Adjusting rudders properly for running aground

Hi all,

Shortly after getting my boat, one of the older guys at the yacht club who used to own a hobie told me to tighten a screw in the cam assembly so my rudder wouldn't trail behind the boat at an angle. Ever since though, I've been sure to unlock both rudders manually before beaching the boat because I'm too scared to beach it and break a $(Insert more money than I want to spend here) rudder. I also only did this to one rudder and forgot which one I did it to. So its possible one of them is too tight for running aground and might snap my rudder off when I do run aground.

I was wondering how to properly adjust and test the rudder lock-down system for when I finally decide to run aground? I don't want to just run aground to test it to snap a rudder off.

Put the rudders down with the boat on the trailer. If you can smack the bottom tip of the rudder with your hand and it pops up, then you're fine. If the rudders keep popping up unintentionally while sailing, tighten the cam screw 1/2 a turn at a time until they stay down.

If the cam screw is over-tightened, it's more likely that the tab on the cam would just bend when you hit bottom and the rudder cam would stay in the "down" position. But the rudder would still kick up. Then you would have to manually pop the cam to the "up" position (which can be a bit of a pain). Not likely you would break the rudder.

A little lube between the cam and the plunger will also help things run more smoothly.

sm

What year boat do you have?

No matter what year it is, you should be able to adjust your rudders to get that 20-pound release (it's described in the Hobie catalog) but the newer adjustable castings give you better control of the rudder position.

If your rudder mechanism won't kick up, on an older boat especially I'd be more concerned about breaking a transom. You can use the fiberglass rudder pins to provide a safety factor there (many sailors use them in the surf, where the boat can be swept back against the rudders).

_________________
'00 H16 #104691
'78 H16 #32692 ex-rental [gone]
Old Holsclaw trailer
My Hobie 16 pages

Joseph Bennett of Wildwind did a great video on "Service Your Hobie Rudders".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jfn8f93XiQ

Toward the end of the video he shows how to properly adjust the delrin screw for when the cam releases the rudder.

Then as he says: "Bang on, that's a job done, ready to go sailing"

_________________
Tim
84 H16
82 H16
87 H14T
Tortola Sails: 115222
Blue Prism Sails: 88863
Clearwater, FL

I would recommend against ever using the fiberglass rudder pins. I saw the carnage caused by one breaking at a very inopportune time at a H18 race. Port-Starboard crossing, port boat pulled hard to duck starboard boat. Brand new fiberglass rudder pin broke. Port boat T-boned starboard boat. This was the result:

I have a 2004 H16. However, when I was in college the boat which we sailed on was probably a 70s or 80s model. I broke that rudder running aground once, but was lucky because we had an extra rudder lying around that I could replace it with. Now that I have my own boat, I'm scared of breaking a rudder so I wanted to ask on here.

Thanks guys, I'll check out the video and carry out the procedure on there.