlled by a steering mechanism, like a tiller or a wheel. The tiller is a lever that is directly connected to the top of the rudder post. Pushing the tiller to one side causes the rudder to turn to the opposite side. On larger boats, a wheel is often used. The wheel is connected to the rudder through a series of cables, pulleys, or hydraulic systems, which turn the rudder as the wheel is turned.

How do you steer a sailboat with a rudder?

To steer a sailboat with a rudder, you use the tiller or wheel. If your sailboat has a tiller, you’ll push it in the opposite direction of where you want to go – pushing the tiller to the right will turn the boat to the left and vice versa. If your sailboat has a wheel, it operates like a car steering wheel – turning it to the right steers the boat to the right and turning it to the left steers the boat to the left.

How do you steer a sailboat against the wind?

Steering a sailboat against the wind, also known as tacking, involves a maneuver where the bow of the boat is turned through the wind. Initially, the sails are let out, and then the boat is steered so that the wind comes from the opposite side. As the boat turns, the sails are rapidly pulled in and filled with wind from the new direction. This maneuver allows the boat to zigzag its way upwind, a technique known as “beating.” It requires skill and understanding of sailing dynamics to execute effectively.

John is an experienced journalist and veteran boater. He heads up the content team at BoatingBeast and aims to share his many years experience of the marine world with our readers.

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How to launch a boat by yourself: complete beginner’s guide, how to surf: complete beginner’s guide to get you started.

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Building a Faster Rudder

Boost performance with a bit of fairing and better balanced helm..

We’re cruisers not racers. We like sailing efficiently, but we’re more concerned with safety and good handling than squeezing out the last fraction of a knot. Heck, we’ve got a dinghy on davits, placemats under our dishes, and a print library on the shelf. So why worry about perfection below the waterline?

The reason is handling. A boat with poorly trimmed sails and a crudely finished rudder will miss tacks and roll like a drunkard downwind when the waves are up. On the other hand, a rudder that is properly tuned will agilely swing the boat through tacks even in rough weather, and provide secure steering that helps prevents broaching when things get rolly. The difference in maximum available turning force between a smooth, properly fitted rudder and the same rudder with a rough finish and poor fit can be as much as 50% in some circumstances, and those are circumstances when you need it the most. It’s not about speed, it’s about control.

It Must Be Smooth

Smooth is fast. That’s obvious. But it makes an even bigger difference with steering. Like sails, only half of rudder force comes from water deflected by the front side of the blade. The rest results from water being pulled around the backside as attached flow. How well that flow stays attached is related to the shape of the blade, which we can’t easily change, and to the surface finish of the blade, which we can.

Remember the school experiment, where you place a spoon in a stream of water and watched how the water would cling to the backside of the spoon? Now, try the experiment again as a grown-up, but with a different set of materials.

Try this with a piece of wood that is smooth and one that is very rough; the water will cling to the smooth surface at a greater angle than the rough surface. Try piece of smooth fiberglass or gelcoat; the water will cling even better because the surface is smoother. Try a silicone rubber spatula from the kitchen. Strangely, even though the surface is quite smooth, the water doesn’t cling well at all. We’ll come back to that.

Investigators have explored this in a practical way, dragging rudders through the water in long test tanks (US Navy) and behind powerboats.

If we are trying to climb to windward, it’s nice to get as much lift out of the rudder as practical, before drag becomes too great or before it begins to stall with normal steering adjustments. If the boat has an efficient keel and the leeway angle is only a few degrees, the rudder can beneficially operate at a 4-6 degree angle. The total angle of attack for the rudder will be less than 10 degrees, drag will be low, and pointing will benefit from the added lift. If the boat is a higher leeway design—shoal draft keels and cruising catamarans come to mind—then the rudder angle must stay relatively low to avoid the total angle (leeway + rudder angle) of the rudder from exceeding 10 degrees. That said, boats with truly inefficient keels but large rudders (catamarans have two—they both count if it is not a hull-flying design) can sometimes benefit from total angles slightly greater than 10 degrees—they need lift anywhere they can get it.

How can you monitor the rudder angle? If the boat is tiller steered, the tiller will be about 0.6 inches off center for every degree or rudder angle, for every 3 feet of tiller length. In other words, the 36-inch tiller should not be more than about 2 inches off the center line. If the boat is wheel steered, next time the boat is out of the water, measure the rudder angle with the wheel hard over. Count the number of turns of the wheel it takes to move the rudder from centered to rudder hard over, and measure the wheel diameter. Mark the top of the rim of the wheel when the boat is traveling straight, preferably coasting without current and no sails or engine to create leeway.

The rim of the wheel will move (diameter x 3.146 x number of turns)/(degrees rudder angle at hard over) for each degree of rudder angle. Keep this in the range of 2-6 degrees when hard on the wind, as appropriate to your boat. It will typically be on the order of 4-10 inches at the steering wheel rim. A ring of tape at 6 degrees can help.

How do we minimize rudder angle while maintaining a straight course? Trimming the jib in little tighter or letting the mainsheet or traveler out a little will reduce pressure on the rudder and reduce the angle. Some boats actually sail to weather faster and higher, and with better rudder angles, by lowering the  traveler a few inches below the center line.

On the other hand, tightening the mainsheet and bringing the traveler up, even slightly above the center line on some boats, will increase the pressure and lift.

Much depends on the course, the sails set, the rig, the position of the keel, the wind, and the sea state. Ultimately, some combination of small adjustments should bring the rudder angle into the appropriate range. Too much rudder angle and you are just fighting yourself.

• Turn this rudder just 10 degrees and the end plate is lost, reducing the amount of lift generated.

• This rudder might as well be transom hung, the way that the end cap just disappears.

• Stern-hung rudders, and spade rudders with large gaps between the hull and the top of the rudder will lose their lift at the “tip” of the blade near the surface.

Surface roughness affects the lift from the rudder in two ways. A rougher surface has slightly lower lift through the entire range of angles, the result of a turbulent boundary layer instead of smooth flow over the entire surface. More dramatically, rougher blades stall at lower angles and stall more completely. The difference between a faired rudder with a polished finish and a rudder carrying a 10-year accumulation of rolled-on antifouling paint can be as much is 35 percent (see “Rudder Savvy to Boost Boat Performance,” above).

What can we do? If your rudder is a lift up type, don’t use bottom paint. Fair the blade within an inch of its life and lay on a gloss topside paint as smoothly as possible, sanding between coats. If you use a brush, stroke the brush parallel to the waterline, not along the length of the blade.

Which is faster, a gloss finish or one that has been dulled with 1000 grit sandpaper? Opinions go both ways, and we believe it may depend on the exact nature of the paint, which leads to the question, “Should we wax the blade?” The answer is a resounding, no.

Wax is a hydrophobic (readily beads water), like the silicone rubber spatula you tested, and as a result, water doesn’t always cling as well. Thus, whether the paint should be deglossed or not depends on the chemistry of the paint, but in all cases the final sanding should be 1000 grit or finer.

If the rudder stays in the water, antifouling paint is required. Sand the prior coat perfectly smooth. There should be no evidence of chips, runners, or any irregularity at all. Using a mohair roller, lay the paint on thin, and apply multiple coats to withstand the scrubbing you will give your rudder from time to time.

Even if you use soft paint on the rest of the boat, consider hard paint for the rudder. Sure, it will build up and you will have to sand it off periodically, but the rudder is small and no part of your boat is more critical to good handling. Take the time to maintain it as a perfect airfoil.

Close the Gap

Ever notice the little winglets on the tips of certain airplanes? As we know, those are intended to reduce losses off the tip of the wing. The alternatives are slightly longer wings or slightly lower efficiency. At the fuselage end of the wing, of course, there is no such loss because the fuselage serves as an end plate. The same is true with your rudder.

There’s not much you can do about losses from the tip; making the rudder longer will increase the chance of grounding and increase stress on the rudder, rudder shaft, and bearings. Designers have experimented with winglets, but they the catch weeds and the up-and-down motion of the transom makes them inefficient. However, we can improve the end plate effect of the hull by minimizing the gap between the hull and the rudder.

In principle it should be a close fit, but in practice the gap is most often wide enough to catch a rope. Just how much efficiency is lost by gap of a few inches? The answer is quite a lot. A gap of just an inch can reduce lift by as much as 10-20 percent, depending on the size and shape of the rudder and the speed. A gap of 1-2 mm is quite efficient, but normal flexing of the rudder shaft may lead to rubbing.

If the gap is tight, the slightest bend from impact with a submerged log can cause jamming and loss of steering, though in my experience once the impact is sufficient to bend the shaft, a small difference in clearance is unlikely to make much difference; the shaft will bend until the rudder strikes the hull. Just how tight is practical depends on the type of construction, fitting accuracy, and how conservative the designer was in their engineering.

Carbon shafts, tubular shafts, and rudders with skegs flex less, while solid shafts generally flex more, all things being equal. Normally a clearance of about 1/4-inch per foot of rudder cord is practical, and performance-oriented boats often aim for much less. If you can reach your fingers through, that’s way too much. Hopefully the hull is relatively flat above the rudder so that the gap does not increase too much with rudder angle.

Practical Sailor’s technical editor Drew Frye is the author of the books Keeping a Cruising Book for Peanuts and Rigging Modern Anchors. He blogs at his website, sail delmarva.blogspot.com .

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What your boat and the baltimore super container ship may have in common, 21 comments.

How happy to see good technical information about the science of boat speed and control. This information is valuable to everyone, but the “mainly just cruising” cohort usually doesn’t get enough in an easily understandable form. I always suggest some club level racing as the best way to learning how to sail, but many prospective racers have been put off from the sport or haven’t had good opportunities to join the fleets. Technical seminars are generally either too advanced for beginners to understand properly, and the beginner classes are frequently too basic to inspre those who would benefit from a deeper knowledge base in the science of sailing. Good on you, Practical Sailor, for your technical stories hitting the “sweet spot,” getting this information to those we’ll benefit most.

Great article. How about considering modifying a rudder to make it a hydrodynamically balanced rudder. I did it to my boat and the difference is outstanding. If I remember correctly 7% of the rudder area is forward of pivot center. It is a skeg hung rudder that now turns like it’s a spade rudder.

I’m “skeg hung” also. Would you be so kind as to posting a link or providing info as to you accomplished this feat. Thanks!

