Rudder adjustment on a PA

I have read the manual as well as looked on the fourms here. When moveing the rudder control to the right side of the seat. Shifting hard right is fine but hard left brings it to center. Do i need to make an adjustment under the small hatch? The knob under the seat only makes shifting right to left harder/more easy.

Ah hah. That's exactly what the boat I demo'd was doing. It also had the rudder control moved to the right hand side so it must have something to do with moving it and the tension on the lines.

If it's anything like Hobie's traditional rudder it should be pretty easy to adjust.

I'd suggest opening the rudder cover and checking to see if you can identify which line controls each rudder direction. Once you find it you should be able to adjust the line tension and play with it until the rudder turns with full travel in each direction.

The video below (at 9:00) shows the adjustment cam.

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Mike K

going to look into it tomarrow. I will post my findings. I hope its not to hard to adjust. If i over looked something here plaese post the link on the adjustment.

Ooops. Here you go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbr9Q36KAgc

it doesn't give much info, but at least you'll know what you're dealing with before you tear it apart.

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Mike K

Good info but does not go into the detail. What do i need to adjust being a south paw? How do i do this? I will do this and take pictures, and post them. I would like Hobie to give a more explaianation of this. In detail as the manual does not cover it. Looks like i'm going to open the back hatch.

I posted a reply here earlier but my information was evidently not correct -- sorry.

It appears that the best way to re-center the rudder control is to make the adjustments in the rudder hatch (shown here):

I would suggest proceeding as follows"

1. Retract the rudder, automatically centering it. Open the rudder hatch with a Phillips head screwdriver.

2. Loosen the two Phillips head screws on the bell crank(?) that secure the rudder lines.

3. Center the rudder control in the middle of its arc of movement. This is about 30 to 45 degrees toward the outboard side of the seat, depending on which side it is mounted on.

4. Remove any slack from the rudder lines and re-secure them with the Phillips head screws.

5. Test the system to verify equal deflection of the rudder in both directions.

6. Replace the rudder hatch.

7. You can make final tension adjustments with the knob attached to the bottom of the rudder control pod.

Raodrunner, thank you for the info. I did just what you said and now it works like it should. Makeing the adjustment was easy.

I just rigged my first PA yesterday and noticed when the handle is on the left side of the seat and I turned the handle counter clockwise I keep getting white string popping out in the seem between the drum. When I turn the handle clockwise the string is pulled back inside the drum. This cant be good long term as the string will wear out prematurely from being pulled back into the drum through the seem. Adjusting the rudder tension doesnt stop it from happening.

The must be slack in the line that "should" be corrected by the tension knob under the handle. Wiggle the handle to get it in the center of the "slop", then trun the tension knob slowly (while checking the tension / move the handle back and forth). The control line passes through the knob's bolt inside the drum. It simply wraps around the bolt as the knob is turned left or right. More slack could be removed at the rudder head if needed.

To center the handle (on the latest Pro Anglers) you have to find the center position of the tension knob (line not wrapped around) then, with the rudder up, pull the handle to the center position (slips the control lines through the tension knob bolt) and re-tension with the knob.

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Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)