Towing my Hobie - What to do with the rudders?

Hey everyone,

In the past I’ve used a van to tow my H16 and was able to store the rudder assembly inside the van. I now have a Volvo S40 and cannot store the rudder assembly inside my car due to the smaller interior. Looking to see how people trailer their boat with a smaller car or sedan. Is it possible to tow with rudders attached? Where do people store their rudder assembly when towing their boats? Any suggestions or pictures would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jake

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Jake C

2008 Hobie 16

I remove them and store them in my sail tube (a culvert ABS pipe).

There is a lot of bounce on a trailer behind the axle and gets worse further back.

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Marc...
1978 Hobie 16 Keoke, sail# 36 84

For short distances, I just leave the rudders on and bungee them up. Ringo showed me how those ball canopy bungees work well to keep the tiller bar in the up position. When I go a long distance, I'll put my rudders in the sail tube or storage box on the trailer.

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Zach

+1 56kz2slow and PurdueZach:

Ditto: I either tie mine up for short distances or remove them and put them in a 2nd piece of 12" corrugated culvert sail tube I have on the trailer.

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'81 H16

If it ain't a blowin', I ain't a goin'

If you have the H20 style tiller connectors, it's pretty easy to remove the rudder system. Otherwise, I prefer to leave them on.

Just tie the rudders up securely so they don't flop around and so there is no chance for them to fall down (don't use bungee). I use a 1" wide webbing strapped firmly around the tiller arm and around the hull. We've been trailering with the rudders left on for 25+ years with basically no problems. If the rudders are tightly secured, you won't cause any damage. The sailing loads are likely just as high or higher than trailering loads.

Before the H20 tiller connectors came around in the mid 90s, people commonly left the rudders on for trailering. The system was originally designed to be left on.

sm

I double bungy each in place, in the up position. I have done it this way on 2 different boats for 28 years for all trailering (long and short distances) with no ill effects.