Steering Rudder Modification

Hi Team,

The rudder on my i14 has always been stiff. Waxing the control lines helped a little, but not enough and adding the larger rudder only made matters worse. I would often end up with a sore thumb particularly when tacking with the sail up.

After a bit of trial and error I came up with a simple modification by adding a timber handle as shown in the photos. I cut a narrow kerf on the underside of the timber handle so it would recess onto the existing handle. Also had to replace the retaining screw with a longer one.

Works great! Very responsive and no more callouses on my thumb.

Cheers

Mick

Did you check the lines to see if they were twisted in the tubes? Last time someone posted the problem the lines were twisted around themselves in the tube. You said you waxed them, but did you check to see if they were twisted? Just wondering is that might be the problem...

Bye the way: I like the mode you made to the handle.. Nice move.

No the lines weren't twisted. They were tight right from the time bought it. Third trip out, the knot on one of the lines came loose and I retreaded both lines. I used that opportunity to waxed the lines.

BTW retreading the lines wasn't a trivial exercise. I now keep a bicycle gear cable, a Phillips Head screwdriver and small a roll of duct tape in the puncture repair kit which lives in the forward hatch.

Mick. I like your modification on the rudder handle, I have the same problem that you had, I put the large rudder on my i12 and it's hard to turn the rudder handle, I live in Iowa and my Hobie i12 is in Florida where I use it for fishing, would like to make one here and take it to Florida next month, if you could give me the size and the length of the screw you used, also the size of your wood handle, length width and high, and the depth of notch to fit the Hobie rudder handle. Thanks for any help. Take care----------Frank