I received the bungee rudder upgrade the other day and even though I haven’t been having the rudder lock down problems others have reported I thought I would fit it just in case.
I often have to launch in very shallow water so I thought I’d see if I could work out a way to lock the rudder down without having to get out of the seat. Here is the prototype. It will be tested this week on water but so far testing on land has proven the principle works. It basically involves mounting a micro cleat to the rudder housing and routing the line up to the seat so that it can be locked/unlocked when needed. This works the same as the bungee mod because the cleat is attached to the same part of the rudder housing. There is no extra tension on the steering lines when locked down.
Following Hobie’s instructions I drilled holes in the rudder in roughly the recommended locations so that I could always revert to the simple bungee fix if needed. I spaced the holes to fit the Triangular Mini Eye which is held in place with countersunk screws.
The cleat is a temporary mount which will be made more permanent when I know it works. The angled spacers will need to be improved.
When there is no tension the rudder can be raised normally.
Updates to follow.
