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Warped Ezylock housings causing rudders to lift at speed
http://www.hobie.com/au/en/forums/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=61546
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Author:  jezzaqld [ Mon Sep 18, 2017 9:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Warped Ezylock housings causing rudders to lift at speed

Gday
My Getawau has Ezelock rudders. Mine were lifting at speed which was annoying. The issue seems to have arisen from removing rudders and storing in sail box when not using. To fit them in the box, the rudders have to be in position that is halfway between the 2 lock positions which splays the back of the housing. Over time (my boat is 10 years old) the plastic flex becomes a permanent warp. The rudders became out-of-straight by around 3.5mm on one and 4.5mm on the other. This was enough to make it easy for the rudders to lift at speed. PS: the replaceable lugs are new.
My solution was to either buy new housings from Hobie or FIX. I chose to fix for the moment.

I wedged a strip of wood (same thickness as gap) about halfway down the housing to stop the middle collapsing and clamped the outside edges (almost closed) then hit with a heat gun... carefully. After a number of attempts being careful not to overheat and undoing clamps and checking a number of times, i managed to close the gap.

I will now be keeping the rudders in garage or on the boat with covers to stop issue in future.
Just sharing..Hope this help anyone with similar issues

regards J

Author:  leecea [ Tue Sep 19, 2017 5:12 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Warped Ezylock housings causing rudders to lift at speed

Nice fix - thanks for the description. Mine started to droop when up, but they still stay down when sailing. And that was just from a few weeks of transporting them in the halfway position. Luckily I saw your original post and stopped doing it.

Author:  dorienc [ Tue Sep 19, 2017 10:59 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Warped Ezylock housings causing rudders to lift at speed

Thanks for the tip. I'm going to look at how my rudders are laying in the box.

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