A very clear explanation of some quite complicated hydrodynamics – thank you! I am surprised by the US Navy results showing benefit of sanding further than 400 grit. Most other experimental data suggest there is negligible advantage in going beyond about 360 grit. Is the original reference publicly available? On Michael Cotton’s comment, a couple of points: Firstly, the amount of balance (i.e how far back you put the stock in the blade) has no impact on the hydrodynamic performance of a spade rudder. What it does do is change the feel of the rudder; a well balanced rudder will be easier to use, thereby probably allowing the steerer to sail the boat better. For a skeg rudder, the hydrodynamic impact of changing the balance depends very much on how the skeg/blade combination is configured. Secondly, 7% of rudder area forward of the stock is not enough for most rudders. The position of the centre of pressure is dependent on a lot of factors (aspect ratio, rudder angle etc.), but it is usually at least 15% back from the leading edge on a spade rudder, more often 20%. A balance somewhere between 10% and 15% is likely to give just enough feel without too much weight. However, rudder balance is still a bit of a black art, it really does depend on the rudder geometry.

the statement that one doesn’t want a silicone/silane coated ( super-smooth, hydrophobic: silicone-silane is just the example I am choosing, since it is now in use as a massively-speeding hull-coating, ttbomk ), as it *induces* flow-separation…

looks to me like conflating cavitation with flow-separation.

People have no problem teflon/ptfe-coating aviation-wings, as a means of *preventing* flow-separation.

the super-slick shape of a Cirrus’s composite wing, if made super-smooth/polished & super-slippery, “air-phobic”, as it were, *improves* its performance, not detracts from it….

Flow is always 1. laminar, then 2. turbulent, then 3. flow-separation.

unless the angle-of-attack ( AoA ) is small-enough to prevent separation.

The Gentry Tufts System, for *seeing* when a separation-bubble begins, on a sail, is brilliant ( Arvel Gentry was a fluid dynamicist, & realized that once one has a *series* of tufts, from luff on back, about 1/4 up the luff, one can *see* the beginning of a flow-separation-bubble, & tune the sail to keep it *just*-beginning, because *that* is MAX lift. Wayback Machine has his site archived, btw )

The aircraft designer Jan Roskam wrote of a DC-10 crashing because pebbled-ice as thick as the grit on 40-grit sandpaper had formed on the upper wings…

obviously, engineered to require laminar, there, but having turbulent, cost all those lives.

iirc, it was Arvel Gentry, or “Principles of Yacht Design”, that stated it takes a ridge of about 0.1mm, only, to trip the flow around a mast from laminar to turbulent…

Given how barnacles & such are generally 100x or more as thick as that, when removed from a hull, I think laminar-flow is something that exists only for the 1st day or so after launching!

I now want to see experiment showing polar curves for rudders coated normally, uncoated, & ailicone-silane coated, to see if it is the coating that induces separation-bubbles, or if it is AoA exceeding functional angle, for that surface & foil,, while the boundary-layer is in specifically turbulent flow, as opposed to the ideal laminar, as aviation’s results indicate…

just an amateur student of naval-architecture & aircraft-design ( Daniel P. Raymer’s “Conceptual Aircraft Design” is *brilliant*, btw ), who happens to study this stuff autistically, as that is the only way to make my designs become absolutely-competent, is all…

I got a pearson and the rudder broke. Can I just replace with a outboard rudder mount it off set for room for outboard need info.

You could but it will not work very well. How badly it would perform is difficult to say. It might be just poor or disastrous. Things really need to be balanced on sail boats.

Polished rudders stall at low angles of attack and ask any hobie cat racer.

Pi is NOT 3.146

3.1416 maybe

Yup, 3.1416. Typo.

Before 2005 , when I fully retired and went cruising 10 months per year, I changed auto pilots, the hydraulics of which reduced the maximum rudder angle. “Someday” had always been difficult to steer in marinas, so I added 30% more rudder area to the Gulfstar 41′ by deepening and following the existing angles. (the pivot was unchanged, as all added area was aft of that.) It increased rudder effort noticeably, but not excessively, improved motor maneauvering and allowed being able to hold a close line better. Noticeably, it caused a lot more stalling of the rudder whenever it was turned very much. A recent tangle with a Guatemala fish net damaged the extension, which I had intended to be sacrificial. I cleaned up the separation somewhat, but have not replaced the extension. The boat again now requires more steering correction when heading at all upwind, but the rudder does not stall as easily.

This is not a scientific study, just my personal non-scientific observations. The added rudder area was quite low, and the fairing quality was…well! modest.

I’ve seen data suggesting ~ 400 grit is best, and I’ve seen data suggesting polished is best. They were both smart, respected guys that I would not second guess. My conclusion is that other factors, such as the specific foil profile and the type of coating, are involved. Let’s just agree that many layers of rolled bottom paint with a few lumps and chips is sub-optimal! We’re talking about cruising boats.

Thanks for great article. I’m convinced enough to go sand my bottom paint off the lifting rudder of my Dragonfly Tri.

Absolutely! No lifting rudder should have bottom paint. My Farrier rudder was sanded fair and painted with gloss white.

Dagger boards and center boards that retract still need antifouling, since they do not lift clear of the water, but because they are in a confined space with little oxygen or water flow, fouling is very limited. Because the space is tight and paint build-up can cause jamming, sand well and limit the number of coats. For my center board I go with two coats on the leading edge (exposed even when lifted) and one coat on the rest.

I do remember a comment directed to cruisers a few years back suggesting that a faster cruiser would be more likely to get out of the way of dirty weather, especially with modern forecasting. I reckoned that this concept would gain traction, but I haven’t seen it. Can anyone weigh in on this opinion?

As interesting as the article reads, I wonder how it helps a prospective buyer of a used boat. Pictures will not do, and neither will taking several boats out of the water to examine them; it’s too expensive. It would be more helpful to indicate which boat manufacturers have the type of rudder the author recommends. After all, the buyer usually cannot be expected to change a rudder prior to buying it; it is also expensive. By the way, these types of very sophisticated articles are seen when it comes to hulls, keels, or rigging but without identifying the boats that carry the wrong equipment. If a specific rudder or keel configuration is not the proper one for efficient sailing, the author ought to state which boats carry the proper ones so that the buyer will concentrate on the whole (the boat) rather than the part.

I was describing the opportunity to improve the existing rudder. As I think back, I have modified the rudder of every boat I have owned in order to improve efficiency. The first two got small changes in balance and improved trailing edge sharpness. On the third I tightened the the hull clearance and changed the section. On my current boat I adding an anti-ventilation fence to improve high speed handling. https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2ZGPzKdj_tE/WyF9G2mHtLI/AAAAAAAAOwE/r6zgQEr4vkcDB4ciMLcgboFdazDAseDBgCLcBGAs/s1600/ian%2Brudder%2Bfence.jpg None of these tasks was overly difficult, and none was undertaken until I had sailed the boat for a season and learned what balance she liked and noted her habits.

For me, I buy a boat based on reputation, a test sail, and in most cases, a survey. As you imply, it is the whole boat you are buying. Does it have good bones? Do you feel happy at the helm? Then comes the fine tuning. I’ve been told that I sell a boat when I run out of things to tweak.

wow, so now case reports/medical reports/evidence don’t count as “evidence”, but certain remedies, even if they are cited in medical journals but do not work in the real world, count as evidence to you?? Maybe we need to redefine evidence based on your philosophies.Anyway, i’ve wasted enough time here. goodbye.

Weight 2.5 tonnes

Do you have any articles on the ideal cross section shape for an outboard rudder mounted 50mm from the transom vertically The yacht is a 26 ft trailer sailer weight 2.5 tonnes

The most common choice would be NACA 0012. http://airfoiltools.com/airfoil/details?airfoil=n0012-il

There are many ways to build a rudder, including laminated solid rot-resistant wood and fiber glass covered foam with a metal armature core. For the DIY, laminated wood is probably the most practical.

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Professional BoatBuilder Magazine

The rudimentaries of rudders.

By Steve D'Antonio , Jul 12, 2018

Even stoutly constructed rudders are vulnerable to deterioration over time, especially when mild steel or high-carbon-stainless steel is buried in composite foil sections, which inevitably become saturated with seawater.

Like other systems and gear aboard cruising and commercial vessels, rudders have terms to identify their parts and functions. When measuring a rudder, the span and chord are the vertical height and fore-and-aft width, respectively, while the top of portion closest to the hull is referred to as the root , and the bottom is called the tip . Another term frequently used when discussing rudder design, particularly for sailing vessels, is aspect ratio —simply the square of the rudder’s span divided by the rudder’s area. As a rule of thumb, longer, narrower rudders are more efficient than short, wide rudders, and the aspect ratio describes precisely this relationship. Thus, rudders on high-performance sailing vessels are said to have a high-aspect ratio. Walking around a boatyard one day and measuring a few cruising sailboat rudders, I came up with aspect ratios of between 1.7 and 2.1, while one high-performance sailing vessel’s rudder came in at 3.5. The 20-knot semi-displacement lobster yacht’s rudder I measured yielded an even 2.0 aspect ratio, which is considered respectable for this application.

More identifiable rudder components include the stock ; web or armature ; rudderport or log ; stuffing box or compression tube ; bearing ; gudgeon ; and pintle . Not every rudder has all these components.

Rudderstocks

The rudderstock is essentially a shaft or tube that protrudes from the top and sometimes the bottom, depending upon type, of many rudder designs. Because this component provides the primary connection between the rudder’s blade (the flat section that imparts the steering force) and the vessel’s steering system, its design, construction, and material are consequential.

Most stocks are made of stainless steel, bronze, or aluminum, while some are carbon fiber, and they may be solid or hollow. Stainless steel is by far the most common, but it has a penchant for crevice corrosion when exposed to oxygen-depleted water. Insidiously, corrosion nearly always occurs in places where it cannot easily be seen—such as inside many composite (fiberglass and core material) rudder blades and beneath flax-type stuffing-box packing (the problem is exacerbated when the vessel is used infrequently).

This all-stainless rudderstock and webbing is well crafted and ready to be covered with its composite shell.

Of the stainless steel alloys, some resist this corrosion better than others. Stainless-steel rudderstocks should be manufactured with strong, highly corrosion-resistant proprietary shafting alloys such as A22. The next best choice is 316L stainless steel, which also resists crevice corrosion well. Critically important is the L suffix, meaning “low carbon,” a requirement if it is to be welded, as nearly every rudderstock must be, to the support within composite rudders, or to all-metallic plate-steel rudders. Failure to source low-carbon stainless steel for the stock or the web leads to weld decay, sometimes referred to as carbide precipitation, where the region around the weld loses its resistance to corrosion and rusts when exposed to water.

Aluminum rudderstocks are nearly always tubular. Common on aluminum vessels to reduce the likelihood of galvanic corrosion, aluminum stocks are also relatively common on fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) vessels, particularly large ones. Rudder blades, particularly on aluminum vessels, are often fabricated from aluminum. Of the various aluminum alloys, only a few possess the necessary corrosion-resistance and strength necessary for use as rudderstocks. Of these, the 6000 series, and 6082 in particular—an alloy of aluminum, manganese, and silicon—are popular for this application.

Because aluminum, like stainless steel, suffers from corrosion, it should not be used as stock or web material in composite rudders. Referred to as poultice corrosion, it occurs when aluminum is exposed to oxygen-depleted water. Because oxygen is what allows aluminum to form its tough, corrosion-resistant oxide coating, the metal should never be allowed to remain wet and starved of air as it would be inside a composite rudder blade after water makes its way in around the stock and pintle.

