Hobie Revolution Rudder Not Locking in Down Position

Hi,
I am new to the Hobie forum. Just picked up an older Hobie Revolution 13. This model has a rudder up/down lever on the Starboard(right) side. I have replaced the up/down strings. I cannot get the rudder to lock into place in the down position when the kayak is under way. Rudder wants to pop up, making the steering difficult. I’ve done some research and found some retrofit repairs requiring drilling holes in the rudder and lock clip and installing bungee cord to hold rudder down. Has Hobie come up with a better fix for this, or is there a more up to date repair solution? Thanks for your help. Sam

Some support here depending on the rudder type: https://www.hobie.com/support/mirage-classic/

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

I have the same issue with my rudder not staying down on my brand new 2019 Revolution 16 with an upgraded sailing rudder.

I noticed that on my recent maiden voyage, steering to the right became difficult at times and when I checked the rudder, it was not fully engaged down. I had to keep pulling on the down bungee every few minutes to keep the rudder fully down while underway.

The Hobie Support page says "Retract rudder: The rudder has a small catch / indention to help keep the rudder down while in use"

On land, I inspected and see that my catch appears to be very loose and does not seem to engage at all - almost non existent.

1. Is the catch is designed to be loose or should it be somewhat tight like a clip?

2. If I were to wrap the up / down rudder cables a few more times around the drum screw to make the down rudder cables tighter, would this help my problem or would I have to replace the rudder housing with a stronger catch / indention?

3. Could there be any other easy fix methods to tighten the catch / indention?

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

There is a cleat just aft of where the rudder down line enters the hull. Pull the rudder down and with some tension on the line... cleat it.

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