Adjustable vs not adjustable rudder castings for H16

A recent storm broke an upper rudder casting and a lower rudder casting (opposite sides) on my H16 so I need to replace them.
I am seeing "adjustable" and "not adjustable" casting types. What is the difference?
Do the not adjustable ones work as well? is it worth paying more for the adjustable ones?

Adjustable is far easier to deal with. Non can be difficult to get the rudder rake / drill holes in the correct locations.

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

I agree with Matt, however, if your old castings were non-adjustable and the rudder system was working ok and you plan to use the same rudder blades, then you could probably get away with using another set of non-adjustable castings without much hassle.

The benefit of the adjustable system is that it allows you to dial in the rudder rake/helm where you want it and it also allows you to more easily adjust the cam operation and eliminate slop from the system.

sm

Thanks guys,
What adjustments can be made in the adjustable? I honestly don't even know if i have adjustable or non-adjustable.
My old ones had a plastic screw that controled the tension on the cam, and had a screw that controled the location of the plate in the upper rudder casting.
Are there more adjustments in the adjustable ridders?

You had (have) adjustable rudder castings.

Here is a nice diagram of the adjustable castings.

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Marty
1984 H16 Yellow Nationals Redline, "Yellow Fever"
Lake Martin, 'Bama.

So non adjustable, from what I can tell have a pin within casting. Therefore just adjust delvin screw for proper tension?




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FiftyDollar
73 HC16 “50 Cent”

To answer your question about what is adjustable, it is the rake of the rudder. if the rudder is raked back too far the rudder is hard to hold when going to wind. The center of effort of the rudder force is behind the axis of the rudder hinge line. The moment arm of the force is long and makes the rudder hard to move. As you rake the rudder forward with the adjustable screw you are moving the center of effort closer to the axis of the rudder and decreasing the moment arm and thus decreasing the amount of effort needed to move the rudder. Theoretically as the center of effort is on the axis the rudder is neutral. This is not necessarily a good thing. The center of effort needs to be behind the axis so that the rudder will return to center when released. All kinds of hell breaks loose if the center gets in front of the axis. Hope this helps.

It would seem you have the older style where the only adjustment is the spring tension on the cam. early 80s had the cam plate adjustment on the upper casting. After 83 they added the Rake adjustment on the lower casting.

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JKK
83 yellow/ white decks Hobie 14 Corando turbo
82 yellow hulls Hobie 16 Cat Fever
84 yellow hulls hobie 16 Yellow Nationals
plus a few extras that I'm restoring