Rudderstock material can corrode in way of the oxygen-starved environment around the packing in a stuffing box.

Bronze, a once popular rudderstock material, is no longer common in today’s production vessels. Although strong and exceptionally corrosion resistant (immune to crevice corrosion), bronze is not easily welded to attach to a rudder’s internal structural webbing, and has thus been supplanted by stainless alloys. Bronze rudderstocks, particularly those that have seen many sea miles, are also known for wearing, or hourglassing, within stuffing boxes, where the flax rides against the stock. If a bronze stock rudder is chronically leaky, disassemble the stuffing box and check for excessive wear. The same is true for stainless and aluminum stocks: chronic leakage is often an indication of corrosion at the packing. Finally, because of their galvanic incompatibility, neither bronze nor copper alloys should be used aboard aluminum vessels for rudderstocks or any other rudder or stuffing box components.

Mild-steel webbing welded to a stainless-steel rudderstock is a recipe for eventual corrosion and failure.

The webbing, or internal metallic support system, in most composite rudders must be strong enough to carry the loads of service and be made of the appropriate material. At one time, many rudders were built using stainless-steel stocks and ordinary, rust-prone mild or carbon-steel webbing. Inadvisably, some still are. The union between a stainless stock and FRP rudder blade is tenuous at best (the two materials expand and contract at different rates) and stainless steel’s slippery surface makes adhesion to the laminate resin a short-lived affair. Once water enters the gap between these two materials, it will reach the webbing and associated welds. Thus, all the materials within this structure must be as corrosion- and water-resistant as possible, and the core material must be closed-cell—often foam—and nonhygroscopic.

This destroyed foam-core and stainless-steel rudder reveals the conventional construction of such appendages.

Additionally, where possible, the stock should consist of a single section of solid or tubular material; i.e., it should not be sleeved, reduced, or otherwise modified or welded unless done so in an exceptionally robust manner. The webbing must be welded to the stock, but the structure of the stock should not rely on a weld that would experience cyclical, torsional loading.

The webbing in the form of a plate or grid should be welded to the stock with ample horizontal gussets (small wedges welded where the stock and webbing interface), which will reinforce welds 90° to the primary web attachment.

Whether the rudder is spade (supported only at the top) or skeg hung (supported at the top and the bottom), the stock must pass through and be supported by the hull. This is usually accomplished by a component known as a rudder log, or port. In its simplest form it’s a tube or pipe through which the stock passes. Nearly all logs incorporate two other components—a bearing and a stuffing box. The bearing may be as simple as a bronze or nonmetallic bushing or tube inside of which the stock turns; or it may be as complex as a self-aligning roller-bearing carrier that absorbs rudder deflection and prevents binding.

This rudder log is leaking, corroded, and poorly supported, with washers compressing into the backing plate and gelcoat cracking off.

The log transfers tremendous loads and must be exceptionally strong and well bonded to the hull. Fiberglass vessels should rely on a well-tabbed-in purpose-made tube (its filaments are wound and crisscrossed and thus quite strong) that is supported with a series of vertical gussets that distribute the load to the hull’s surrounding structure. On some spade rudder installations, particularly where the log is not, or could not, be long enough, an additional bearing is used at the top of the stock, above the quadrant, where it is supported by the vessel’s deck.

On metal boats the design is similar but with a metal tube welded in place, supported by substantial gussets. For vessels with skeg-hung rudders, the strength of the rudder log is still important. However, because the loads are not imparted by a cantilevered structure, logs used in these applications may be less substantially supported.

Stuffing Box

Unless the rudder log’s upper terminus is well above the waterline or on the weather deck, it is typically equipped with a stuffing box similar to those used for propeller shafts. But unlike a shaft stuffing box, the rudder’s stuffing box shouldn’t leak much, if any, seawater. Because the rudder turns slowly, friction and heat are not a problem. Packing (i.e., waxed-flax packing like that in traditional stuffing boxes) can typically be tight enough to stem all leakage, and lubricating it with heavy water-resistant grease will reduce friction and leakage.

Stuffing boxes that are above the waterline while the vessel is at rest, such as those on many sailboats, are often the most chronically leaky, because the packing tends to dry out and contract. To avoid this, liberally apply grease to the packing material itself; this requires partial disassembly of the stuffing box. Alternatively, a galvanically compatible (316 stainless or Monel for bronze stuffing boxes) grease fitting may be installed and periodically pumped with grease to keep the packing lubricated.

Rudder Bearings

Well-engineered rudder bearings support and lubricate the rudderstock.

Rudder bearings range from the basic rudderstock turning inside a bronze log, to the sophisticated aluminum, stainless, or nonmetallic roller bearings installed in a self-aligning carrier. For most cruising vessels, the choice of bearing is not as important as knowing which type of bearing is in use and its strengths, weaknesses, and maintenance needs. The simple shaft that turns inside a bronze log is durable and reliable but more friction-prone than roller bearings. If lubrication access or a grease fitting is available, it should be pumped with grease periodically, although most rudders rely solely on seawater for lubrication, which is perfectly acceptable.

This synthetic upper bearing worked fine in cool temperatures, but when it heated up in the sun, the material expanded and caused binding in system.

Nonmetallic sleeve and roller bearings, often made of ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), require no maintenance, are extremely slippery, and will not absorb water, an essential attribute for nonmetallic bearings. Delrin and nylon, for instance, will absorb water, expand, and lead to rudder binding. On several high-performance sailing vessels, I’ve had to replace nylon or similar bearings with UHMWPE to restore the steering to its proper specification and effort level.

Propeller Removal

Shaft removal should be possible with the rudder in place. This conventional skeg-hung rudder has a hole to facilitate shaft removal when the rudder is swung hard to port or starboard.

Whether a rudder is a spade or skeg-hung design, it’s important to determine how it will affect the removal of the propeller or the propeller shaft. Is there enough clearance between the shaft’s trailing end and the leading edge of the rudder to allow the propeller to be removed or to use a propeller removal tool? Can the shaft be slid out without removing the rudder? Some rudders are equipped with shaft-removal holes, while others are installed slightly offset from the centerline; or the rudder’s leading edge has an indentation to allow the shaft to be removed. The propeller should be removable without having to unship the rudder. The dimensional rule of thumb calls for clearance of at least the prop’s hub length between the aft end of the shaft and the leading edge of the rudder.

Rudder Stops

The rudder’s movement should be unimpeded as it swings approximately 35° in either direction, making no contact with hull or propeller. Just as important as the rudder travel is how its movement is checked. Other than for the smallest runabouts with jacketed cables, all inboard rudders should rely on hydraulic cylinders to check rudder travel (provided they are designed to do so, and most are) or be equipped with robust stops. Stops must be integral to the hull, supported by substantial tabbing or a welded and through-bolted structure for fiberglass vessels, or by welded angle and shelves for metallic hulls.

About the Author: For many years a full-service yard manager, Steve now works with boatbuilders and owners and others in the industry as Steve D’Antonio Marine Consulting. He is an ABYC-certified Master Technician, and sits on that organization’s Hull and Piping Project Technical Committee. He’s also the technical editor of Professional BoatBuilder .

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High-Performance Foils

Shaping better centerboards and rudders

From Issue   July 2020

W hile it’s generally accepted that the right sails and sail trim will determine how close you can sail to the apparent wind, a sailboat’s progress to windward also depends on the lift and drag generated by the centerboard and rudder. How much difference does proper foil shape make over a simple rounded leading edge and tapered trailing edge, anyway?  Foils operating in fluids, whether air or water, are a well-studied topic. C.A. Marchaj, in his book, Sailing Theory and Practice , discusses the theory and gives the results of actual tests of differences in foil planform (side view), cross-section shape, size, and aspect ratio (AR – length to width). Lacking other constraints, an ideal centerboard, daggerboard, or rudder blade should have a reasonably high AR (greater than 2) planform with a streamlined cross-section that has a parabolic leading edge and a thickness of somewhere near 10 percent of the chord width (the distance from leading edge to trailing edge). A thickness of 8 percent produces less drag but stalls sooner; 12 percent has a higher stall angle but produces more drag.

Exactly where the point of maximum thickness should be located is a matter of some debate. Marchaj suggests it should be at 50 percent of the chord width, halfway between the leading edge and trailing edge, but provides no data to back that up. Other sources suggest that the NACA (National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics) symmetric foil sections, originally developed during aircraft research, are actually a good fit for boat foils operating at low speeds in water. A NACA 0010 foil, for example, has a maximum thickness of 10 percent of the width of the foil, located at 30 percent from the leading edge.

Of course, there are many practical reasons why not all keels, centerboards, and rudders have high AR planforms, but the cross section for a foil of any planform should be streamlined. My personal experience of doing it wrong on one boat, and getting it right on another boat, has convinced me that the NACA sections and guidelines above provide good performance.

HORNPIPE, my first sail-and-oar boat, was an 18’ Kurylko Alaska with a standing-lug ketch rig, and sailed well enough to windward in flat water, but lost 10 to 15 degrees of pointing ability as soon as the water got choppy. I knew it wasn’t poor sail trim. Eventually I got looking at the daggerboard and analyzed it. It was only about 2.5 percent of the sail area and its thickness was only about 6 percent of the chord width, neither big enough or thick enough in my view, and in rough water it lost laminar flow and lift. When I designed my 18′ lug-yawl cruiser, FIRE-DRAKE, I gave it a thicker centerboard with a greater fraction of the sail area, about 4 percent. I also gave it a straight quarter chord line (think of the shape of the wing of a Spitfire aircraft) and a moderately high aspect ratio of about 3:1 for the planform area. To get the daggerboard foil shaped accurately and quickly I opted to have it cut on a computer numerical control (CNC) machine. All that was left for me to do was sand, seal and paint, and make an epoxy-lined hole for the pivot pin.

The results have been what I had hoped for. FIRE-DRAKE sails quite well to windward and maintains its performance in rough water. I sailed in the company of a similar boat—with the same length and beam, the same weight, and the same sail plan—along the south half of the Inside Passage, and that boat’s centerboard was shaped by eye. When sailing to windward, FIRE-DRAKE would consistently point higher and walk away in speed. My centerboard even let me continue sailing to windward when my partner gave up and took to the oars.

Although I had the daggerboard shaped with a CNC router, it is possible to shape a high aspect ratio, fully streamlined foil in the home shop. I’ll walk you through my second project, a kick-up rudder blade that I made at home to replace the original one I built for FIRE-DRAKE. I settled on a planform that is one-quarter of an ellipse with an elliptical leading edge and a straight trailing edge. (The shape would move the center of lateral resistance of the boat aft a few inches, and is intended to lighten the weather helm I’d experienced with the original rubber blade.) I drew the new blade with an aspect ratio of 2.5:1, with a length of 30″ (762 mm) and a maximum chord width of 12″ (305 mm), which would increase the lift and reduce the tip vortex drag.

