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 Post subject: Finally the PA14 steers
PostPosted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 6:55 pm 
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Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2013 10:01 am
Posts: 138
I got sick and tired of the poor rudder response on the PA14. We are camped in a place where lots of folks have kayaks and many are Hobie kayaks. One problem with the PA rudder is that it is very flexible and I think that and the forward mounting really don't allow enough turning moment. After seeing a couple of the stern mounted rudders I decided to see what I could do with a twist and stow. Ordered a twist and stow and the large sailing rudder. I had a piece of the original clamp mount for the trolling motor which turned out to be the perfect pintle. A bunch of work with some Malin rigging wire, 14 inch nylon tubing and some cord and the rudder was installed with lines from the existing quadrant to the twist and stow for steering and with separate lines for up down of the twist and stow. I used a breakaway cam cleat for the lines so that when locked down if the twist and stow rudder were to hit something it would be able to trip the cam lock and pop up. Now with two rudders the Yak really turns. Running straight is so much easier too.

First pic is the Twist and Stow stowed, Second pic is the Twist and stow and the original rudder deployed and ready to steer.

Image

Image

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Hobie PA14 with a mod or two

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PostPosted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 7:39 pm 
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Joined: Tue Jul 19, 2005 6:29 pm
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Location: High Point, NC
The difference is mostly where the rudder is located. The standard mount is forward of the stern and this means you have very tight turning radius but it's not going to be quite as sensitive as if you had the rudder on the very end of the boat.


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PostPosted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 6:51 am 
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Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2010 6:06 am
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Location: Amelia Island, FL
Yes, yes and yes :!: At some point Hobie needs to take another look at the ability to use the twist/stow rudder for the PA's. Yes, the current rudder system is neat the way it folds up/etc., but it just doesn't do what it needs to do.


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PostPosted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 6:24 pm 
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islandspeed2001 wrote:
Yes, yes and yes :!: At some point Hobie needs to take another look at the ability to use the twist/stow rudder for the PA's. Yes, the current rudder system is neat the way it folds up/etc., but it just doesn't do what it needs to do.


I don't know how well just the Twist and Stow would work alone. And since the two work so well in tandem the Yak will stay armed with two rudders. The fold up rudder actually makes the Twist and stow much easier to raise and lower. If the foldup is folded up, it makes the steering quadrant straight which aligns the twist and stow straight which makes the raising and lowering most efficient. So now I deploy the twist and stow, then lower the original rudder. De weeding or coming back in, I raise the original rudder first and then raise the twist and stow.

The only thing in the way of using the twist and stow on a PA is that rear handle. And after pinching my fingers every time I tried to use that handle to lower the rear to the ground while unloading from the roof rack, I would swear that I was going to find a better solution. I am going to put some eyes into the 5/16 - 18 threaded holes and use a strap and hook system with a piece of plastic pipe to make a useful handle.

I went out today in the ocean with the current running strong in the channel between the keys. There was also a crosswind. I was able to set the Yak straight and it would stay straight for minutes at a time before a small correction was needed. With just the original rudder the Yak wandered all over the place and if you let go of the rudder handle it would go to one side or the other full lock in a matter of seconds.

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Hobie PA14 with a mod or two

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PostPosted: Sat Mar 16, 2013 11:16 pm 
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Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 5:35 pm
Posts: 12
Yeah, old Rodney Rudder and I have parted ways...his twisted warped, albeit flexible attitude finally gave me the irrits enough to build another, about 30% bigger...it is made of teflon wear strip. Took about an hour.


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PostPosted: Sun Mar 17, 2013 2:22 pm 
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aloftas wrote:
Yeah, old Rodney Rudder and I have parted ways...his twisted warped, albeit flexible attitude finally gave me the irrits enough to build another, about 30% bigger...it is made of teflon wear strip. Took about an hour.


Teflon would be very heavy. Maybe you used UHMW (Ultra High Molectular Weight) polyethylene which is what wear strips are made from for table saws. Another alternative would be starboard. I tried to figure out a way to make a bigger rudder for the current mount and one way or another it was going to drag the ground either while launching retrieving or when loading the boat on the truck.

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Hobie PA14 with a mod or two

Some random Modification Pictures


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PostPosted: Sun Mar 17, 2013 2:34 pm 
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Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 5:35 pm
Posts: 12
I have afew things to do, the teflon was lying about, so it was what I used....when I get back, I will post a pic...I need a picsaweb account to do this?

Plus, with a carrying capacity of 600 lbs, and its nose heavy tendencies, particularly in river conditions, dictates a little weight aft is no bad thing.

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