Broke an EPO Rudder : (

Wow. Sailed my old boat with EPO rudders for 12 years without any problems. This weekend I broke a rudder on my first trip thru the surf. Do EPO rudders weaken with age?

I just replaced both rudders with new white ones. I do a lot of ocean sailing and didn't want to break another.

Can you post a picture of the break?

I left the broken rudder in the trash can when I left the beach this morning. It broke at the screw hole that attaches it to the rudder casting. Looked like a bite was taken out of it. I never saw where the missing piece went.

You threw away a repairable rudder.

This happened this weekend:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150302445297243&set=a.10150110190472243.288095.694937242&type=1&theater


We were sailing downwind, breeze was about 15 knots, gusts to 20. We were on a starboard tack and that's the starboard rudder, so it wasn't super loaded and we are pretty sure we didnt hit anything ( anything hard anyway). I was flying the spin out on the wire and heard some crunchy, crackling noises. Then a big SNAP, and I see the rudder flopping around... We had a collision during
a race last month, the port rudder had some damage due to the other boat landing on my tiller. But the starboard one hadn't had a big hit, was in good shape, at least from the outside.

I'm guessing it's just plain old fatigue, given that we sail these boats hard and put em away wet. Oh well, new rudders are on the way! Let's hope they make it before the North Americans!!!

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Blair T

I love these calm moments before the storm, it reminds me of Beethoven...


'02 Hobie Tiger USA 1152

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D'oh!!

_________________
'97 Hobie 16.

Skype: rob_arnolda

Bummer, it's a shot of my rudder
Snapped in half just under where it lines up with the transom, ugly break.

_________________
Blair T

I love these calm moments before the storm, it reminds me of Beethoven...


'02 Hobie Tiger USA 1152

It's the privacy settings in FB. I'm friends with Blair, so I could see it. Pretty nasty.

Blair, I think you can change the privacy settings for one photo or an album to "Everyone" and that will fix it.

Photo now public, all can enjoy my pain.

The good news is I already had new style rudders on order. I just hope they come fast enough to get the gudgeons installed and maybe do a test sail before the NAs!!!

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Blair T

I love these calm moments before the storm, it reminds me of Beethoven...


'02 Hobie Tiger USA 1152

And... that is not a Hobie 16 EPO rudder. That is a Euro Tiger blade.

On the 16 blade... for which this is the topic...

Upper casting bolt hole I'd imagine?

Likely you were steering hard with the rudders not locked down. Typical of shallow water launching. That will break any rudder. Sheet out the main a bit... sheet in the jib to reduce load on the rudder until you can lock them down.

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

I was launching in very light wind. Couldn't get enough speed up to push the boat over the surf quickly enough. I backed the rudder into the sand when I hit the first wave. I hate fiberglass rudder pins but they probably would have saved me a few hundred bucks. : )

Understood, Matt, but they are KINDA similar, no?

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Blair T

I love these calm moments before the storm, it reminds me of Beethoven...


'02 Hobie Tiger USA 1152

If you use pins that can break, don't forget to leash the entire rudder/tiller/casting assembly to the boat (leash). They sink quick, and not always in shallow water.

Yep... that could do it. Could also bust the gudgeons or transom.

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

Not really. Very different construction. Same issues with breakage though. Heavy steering in shallow water or backing down in a wave and hitting the bottom.

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