To draw the planform shape of the quarter ellipse you can use an online graphing tool such as Desmos for a full ellipse. If you center the ellipse at zero, you can drag the two axes out until you get the aspect ratio you want. Since the graph has a grid in the background, you can then print out a screen capture of a quarter of the resulting ellipse and scale up the printed image to the actual dimensions required. If you are comfortable with computers, you can download and run Freeship (available for Windows only) which has a “keel and rudder wizard” that accurately generates several different planforms.

The new rudder blade for FIRE-DRAKE has a quarter-ellipse planform. The plywood’s glue lines show the contours that help with shaping the foil.

Obtaining the cross-section profile of a chord of a given width is best left to a computer. For any of the NACA foils, like the 0010 foil I mentioned above, Competition Composites Inc . (CCI) has a very simple and handy calculator . You need enter only the chord width and the maximum thickness and it will generate a table of X-Y coordinates that you can copy and print out. They’ll be your offsets for drawing a pattern for the foil cross-section. If you intend to sheathe your foil with ’glass and epoxy, for example, you can also enter the skin thickness and it will calculate the coordinates for the plywood core.

Now, here’s the tricky bit. If you have a rectangular foil planform, you only have one chord width and therefore one section profile for the entire length of the foil. However, if you have any other planform (e.g., half-ellipse, quarter-ellipse, trapezoidal, straight-chord-quarter-line, etc.), the thickness, which will be one-tenth of the chord width, changes along the length of the foil because the chord width changes.

I used the CCI calculator to generate profile coordinates for three different points along the length of the rudder blade: at the root, at about two-thirds of the way along and at about 90 percent of the way to the end. I chose those points because the chord width for my quarter ellipse planform doesn’t change much for the first half of its length, but it changes more quickly toward the tip. The idea is to shape the foil to these profiles at these points and then taper the foil evenly between them. You can lay out your foil plan directly on to the ply or you can use something thin, like doorskin, to make and fine-tune a template, which is what I did.

I made a blank for my rudder by gluing layers of marine ply with epoxy to the required 1″ thickness. I have found that the plywood, in spite of its cross-grain plies, has sufficient strength for the size of small-boat foils that I have built (though the cross-grain would weaken a long thin foil). Plywood does not warp and has the added advantage over solid wood in that the plies create a kind of contour map that give you graphic visual feedback as to the evenness of your surface once you start shaping the foil. You can make a foil with solid wood or even foam plus a ’glass-and-epoxy skin, but without the plywood laminates as guides, you would have to make more section profile templates to ensure a smooth and accurate shape.

Clamping a 4′ level to the flat part of the rudder blade provides a reference line to gauge how much wood to remove to achieve the foil’s taper.

The next step is to taper the thickness of the laminated foil blank along its full length. Knowing the required thickness at your chosen points, you can draw a pattern for the curve of the taper and half the thickness of the blade stock and measure how much wood you have to remove at each point. I clamped my 4′ aluminum I-beam level to the flat part of the rudder blade above the shaped part, and used a ruler to measure the depth I had to cut to. To remove the wood for this part of the project, I used my #4 Stanley plane. While I have a power hand planer, I didn’t trust myself with it to not take too much off too quickly.

The female half-section template for a given chord for a foil gets its shape from the X-Y coordinates generated by a foil calculator.

I made three female half-section profile templates, one for each of the three points noted above, by plotting out the generated X-Y coordinates on pieces of doorskin and carefully cutting them out. One thing to note is that the CCI calculator generates a profile that has a trailing edge of zero thickness. Obviously, this is not practical to build in wood, and a knife edge is not that critical anyway. I adjusted the trailing edges so that the finished edge would end up about 1/3″ (4mm) thick.

Applying the template to the foil in the works shows the high and low spots as the shaping continues.

Next, I used the profile templates to shape the foil at my three chosen points. I shaped the plywood with a Shinto rasp , regular rasps, and coarse sandpaper. It’s a process of taking some wood off, placing the template, and repeating until you get the section of wood shaped to the templates. Once that is done, I could go to work taking down the wood between the sections, using the ply layers as a guide. I used my block plane, Shinto rasp, and sandpaper for this task. I eyeballed a smooth transition around the tip from the leading edge to the trailing edge.

I sealed the surface of the shaped foil with a couple of coats of epoxy to provide a smooth, hard surface to accept a finish coat of marine epoxy enamel.

Alex Zimmerman is a semi-retired mechanical technologist and former executive. His first boat was an abandoned Chestnut canoe that he fixed up as a teenager and paddled on the waterways of eastern Manitoba and northwestern Ontario. He started his professional career as a maritime engineer in the Canadian Navy, and that triggered his interest in sailing. He didn’t get back into boatbuilding until he moved back to Vancouver Island in the ’90s, where he built a number of sea kayaks that he used to explore the coast. He built his first sail-and-oar boat in the early 2000s and completed his most recent one in 2016. He says he can stop building boats anytime. He is the author of the recently published book, Becoming Coastal .

For further reading on the pros and cons of the variables in foil design, Competition Composites (CCI) has a good discussion . For those of you who want to go into the math, Paul Zander has a good presentation from nearly 20 years ago, and also, for those inclined that way, an updated discussion with a lot more math.

You can share your tips and tricks of the trade with other Small Boats Magazine readers by sending us an email .

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Comments (17)

Is there someone who can craft a good rudder for my boat? I have not the time or the skills to do such. Have a 15′ Delaware Ducker. Love the boat but the rudder is (I think) a disaster. Hardly brings the boat around and doesn’t help much to windward. Flat plywood barn door out of 3/8″ ply with no shape other than outline that barely gets 2″ – 3″ into the water. If it could be a kick-up so much the better. I do a lot of shallow, sand-bottom sailing. Thank you for any help.

I know about the ducker and a foil shaped rudder will help a lot. Some of the modern ones built in glass and cold molded have been fitted with modern dinghy rudders and foil shaped daggerboards. They tack more like a dinghy than like my traditional one where I have to sail it around like a larger boat.

Most any small boat builder in your area should be able to build you a rudder. Lines for a kick up would be a nuisance. I don’t bother with them on a larger boat, just use a pivot bolt with tension. Means I have to shove it down.

You might want to look at the system that Mike Storer has developed for his goat island skiff, a straight foil, easier to shape.

Alex has done a great idea showing us how to work these out using hand tools. We used to do it in my dinghy sailing days by drawing a 30 % line. Make a bunch of parabola templates and hack away. For really long narrow boards before the days of carbon we used to use 5/4 stair tread fir.

Interesting article. When I built my Oughtred JII Yawl eighteen years ago, I did some research on appropriate foil profiles for the centerboard and rudder. It’s a long time ago now, so I don’t remember the exact profiles I chose, but I do believe I picked NACA 0010 for the CB. I picked another profile for the rudder, one that had a steeper stall angle, on the theory that with typical weather helm the rudder meets the flow at a steeper angle than the CB. I really don’t know how valid my theory is. I have no experimental evidence to back it up. Any thoughts?

Andrew, that seems to make sense although I haven’t seen any research to back that up.

Hi Andrew, I remember seeing your beautiful JII; but did not ask about the foils! I wonder how NACA 0010 compares with my approximate foil shape, inspired mainly by guesswork. Are these profiles available? By the way, I do not like plywood foils; CBs break. Friends near here lost their fine old rebuilt Wayfarer; were in danger themselves, when they capsized and the plywood board broke. Too near a rugged lee shore. A class racing boat, by a particular builder – all their plywood centerboards broke.

Iain, I don’t know what your standard foil shape looks like, but a NACA 0010 has a maximum thickness of 10% of the chord distance, occurring at 30% of the distance back from the leading edge. Marchaj believes that the maximum thickness should occur at about 50% of the distance back from the leading edge. Other designers agree, I think. If I understand him correctly, John Welsford uses a foil section that is closer to 50% distance, but I am not sure what thickness of foils he favors or what the exact foil shape is. You can see the shape, and all the requisite numbers for extracting an X-Y plot to reproduce them, for a whole bunch of different foil types, on the Airfoil Tools site. As for plywood foils, I understand your concern. Half the plies are oriented in the wrong direction and don’t provide much in the way of resisting sideways bending moments. However, it has been my experience that this is not a major concern if the foil is thick enough and not too long. The centerboard foil on my latest boat, for example, is ply, but is nearly 2″ (50 mm) at maximum thickness. It’s got over 1,000 nautical miles in four years under the keel by now, including a couple of practice capsizes, with no issues so far.

I don’t know what a standard Wayfarer foil looks like. Is it long and thin?

Very interesting article. I am just in the process of building a Lillistone Flint and have no experience building or knowledge of foil design and performance. I calculated the various ratios and percentages. The AR as per the plans is 2.43, so that looks good. The thickness however is only 4% of chord width. Area of the dagger board is 3.5% of sail area, so probably OK there too. Lillistone does state in the plans that the board can be made thicker if preferred so I think I may do that as 4% is a pretty big departure from the 8 – 10% of the chord width suggested. Any comments? The Flint was featured in this mag a few issues ago.

David, both my experience and authorities who design for a living and/or who have tested these things would suggest that 4% is rather too thin for good lift. I suspect that you might find it works reasonably well in dead flat water but you would lose lift and pointing ability as the water gets more turbulent. If it was me, and I hadn’t yet built the foil and its case, I’d go for one that was at least 10% and maybe even 12%. The additional thickness would also be more robust should you need to stand on it to flip the boat over if you capsize.

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply, Alex. I have decided to use some salvaged King William (King Billy here in Tasmania) pine that was salvaged. I thicknessed it to clean it up a bit and reckon I will eventually get 20 – 22 mm out of it. I plan to laminate 10 pieces into a 304mm board. Hopefully I will get a good result.

Hi David, It highly depends where you sail and how you sail. I have one older (1975) 420er dinghy for fun and local competitions with foiled board and rudder. But then I have 21″ German Jollenkreuzer veteran from 1952 which has both from 1/4″ steel plate, and it works fine. I sail that for pleasure on lakes. It would definitely be more performant (and point better) with both foiled, but I’m surprised how well it performs in its nearly ’70s (comparing to modern GRP boats with foiled boards).

For your job, I would probably stick to the plans. The rudder in this case is more important and can be somehow easily modified (foil). The centerboard I would keep the same, not only to conform the centerboard box (which would need to be sized), but also the overall design. Finally the most important here is what is your building and designing experience, because the worst thing is when something is incorrectly designed and then improperly built (the simple rounded plywood then may work better).

Anyway, I’m also thankful for this article. It reminds me my childhood when I built airplane models and used exactly the same methods used here to create the wings (in much smaller scale).

Thanks for your thoughts. I am going for a thicker foil and risk it (see reply to Alex above). I am well aware of risks in departing from designer’s work but I don’t think I will go far wrong.

Do SUP fins follow the rules for centerboards?

I’m not a SUP guy myself, but my understanding is that the fins are there to assist in tracking. That is, they don’t need to provide lift the way a sailboat keel/CB going to windward does. The thing you would be aiming for in the case of SUP fins is having sufficient lateral area to provide that tracking ability, and then having it streamlined to reduce drag. I would imagine that thinner would be better, although you’d still want a streamlined foil section, as that would produce less drag than a flat plate. The leading edge of a flat plate tends to separate the flow from the sides of the plate, even if that edge is rounded, and separation produces turbulence and drag.

For twenty years, beginning in the early 1970’s, I raced a Lido 14. The boat was pre-owned, and had its original solid wood foils which were in pretty bad shape, and I decided to build new foils. After reading Marchaj’s book, and the Lido 14 Class Rules, I designed a new centerboard and rudder. The NACA-0009 section most closely fit the required class measurements, and I used that profile. I did alter the leading edge of the rudder, making it more rounded, to allow for the fact that the rudder angle of attack is variable, and is more likely to stall.

In fleet racing, and sailing close hauled, the results were astounding, with the boat seeming to sail slightly sideways, relative to other boats. I also began to pay particular attention to the condition of the foil surfaces, as Marchaj writes that the drag on underwater foils is many times greater than the drag on the hull surface. One time we were sailing in an area of submerged trees, and my centerboard lightly brushed a tree branch. I then noticed that the centerboard ‘hummed’ on port tack. Later, when I examined to board, there was a barely visible scratch.

I very much enjoyed the article on high-performance foils in the July 2020 issue of the Small Boat Magazine .

For twenty years, beginning in the early 1970’s, I raced a Lido 14. The boat was pre-owned, and had its original solid wood foils which were in pretty bad shape, and I decided to build new foils. After reading Marchaj’s book, and the Lido 14 Class Rules, I designed a new centerboard, and rudder. The NACA-0009 section most closely fit the required class measurements, and I used that profile. I did alter the leading edge of the rudder, making it more rounded, to allow for the fact that the rudder angle of attack is variable, and is more likely to stall.

In fleet racing, and sailing close hauled, the results were astounding, with the boat seeming to sail slightly sideways to windward, relative to other boats. The boat didn’t seem to point higher, when close hauled, it just didn’t make as much lee way. More benefit on the port tack, a little less on starboard. I did set the centerboard jibe angle to the maximum allowed by class rules. In all honesty, I was probably the only one in the fleet that had read Marchaj. It still took me five years to win the fleet championship. I also began to pay particular attention to the condition of the foil surfaces, as Marchaj writes that the drag on underwater foils is many times greater than the drag on the hull surface. One time we were sailing in an area of submerged trees, and my centerboard lightly brushed a tree branch. I then noticed that the centerboard ‘hummed’ on port tack. Later, when I examined to board, there was a barely visible scratch.

I am a new subscriber to Small Boat Magazine , and look forward to each issue. Keep up the good work.

Was just about to make the centerboard for my Oughted Caledonia Yawl. So I was happy to see this article. But was then disappointed when I calculated my centerboard area to be only 1.9 percent of my total sail area. I briefly thought gee I will make it a little bigger…but then realized the centerboard trunk is already complete and limits that. I don’t plan on racing, so it is what it is.

Mark, I’d be really interested in your results once you launch the boat and do some trials. Theory is one thing, but nothing beats data from real-world results.

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Sailboat Rudders 

The primary purpose of sailboat rudders is of course to give the helmsman the ability to steer the boat, but a well-designed one will also provide hydrodynamic lift to windward, in the same manner as does the keel.

Placing sailboat rudders into distinct categories is fairly straight forward - they're either:

• Outboard or inboard rudders, which can be
• Unbalanced, balanced or semi-balanced, and be
• Keel-hung, skeg-hung, transom-hung or spade rudders.

Take a stroll around any fair-sized boatyard during the lay-up season and you'll see examples of most of them...

Inboard & Outboard Sailboat Rudders

If the rudderstock passes through the underside of a boat's hull, it's an inboard rudder. Conversely, if it doesn't, it's an outboard rudder.

Most outboard rudders are turned by a tiller as there's no rudderstock to which a wheel-steering quadrant can be mounted.

The two rudders shown below are quite different examples of outboard rudders.

Fig 1 shows an example of a keel-hung outboard rudder that is seldom seen on today's cruising boats.

Outboard rudders like the one in Fig 2 can be easily removed for service or repair with the vessel afloat. You might struggle with trying to do that with the 'barn door' of a rudder in Fig 1 though!

Examples of inboard rudders can be seen in Figs 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 9.

Unbalanced Rudders

This unbalanced rudder is supported by a full-length skeg.

It is unbalanced because the entirety of the rudder is aft of its axis, the axis being on the centreline of the rudderstock.

When turned, the full force of the water flowing past the skeg acts on one side of the rudder - a fact that will be very much apparent to the helmsman, particularly on a tiller-steered boat.

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Learn How to Sail a Small Sailboat – 1. The Parts of the Boat

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Typical Small Sailboat

The Hunter 140 shown here is a typical centerboard sailboat used for learning how to sail and for sailing in protected waters. It can hold two adults or three children. It is easily rigged and sailed. We will use this boat throughout this Learn to Sail - Full Course.

Shown here is the boat as it is typically left on a dock or mooring, with sails and rudder removed.

If you know very little about sailing, you might want to learn some basic terms referring to the boat and sailing technique before starting this course.

The mast and boom are usually left in place on the boat. The forestay holds up the mast from the bow of the boat, and a single shroud on each side of the boat holds the mast side to side. The shrouds are mounted back of the mast, so they also keep the mast from falling forward. The stay and shrouds are made of flexible wire that can be disconnected to trailer or store the boat.

On most large sailboats, there are multiple shrouds to support the mast, along with a back stay support to the stern. Otherwise, this boat is representative of the basic standing rigging of a sloop, the most common type of modern sailboat.

The Mast Step

Here’s a close-up view of the bottom of the mast atop the boat. The stainless steel mounting piece affixed to the boat is called the mast step. In this boat model, a pin emerging from the mast on both sides simply fits into a slot in the mast step. The mast is lightweight and easily raised by hand.

Once the mast is stepped, it is held securely in place by the shrouds and forestay, as shown in the previous photo.

On most small sailboats, the rudder is mounted on the stern of the hull, as shown here. The rudder is a long, thin blade hanging vertically from a simple set of hinges (which varies somewhat among different boats). The rudder pivots on a vertical axis, swinging side to side, which turns the boat when it is moving through the water. (We’ll describe steering in Part 3 of this course.)

The rudder may be stored on the boat or removed, like the sails, after sailing. Here, the rudder is being reinstalled. On this model the rudder has a kick-up feature, which allows it to swing up if the boat strikes bottom.

The rudder is turned side to side by the tiller, the long metal arm seen here extending from the top of the rudder about 3 feet into the cockpit. On many boats the tiller is made of wood.

Note the black handle on top of the metal tiller arm. Called a tiller extension, this device mounts near the end of the tiller and can be moved far out to the side of the boat or forward. The extension is needed because when sailing close to the wind, sailors may need to move their body weight far out to the side (called “hiking out”) in order to keep the boat balanced. We’ll see this in Part 3 of this course.)

Most large sailboats use a wheel apparatus to turn the rudder, because the forces on the boat’s rudder can be so much larger that it would be difficult to steer with a tiller.

Boom Gooseneck

The boom attaches to the mast with a fitting called a gooseneck. The gooseneck allows the boom to swing far out to both sides as well as to pivot up and down.

This photo also shows the vertical slot in the mast used to hold the mainsail's front edge (the "luff") to the mast (as you’ll see in Part 2 of this course). The sail “slugs,” fittings on the sail's luff, slide up the mast in this slot.

A similar slot can be seen in the top of the boom, to hold the foot of the sail.

The L-shaped metal pin at the forward end of the boom holds the forward bottom corner of the mainsail, called the tack.

Note the two lines (never called “rope” on a boat!) running up the mast. These are the halyards, described in the next page.

The Halyards

Halyards are the lines that pull the sails up the mast. A typical small sloop like this sailboat has two sails, the mainsail and jib, and thus has two halyards – one to pull up the top corner ("head") of each sail. (We’ll see this is Part 2 of this course.)

At the end of a halyard is a fitting, called a shackle, that attaches the sail to the line. The line then runs up to a block (pulley) at the masthead, and comes back down alongside the mast as you see here. Pulling down on this end of the halyard hoists the sail up.

When the sail is up, the halyard is tied off tight to the mast cleat using a cleat hitch, as shown here.

Halyards are part of the boat’s running rigging. "Running rigging" refers to all the lines that control the sails or other rigging, which can be moved or adjusted while sailing - unlike the fixed rigging, the usually metal, fixed parts of the rig (mast, boom, stays, shrouds).

Mainsheet Block and Tackle

Another key part of a boat’s running rigging is the mainsheet. This line runs between the boom and a fixed point in the cockpit (as shown here) or cabin top. As the line is let out, the boom and mainsail can swing farther out from the boat’s centerline. As described in Part 3 of this course, moving the sails in or out, called trimming the sails, is necessary for sailing at different angles to the wind.

Even in a small sailboat the force of the wind in the mainsail can be considerable. The use of a block and tackle in the mainsheet provides a mechanical advantage so that the mainsail can be managed by one person, with one hand, while sailing.

On most larger sailboats, the mainsheet mounts from the boom to a traveler rather than to a fixed point. The traveler can move the attachment point side to side for better sail shape.

Finally, notice the cam cleat where the mainsheet exits the block and tackle. This cleat holds the mainsheet in place after being adjusted.

Jibsheet and Cleat

When the jib sail is put on the forestay (“bent on”), a sheet is run from its aft corner (the “clew”) on each side of the mast back to the cockpit. The jib sheets allow the sailor to trim the jib, as described in Part 3 of this course.

Each jib sheet is led back through a cam cleat, as shown here, which holds the line in place. The jaws of the cam cleat allow the line to be pulled back but not slip forward. To release the jib sheet, the sailor jerks the line up and out of the jaws (into the open space below the top red piece shown).

The Centerboard

The final part we’ll look at in this boat introduction is the centerboard. You can’t actually see most of the centerboard, however, because it is in the water below the boat. This photo shows only its top edge protruding from the centerboard trunk down the middle of the cockpit.

The centerboard is a long, thin blade mounted at one end on a pivot point. When its control line is let out, the centerboard swings down into the water – usually about 3 feet down on a boat of this size. The thin board slices cleanly through the water as the boat moves forward, but its large flat side provides resistance to prevent the wind from blowing the boat sideways. In Part 3 of this course we’ll discuss how the centerboard is used while sailing.

Note the centerboard control line running back on the right side of the centerboard trunk. The cleat that holds the line and keeps it from moving forward is called a clam cleat because of its shape. With no moving parts, this cleat holds a line squeezed into it. It is not as secure as the cam cleat for the mainsheet and jibsheets, but the force on the centerboard line is much less.

This completes our introduction of the basic parts of a small sailboat.

• How to Gybe a Sailboat
• How to Raise the Mainsail
• How to Tack a Sailboat
• Simple Reefing System for Sailors
• How to Rig a Preventer Line
• How to Use a Mainsheet Traveler
• Using a Sailboat Boom Vang in Sailing
• How to Use a Sailboat's Outhaul
• Control Your Tiller Without a Tiller-Tamer
• The Sunfish: A Perfect Lake or Urban Sailboat
• How to Heave To a Sailboat
• How to Use Roller Furling
• How to Use a Topping Lift
• When to Adjust Sailboat Sails for Stronger Winds
• Choosing a Centerboard or Fixed Keel Sailboat
• How to Trim the Jib Using Telltales

SmallBoatBigBass.com

The Perfect Small Boat Rudder to Keep You From Spinning Like a Top

Before I bought my Pelican Bass Raider 10e I spent countless hours online researching all the accessories and modifications that people made to their small boats.

Probably the most common complaint I saw online was the lack of a rudder, which caused the boat to constantly spin in the wind and be harder to control overall.

I wrote those complaints off for the most part until I got out on the water a few times.

Talk about FRUSTRATING!!

I was constantly battling my boat making tiny adjustments while trying to fish. It doesn’t take much wind either, maybe about 10 mph.

I knew I had seen all kinds of posts online about making a rudder out of wood, plastic, and even broken trolling motor parts.

I considered trying some of these methods but I’m not the most handy guy around and I figured my rudder would fall off and end up at the bottom of the lake.

So I continued searching for a pre-made rudder I could purchase that was designed specifically for small boats.

The Bullnose Rudder

The Bullnose Rudder is a heavy duty plastic rudder that clamps onto your trolling motor shaft.

All it takes is 4 screws (included) and you’re good to go.

It’s also designed to be a universal fit for electric trolling motors with 24 – 55 lbs of thrust.

Depending on your trolling motor you may have to mount it upside down, in front of, or behind the shaft.

No matter which way you mount it, it will still do the job.

I installed this on my Minn Kota Endura C2 in about 3 minutes and tried it out on the water.

Here’s What I Noticed

Before installing the Bullnose Rudder I would position my boat right where I wanted it but the wind or current would spin or move me pretty quickly.

I’d take my hand off my reel to kick the trolling motor on and make a tiny adjustment, then make another cast. Before getting my bait back to the boat I’d have to adjust the boat again because now I had spun a little too far in the other direction.

And I’d repeat this 956 times over the next 3 hours…

The Bullnose Rudder significantly reduces the boat spinning. I still have to adjust my position due to the wind but not nearly as much as before.

I also notice that if I’m trolling through an area and making casts the boat will generally stay moving in a straight line.

This is a HUGE improvement over not having a rudder at all.

Will the best small boat rudder work on your boat?

I am currently not using the bullnose rudder on my boat because I switched to the MotorGuide Bulldog 40 trolling motor which is mounted on the bow and foot controlled.

Try not to laugh, but I wanted to see what would happen if I mounted the rudder on this setup. Just in case anyone else was thinking of trying it… it doesn’t work.

The rudder makes the motor incredibly hard to turn due to the extra resistance and when it does turn it will swing all the way to one side and stop.

If you’ve got a setup similar to this you’ll need to add a fixed rudder to the back of the boat or go without one. I’ve found I don’t need one based on the control that I get from my particular trolling motor.

The vast majority of small plastic boats I’ve seen run a traditional, hand-controlled trolling motor on the stern and the simplest way to improve control is to add a Bullnose Rudder to your motor.

One thought on “The Perfect Small Boat Rudder to Keep You From Spinning Like a Top”

Need to know how to reattach the top half to the bottom half. I have it apart and all staples are out and clean. What should I use to put it back together? Thank you.

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Swing/Kick-up Rudder

• Thread starter weh5748
• Start date Jun 21, 2012
• Oday Owner Forums
• Ask An Oday Owner

I just bought a used O'Day 19 with the swing rudder. I'm not sure what the purpose is. I see that pulling on rope lowers rudder although it is very difficult. Not sure how you raise the rudder without leaning over back of boat and grabbing it which is not easy. Is it designed for making adjustments while under sail or just a docking/mooring adjustment. I have the boat at dock and am going over it. Haven't sailed it yet. Thanks for any insights.  

The kick up rudder blade is designed to kick up if it gets grounded out or hits something submerged. You want to lock it all the way down when you sail. I keep my rudder blade in the up position when my boat is on the mooring or at anchor in shallow water. I added a hold up line to my blade years ago. It comes in handy when I launch my boat at the ramp. I mount my rudder on the transom and tie off the tiller so that the rudder is straight and raise the blade. It's a heck of a lot easier to launch or pull the boat out with the rudder attached. Joe  

Trinkka said: The kick up rudder blade is designed to kick up if it gets grounded out or hits something submerged. You want to lock it all the way down when you sail. I keep my rudder blade in the up position when my boat is on the mooring or at anchor in shallow water. I added a hold up line to my blade years ago. It comes in handy when I launch my boat at the ramp. I mount my rudder on the transom and tie off the tiller so that the rudder is straight and raise the blade. It's a heck of a lot easier to launch or pull the boat out with the rudder attached. Joe Click to expand

weh5748 said: Thank you Joe. Thats very helpful. Only remaining question is ... how does it kick up if the line used to pull it down is cleated on underside of tiller. Perhaps my line is threaded wrong .. but it seems that once seated in the jam cleat it is restricted from kicking up. I hope I'm wrong because I love the idea that it will kick when required. Thanks again. Click to expand

That flip up clam cleat looks like a great solution. Very thorough instructions/info on that link you sent also, so thanks again. The situation where I have been anticipating problems is coming in to our dock, sailing directly toward shore west to east and doing a quick 180 deg turn around a bouy (to south of dock to pull boat away when docked) and catching dock posts on starboard side, where water is a little shallower than depth of keel fully down ... so I will be raising swing keel every time I come in to about half way down, but rudder will be touch and go. Since water depth can vary by at least 12 inches, depending on rain fall and waves from wind and other boats will impact effective water depth i could be scraping bottom with rudder just when I'm needing to make this sharp turn. So it would be nice to be able to adjust the rudder just a hair .. raise it 8-12" to ensure I don't bottom it hard as I'm making that turn. In that regard it sounds like you have rigged a way to raise your rudder when at dock. Could you explain how you do that. Can that be done while under sail? Thanks very much again for your time and very valuable insights. /Users/williamhunt/Desktop/IMG_5033.jpg (tried to drop in picture of set-up but guess I'm new at that also)  

weh5748 said: That flip up clam cleat looks like a great solution. Very thorough instructions/info on that link you sent also, so thanks again. The situation where I have been anticipating problems is coming in to our dock, sailing directly toward shore west to east and doing a quick 180 deg turn around a bouy (to south of dock to pull boat away when docked) and catching dock posts on starboard side, where water is a little shallower than depth of keel fully down ... so I will be raising swing keel every time I come in to about half way down, but rudder will be touch and go. Since water depth can vary by at least 12 inches, depending on rain fall and waves from wind and other boats will impact effective water depth i could be scraping bottom with rudder just when I'm needing to make this sharp turn. So it would be nice to be able to adjust the rudder just a hair .. raise it 8-12" to ensure I don't bottom it hard as I'm making that turn. In that regard it sounds like you have rigged a way to raise your rudder when at dock. Could you explain how you do that. Can that be done while under sail? Thanks very much again for your time and very valuable insights. /Users/williamhunt/Desktop/IMG_5033.jpg (tried to drop in picture of set-up but guess I'm new at that also) Click to expand

Attachments

Great shots. A picture is worth a thousand words and those photos really tell the story. Looks like I need to get busy and make some modifications. Thanks for quick response. This will come in handy today, Bill  

The tiller that came with my boat was thin and and narrow. It was made to fit in the rudder head between the metal plates. The tiller that I bought off Rudy is thick and wide and has metal plates mounted to it that can fit over my rudder head, but I was lacking the rudder head height above the transom for my tiller plates to bolt up to the existing hole for my new tiller. In the fourth pic over you can see that I moved my pintles down to the lower hole and drilled two new holes. This gave me the space needed to be able to connect my tiller to the rudder head. All I needed was to mount a couple of stops on the rudder head under these metal plates to keep the tiller from scraping the top of the boat's transom. I use a couple of Aluminum screen door parts that are "L" shaped which can be found in any hardware store. I needed to cushion the top of each of these stops with something soft so I drilled and tapped them for small machine screws and added a couple of small pieces of StarBoard that a friend gave me. I like the shape and size of these tillers because they provide enough wood thickness to add the hardware that you need. This pin on my tiller is used for my Autohelm ST 1000+ autopilot. I also use this pin to snub off my rudder blade pendant line with a half hitch to prevent my blade from creeping up while I'm sailing. This is probably one of the best mods I did to this boat and it's served me well for many years. I can get about two years out of the bungee cord but it's easy to replace.  

Sunbird22358

Joe, the rudder on the O'DAY 19 should be similar to the one on your 222, not exactly that same design perhaps.....but, closer to your rudder than hte one on my 1979 DS II. I've attached a few pics of the 19 rudder. I am resonably familiar with the 19 (from photos?) but it seems that the rudder kicks up like the one on the 222.  

anchorclanker

Dang it, now I have go up and pull the rudder off and inspect it. lol  

Sunbird22358 said: Joe, the rudder on the O'DAY 19 should be similar to the one on your 222, not exactly that same design perhaps.....but, closer to your rudder than hte one on my 1979 DS II. I've attached a few pics of the 19 rudder. I am reasonably familiar with the 19 (from photos?) but it seems that the rudder kicks up like the one on the 222. Click to expand

anchorclanker said: Dang it, now I have go up and pull the rudder off and inspect it. lol Click to expand

This is all very helpful. Just want to make sure i understand .... sounds like one approach is to drill a small hole in top of rudder blade, maybe half way down and attach a cord or bungee for raising rudder when you need to? Or build a small hook to grab it. Maybe my rudder just needs some cleaning and "lube" where it moves within the metal plates so that it will 'float' up more easily. I got the message that I always want to sail with it all the way down.  

weh5748 said: This is all very helpful. Just want to make sure i understand .... sounds like one approach is to drill a small hole in top of rudder blade, maybe half way down and attach a cord or bungee for raising rudder when you need to? Or build a small hook to grab it. Maybe my rudder just needs some cleaning and "lube" where it moves within the metal plates so that it will 'float' up more easily. I got the message that I always want to sail with it all the way down. Click to expand

Got it. Thank you again.  

Joe - Your last photo that seems to show a line/rope coming thru transom into cockpit, is that the line you use to fully lower the rudder. I was out on Lake George yesterday afternoon with strong gusty winds and going fast enough that I never got the rudder all the way down. Didn't feel I could lean way over transom to push it down manually. So I re-looked at this thread and noticed that second line in your photo. I need to be able to push/pull rudder down under sail. Would appreciate any suggestions.  

aps in annapolis md sells an jam cleat the will snap open then your rudder hits something. I used it on my precision 23.  

weh5748 said: Joe - Your last photo that seems to show a line/rope coming thru transom into cockpit, is that the line you use to fully lower the rudder. I was out on Lake George yesterday afternoon with strong gusty winds and going fast enough that I never got the rudder all the way down. Didn't feel I could lean way over transom to push it down manually. So I re-looked at this thread and noticed that second line in your photo. I need to be able to push/pull rudder down under sail. Would appreciate any suggestions. Click to expand

I have the hold-down line that you describe but the way its threaded up thru the top metal part of the rudder behind the pins, then runs into cockpit above the transom I have too much friction and no pulling power. Thats why I thought maybe you pulled from lower on the rudder thru the transom. It appeared that hole in back of your transom was for that but as I look more closely I guess thats an electrical cable of some kind. I still don't see an easy way to fully lower rudder especially if you need to do it under sail.  

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‘Mayday’ call from ship stopped Baltimore bridge traffic, saved lives

As a cargo ship the size of a skyscraper drifted dangerously close to a major Baltimore bridge that carried more than 30,000 cars a day, the crew of the Dali issued an urgent “mayday,” hoping to avert disaster Tuesday.

First responders sprang into action, shutting down most traffic on the four-lane Francis Scott Key Bridge just before the 95,000 gross-ton vessel plowed into a bridge piling at about 1:30 a.m., causing multiple sections of the span to bow and snap in a harrowing scene captured on video .

Baltimore bridge collapse

“C13 dispatch, the whole bridge just fell down!” someone shouted on an emergency channel.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) hailed those who carried out the quick work as “heroes” and said they saved lives, but the scale of the destruction was catastrophic and will probably have far-reaching impacts for the economy and travel on the East Coast for months to come.

Much of the 1.6-mile bridge fell , sending at least eight construction workers repairing potholes into the 48-degree waters of the Patapsco River. Two were rescued, including one who was seriously injured. Authorities announced Tuesday night that six were presumed dead and suspended the search. Authorities planned to resume the hunt for the victims at 6 a.m. Wednesday .

The collapse halted shipping at the Port of Baltimore — one of the nation’s largest — and severed a crucial portion of Baltimore’s Beltway, which is also a major artery in the busy corridor between Washington and New York.

President Biden pledged that the federal government will foot the bill for the repairs and work quickly.

The impact led to a scene of utter destruction — mangled bridge trusses, shipping containers split open like tin cans and the cargo ship wedged under fallen debris. Officials turned to Hollywood to register the magnitude of what happened.

“This is a tragedy you can never imagine,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott (D) said at an early-morning news conference. “Never would you think that you would see … the Key Bridge literally tumble down like that. It looked like something out of an action movie .”

Video showed a crumpled piece of the 47-year-old bridge draped across the bow of the ship, which was laden with shipping containers and had a large gash across its hull. Helicopters buzzed overhead, and boats with emergency lights flashing searched the waters. Divers plunged into the river, which is about 50 feet deep.

Moore said a preliminary investigation indicated that the wreck was an accident. The governor said the Dali had lost power and propulsion shortly before striking the bridge. In video, the Dali’s lights could be seen turning off and on before the crash, and the ship appeared to be drifting.

Other state and federal officials said there was no indication of terrorism or intentional sabotage. Moore and Scott declared states of emergency, and the National Transportation Safety Board sent investigators to the scene. They said they hoped to recover voice and data recorders on the vessel.

Biden said in an address to the nation that he was pledging all resources necessary to rebuild the bridge and reopen the Port of Baltimore, where Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg stood with Maryland leaders and vowed to address any supply chain impacts caused by the closure. Biden said he will soon visit, too.

“I’m directing my team to move heaven and earth to reopen the port and rebuild the bridge as soon as humanly possible,” Biden said.

Officials said it was too soon to say when either of those things might happen, or how much they could cost.

Marquis Neal, 48, who lives in the Turner Station community near the bridge, said the crash jolted him awake.

“It sounded like a huge bomb,” Neal said. “The house was shaking. The wind — there was a huge gush. Then it just stopped. I thought, is it an earthquake? Then not only five minutes later, all you heard was sirens. Everything was going crazy.”

Neal, who said he used the bridge several times a day, said it is a lifeline for this small, isolated community, whose residents almost exclusively worked at Bethlehem Steel in nearby Sparrows Point before that industry came to an end.

“We’re on that bridge every day,” Neal said. “That could’ve been you. It could’ve been anybody.”

Jesus Campos, who works for Brawner Builders, based in Cockeysville, Md., was anxiously awaiting word about the fate of six colleagues who had plunged into the Patapsco. He paced back and forth at a meetup spot at a Royal Farms parking lot.

Campos said he was not working Monday night but was rustled out of bed around 5 a.m. by a colleague, who told him about the tragedy. Campos, who speaks only Spanish, said the workers had been on a meal break, sitting in or near their vehicles, when the bridge collapsed. He said all six of the missing men were Latino.

“I’m very sad right now,” Campos said in Spanish. “These are my co-workers and friends.”

Campos said working on the bridge is harrowing. Construction crews are constantly worried about speeding motorists, and the bridge “moves a lot” because of its design and engineering. Even so, Campos said he never could have imagined that the structure would collapse.

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said that the construction workers were employed by Brawner but that the company might also subcontract work. Jeffrey Pritzker, executive vice president at Brawner Builders, said in a brief telephone interview that the bridge collapse was “a totally unforeseen event which no one could have predicted.” He said the company had seven employees working on the bridge overnight; one of them survived and six were still missing, he said. Authorities have described eight victims as “workers.”

“The company is upset, families are distressed, this is a terrible tragedy,” Pritzker said. “I don’t know what more I can say.”

Baltimore Fire Chief James Wallace said in an interview on CNN on Tuesday that sonar showed five vehicles on the bed of the Patapsco River: three passenger vehicles, a cement truck and one unknown vehicle. Other officials said later in the day that they were still trying to determine whether vehicles plunged into the water , and they did not have clear details on whether any people other than those working on the bridge might have been in those vehicles.

The Singapore-flagged Dali left the Port of Baltimore around 1 a.m. and was bound for Colombo, Sri Lanka, where it was scheduled to arrive on April 22, according to MarineTraffic, a marine data platform.

Clay Diamond, the executive director of the American Pilots’ Association, said the ship experienced a “full blackout” around 1:20 a.m., meaning it lost both engine power and electrical power to its control and communications systems.

When the Dali lost power, the pilot guiding the ship out of the Port of Baltimore ordered its rudder turned hard to the left and its left anchor dropped in an effort to slow the vessel and stop it from swinging to the right, Diamond said.

The ship never regained engine power, but a diesel backup generator kicked in, restoring the electrical systems. Unable to slow the ship, Diamond said, the pilot, who had more than a decade of experience, radioed an emergency message to have the bridge closed.

Around 1:24 a.m., security video showed lights on the Dali switching off, possibly indicating the power problem. A minute later they flicked back on. Seconds later, thick black smoke could be seen pouring from a smokestack, and then the Dali appeared to begin turning to the right.

At 1:27 a.m., the lights on the Dali winked off again, before coming back on seconds later, video shows. Shortly after, radio traffic indicated efforts to evacuate the Key Bridge. The Dali struck the bridge at 1:28 a.m.

Moore said the vessel was traveling about eight knots — or nine miles an hour — when it hit the span. Diamond said the pilot on board had given a statement to investigators from the Coast Guard and the NTSB.

Synergy Marine Group, which owned and managed the ship, said in a news release that the Dali was under the control of two harbor pilots at the time of the wreck, as required under Maryland law. Synergy said all 22 sailors, who were Indian nationals, were uninjured. Authorities said they remained on the ship Tuesday.

Wallace said rescue crews on the scene had smelled diesel fuel, but Synergy said there was no evidence the wreck had polluted the river. The company said it was cooperating with authorities investigating the disaster.

Inspection records indicate that the Dali previously had problems. A deficiency in the Dali’s systems was discovered when the ship was inspected in June last year, records show. Inspectors at the port of San Antonio, Chile, discovered a problem categorized as relating to “Propulsion and auxiliary machinery,” according to an intergovernmental shipping regulator in the Asia-Pacific region.

The problem was not serious enough to warrant detaining the ship, according to the records. After a follow-up inspection was carried out later the same day, the Dali was found to have no outstanding deficiencies, the records show, indicating that the problem was addressed.

Synergy was involved in at least three seafaring tragedies since 2018 that led to the deaths of crew members, according to investigation records from transportation safety agencies and government statements.

The incidents involved an elevator malfunction that killed a technician in 2018; an officer who fell overboard and died in 2019, who was not wearing a flotation device; and a tanker partly managed by Synergy that collided with a dredger, killing two seafarers.

Synergy, based in Singapore, controls a fleet of nearly 400 vessels and employs more than 14,000 sailors, according to its website. Its office in Singapore was dark when a Washington Post reporter visited Tuesday evening local time.

Moore said the Key Bridge was up to code at the time of the collapse. The span is a major part of I-695, carrying traffic north-south around Baltimore and connecting Baltimore to Dundalk, Md. Maryland transportation officials said the loss of the bridge could cause transportation issues in the area for the foreseeable future.

The $60 million bridge was hailed as an engineering marvel at the time it was built in the 1970s. The American Society of Civil Engineers called it one of the largest continuous truss bridges in the United States.

Ian Firth, a British structural engineer and bridge designer, noted that the bridge was erected at a time when ships were not as big as they are now and the flow of traffic was not as busy. These days, structures are designed with better protective measures in place, he said, though he noted that even a brand-new bridge would have “come down in the same way” if it were hit by such a large vessel traveling at speed.

Dan Frangopol, a bridge engineering and risk professor at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania who is president of the International Association for Bridge Maintenance and Safety, said the catastrophic failure was not surprising.

“If the pier was destroyed like it was, the bridge has to collapse,” Frangopol said. “It’s not possible to redistribute the loads.”

Michael Laris, Sarah Cahlan, Imogen Piper, Erin Cox, Ian Duncan, Teo Armus, Maria Sacchetti, Jon Swaine, Scott Dance, Jacob Bogage, Joyce Sohyun Lee, Dan Diamond, Rebecca Tan, Jennifer Hassan, Toluse Olorunnipa, Martin Weil, Andrew Jeong and Adela Suliman contributed to this report.

Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after being hit by a cargo ship , sending at least eight people from a construction crew into the water. Follow live updates and see photos from the scene .

How it happened: The container ship lost power shortly before hitting the bridge, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) said. Video shows the bridge collapse in under 40 seconds.

Victims: Divers recovered the bodies of two construction workers who died , while finding other vehicles trapped and probably containing the other victims, officials said. They were fathers, husbands and hard workers . The entire crew aboard the container ship Dali survived . First responders shut down most traffic on the four-lane bridge after the crew issued an urgent mayday call. It saved lives, Moore said.

Economic impact: The collapse of the bridge, which severed ocean links to the Port of Baltimore, adds a fresh headache to already struggling global supply chains . See how the collapse will disrupt the supply of cars, coal and other goods .

History: The Key Bridge was built in the 1970s and spanned the Patapsco River. Rebuilding the bridge will probably take years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars, experts said.

10 Best Small Sailboats (Under 20 Feet)

Last Updated by

Daniel Wade

December 28, 2023

Compact, easy to trailer, simple to rig, easy to maintain and manage, and affordable, the best small boats all have one thing in common: they offer loads of fun while out there on the water.

So whether you're on a budget or just looking for something that can offer ultimate daytime rides without compromising on safety, aesthetic sensibilities, alternate propulsion, and speed, the best small sailboats under 20 feet should be the only way to go.

Let's be brutally honest here; not everyone needs a 30-foot sailboat to go sailing. They come with lots of features such as electronics, entertainment, refrigeration, bunks, a galley, and even a head. But do you really need all these features to go sailing? We don't think so.

All you need to go sailing is a hull, a mast, rudder, and, of course, a sail. And whether you refer to them as daysailers, trailerable sailboats , a weekender sailboat, or pocket cruisers, there's no better way to enjoy the thrills of coastal sailing than on small sailboats.

There are a wide range of small boats measuring less than 20 feet available in the market. These are hot products in the market given that they offer immense thrills out on the sea without the commitment required to cruise on a 30-footer. A small sailboat will not only give you the feel of every breeze but will also give you the chance to instantly sense every change in trim.

In this article, we'll highlight 10 best small sailboats under 20 feet . Most models in this list are time-tested, easy to rig, simple to sail, extremely fun, and perfect either for solo sailing or for sailing with friends and family. So if you've been looking for a list of some of the best small sailboats , you've come to the right place.

So without further ado, let's roll on.

Table of contents

{{boat-info="/boats/hunter-15"}}

The Marlow-Hunter 15 is not only easy to own since it's one of the most affordable small sailboats but also lots of fun to sail. This is a safe and versatile sailboat for everyone. Whether you're sailing with your family or as a greenhorn, you'll love the Hunter 15 thanks to its raised boom, high freeboard, and sturdy FRP construction.

With high sides, a comfortable wide beam, a contoured self-bailing cockpit, and fiberglass construction, the Hunter 15 is certainly designed with the novice sailor in mind. This is why you can do a lot with this boat without falling out, breaking it, or capsizing. Its contoured self-baiting cockpit will enable you to find a fast exit while its wide beam will keep it steady and stable no matter what jibes or weight shifts happen along the way.

This is a small sailboat that can hold up to four people. It's designed to give you a confident feeling and peace of mind even when sailing with kids. It's easy to trailer, easy to rig, and easy to launch. With a price tag of about $10k, the Hunter 15 is a fun, affordable, and versatile boat that is perfect for both seasoned sailors and novices. It's a low-maintenance sailboat that can be great for teaching kids a thing or two about sailing.

Catalina 16.5

{{boat-info="/boats/catalina-16-5"}}

Catalina Yachts are synonymous with bigger boats but they have some great and smaller boats too such as Catalina 16.5. This is one of the best small sailboats that are ideal for family outings given that it has a big and roomy cockpit, as well as a large storage locker. Designed with a hand-laminated fiberglass sloop, the Catalina 16.5 is versatile and is available in two designs: the centerboard model and the keel model.

The centerboard model is designed with a powerful sailplane that remains balanced as a result of the fiberglass centerboard, the stable hull form, and the rudder. It also comes with a tiller extension, adjustable hiking straps, and adjustable overhaul. It's important to note that these are standard equipment in the two models.

As far as the keel model is concerned, this is designed with a high aspect keel as the cast lead and is attached with stainless steel keel bolts, which makes this model perfect for mooring or docking whenever it's not in use. In essence, the centerboard model is perfect if you'll store it in a trailer while the keel model can remain at the dock.

All in all, the Catalina 16.5 is one of the best small sailboats that you can get your hands on for as low as $10,000. This is certainly a great example of exactly what a daysailer should be.

{{boat-info="/boats/hobie-16"}}

There's no list of small, trailerable, and fun sailboats that can be complete without the inclusion of the classic Hobie 16. This is a durable design that has been around and diligently graced various waters across the globe since its debut way back in 1969 in Southern California. In addition to being durable, the Hobie 16 is trailerable, great for speed, weighs only 320 pounds, great for four people, and more importantly, offers absolute fun.

With a remarkable figure of over 100,000 launched since its debut, it's easy to see that the Hobie 16 is highly popular. Part of this popularity comes from its asymmetric fiberglass-and-foam sandwiched hulls that include kick-up rudders. This is a great feature that allows it to sail up to the beach.

For about $12,000, the Hobie 16 will provide you with endless fun throughout the summer. It's equipped with a spinnaker, trailer, and douse kit. This is a high-speed sailboat that has a large trampoline to offer lots of space not just for your feet but also to hand off the double trapezes.

Montgomery 17

{{boat-info="/boats/montgomery-17"}}

Popularly known as the M-17, The Montgomery 17 was designed by Lyle C. Hess in conjunction with Jerry Montgomery in Ontario, California for Montgomery Boats. Designed either with keel or centerboard models, the M-17 is more stable than most boats of her size. This boat is small enough to be trailered but also capable of doing moderate offshore passages.

This small sailboat is designed with a masthead and toe rail that can fit most foresails. It also has enough space for two thanks to its cuddly cabin, which offers a sitting headroom, a portable toilet, a pair of bunks, a DC power, and optional shore, and a proper amount of storage. That's not all; you can easily raise the deck-stepped mast using a four-part tackle.

In terms of performance, the M-17 is one of the giant-killers out there. This is a small sailboat that will excel in the extremes and make its way past larger boats such as the Catalina 22. It glides along beautifully and is a dog in light air, though it won't sail against a 25-knot wind, which can be frustrating. Other than that, the Montgomery 17 is a great small sailboat that can be yours for about $14,000.

Norseboat 17.5

{{boat-info="/boats/norseboat-17-5"}}

As a versatile daysailer, Norseboat 17.5 follows a simple concept of seaworthiness and high-performance. This small sailboat perfectly combines both contemporary construction and traditional aesthetics. Imagine a sailboat that calls itself the "Swiss Army Knife of Boats!" Well, this is a boat that can sail and row equally well.

Whether you're stepping down from a larger cruiser or stepping up from a sea kayak, the unique Norseboat 17.5 is balanced, attractive, and salty. It has curvaceous wishbone gaff, it is saucy, and has a stubby bow-sprit that makes it attractive to the eyes. In addition to her beauty, the Norseboat 17.5 offers an energy-pinching challenge, is self-sufficient, and offers more than what you're used to.

This is a small, lightweight, low-maintenance sailboat that offers a ticket to both sailing and rowing adventures all at the same time. At about 400 pounds, it's very portable and highly convenient. Its mainsails may look small but you'll be surprised at how the boat is responsive to it. With a $12,500 price tag, this is a good small sailboat that offers you the versatility to either row or sail.

{{boat-info="/boats/sage-marine-sage-17"}}

If you've been looking for a pocket cruiser that inspires confidence, especially in shoal water, look no further than the Sage 17. Designed by Jerry Montgomery in 2009, the Sage 17 is stable and should heel to 10 degrees while stiffening up. And because you want to feel secure while sailing, stability is an integral feature of the Sage 17.

This is a sailboat that will remain solid and stable no matter which part of the boat you stand on. Its cabin roof and the balsa-cored carbon-fiber deck are so strong that the mast doesn't require any form of compression post. The self-draining cockpit is long enough and capable of sleeping at 6 feet 6 inches.

The Sage 17 may be expensive at $25k but is a true sea warrior that's worth look at. This is a boat that will not only serve you right but will also turn heads at the marina.    

{{boat-info="/boats/laserperformance-laser-sb3"}}

Having been chosen as the overall boat of the year for 2008 by the Sailing World Magazine, the Laser SB3 is one of the coolest boats you'll ever encounter. When sailing upwind, this boat will lock into the groove while its absolute simplicity is legendary. In terms of downwind sailing, having this boat will be a dream come true while it remains incredibly stable even at extraordinary speed.

Since its debut in 2004, the Laser SB3 has surged in terms of popularity thanks to the fact that it's designed to put all the controls at your fingertips. In addition to a lightweight mast, its T- bulb keel can be hauled and launched painlessly. For about $18,000, the Laser SB3 ushers you into the world of sports sailing and what it feels to own and use a sports boat.

{{boat-info="/boats/fareast-18"}}

As a manufacturer, Fareast is a Chinese boat manufacturer that has been around for less than two decades. But even with that, the Fareast 18 remains a very capable cruiser-racer that will take your sailing to the next level. In addition to its good looks, this boat comes with a retractable keel with ballast bulb, a powerful rig, and an enclosed cabin.

Its narrow design with a closed stern may be rare in sailboats of this size, but that's not a problem for the Fareast 18. This design not only emphasizes speed but also makes it a lot easier to maintain this boat. Perfect for about 6 people, this boat punches above its weight. It's, however, designed to be rigged and launched by one person.

This is a relatively affordable boat. It's agile, safe, well-thought-out, well built, and very sporty.

{{boat-info="/boats/chuck-paine-paine-14"}}

If you're in the market looking for a small sailboat that offers contemporary performance with classic beauty, the Paine 14 should be your ideal option. Named after its famous designer, Chuck Paine, this boat is intentionally designed after the classic Herreshoff 12.5 both in terms of dimensions and features.

This is a lightweight design that brings forth modern fin keel and spade rudder, which makes it agile, stable, and faster. The Paine 14 is built using cold-molded wood or west epoxy. It has varnished gunnels and transoms to give it an old-time charm. To make it somehow modern, this boat is designed with a carbon mast and a modern way to attach sails so that it's ready to sail in minutes.

You can rest easy knowing that the Paine 14 will not only serve you well but will turn heads while out there.

{{boat-info="/boats/wd-schock-lido-14"}}

Many sailors will attest that their first sailing outing was in a Lido 14. This is a classic sailboat that has been around for over four decades and still proves to be a perfect match to modern small boats, especially for those still learning the ropes of sailing.

With seating for six people, the Lido 14 can be perfect for solo sailing , single-handed sailing, or if you're planning for shorthanded sailing. While new Lido 14 boats are no longer available, go for a functional used Lido 14 and you'll never regret this decision. It will serve you well and your kids will probably fall in love with sailing if Lido 14 becomes their main vessel during weekends or long summer holidays.

Bottom Line

There you have it; these are some of the best small sailboats you can go for. While there are endless small sailboats in the market, the above-described sailboat will serve you right and make you enjoy the wind.

Choose the perfect sailboat, invest in it, and go out there and have some good fun!

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I've personally had thousands of questions about sailing and sailboats over the years. As I learn and experience sailing, and the community, I share the answers that work and make sense to me, here on Life of Sailing.

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