The replacement "rudder down" cord I installed a couple of years ago recently broke, and I replaced it. The whole process went faster the second time. It's a process I would rather not have needed to learn, but it's nice that it gets easier with practice. This time I realized that it isn't necessary to use a piece of mono to feed the Spectra cord through the guidance tube. Here's how I get the Spectra fed through the tube, and then completed the installation of the line:
1. First, I made the replacement "rudder up" line. I purchased a bunch of Hobie replacement 700 pound test Spectra rudder line material. I tied a loop about four inches long in the end of the line, using an overhand knot, and I cut off a piece of Spectra about 5 feet long, which is long enough to run from the heavy "rudder up" cord and shock cord and leave about a foot of line hanging out of the stern of my Revolution.
2. I reached in the center hatch of my Revolution and pulled the broken Rudder up" line out of the guidance tube and up out of the center hatch.
3. I removed the broken Spectra line from the heavy black rudder up cord and shock cord, and I attached the new Spectra line in the same manner as the original Spectra line had been attached.
4. I fed the Spectra line back to the rear of my Revolution. If your arms aren't long enough, tie a heavy sinker to the end of the Spectra line, feed the sinker as far back as you can and on the correct side of the scupper tube, and then raise the bow of the kayak and slide the sinker back until you can reach it through the rear hatch.
5. Bend the end of the guidance tube so you can see it through the rear hatch, stick the end of the Spectra line into the end of the tube, and push the Spectra into the tube until it emerges from the stern of the kayak. It feeds in easily. You don't need to use heavy monofilament to feed the Spectra through the guidance tube. Clamp a forceps onto the end of the Spectra so it won't slide back into the hull.
6. Replace the "rudder up" line in the same manner. It probably has almost as much wear as the rudder down line, so you might as well replace it at the same time that you replace the rudder down line.
7. Set your kayak on a kayak cart or a table, so the rudder can swing all the way down without hitting anything. Loosen the nut which holds the drum of the rudder mechanism in place until the drum can be pulled completely into view.
8. Feed the "rudder down" line into the rudder mechanism, around the back of the drum, and out through the rear hole in the rim of the drum, so when you pull on the rudder down cord, the rudder will swing down. With the rudder up, pull on the cord until the "T" handle gets pulled against the hull and is held there by light tension on the shock cord. You don't want the T handle to be hanging loosely and flapping around when the rudder is up. Clamp a forcep on the line where it comes out of the drum.
9. Pull on the "rudder down" T handle to swing the rudder down, and make sure that when the rudder is down you can get the rudder down cord into the jam cleat which locks the rudder down.
10. Mark the "rudder down" Spectra line with a Sharpie pen at the point where it comes out of the hole in the rim of the drum.
11. Follow the same steps with the "rudder up" line, routing that line around the front of the drum so it will rotate the rudder up when you pull on it. You want the shock cord to hold the T handle against the hull when the rudder is up, but not so tightly that there isn't enough length in the "rudder up" cord to allow you to lower the rudder. Mark the "rudder up" line at the point where it comes out of the hole in the rim of the drum.
12. Pull the "rudder down" line through the rudder mechanism until there is about 6 inches of line between the hole in the rim of the drum and the mark you made on the line, and put a forceps on the line to keep from sliding back into the drum. Do the same thing with the "rudder up" line.
13. Line up the marks on the two rudder lines, and tie an overhand knot in the two lines just after the marks. Before you tighten the overhand knot, remove the forceps and check that the rudder up and rudder down lines are operating properly. If they are, tighten the overhand knot and back it up with a second overhand knot.
14. Push the drum into its housing, being sure that the lines stay properly in place around the outside of the drum. Then tighten the nut to hold the drum in place. Operate the rudder up and rudder down lines several times and adjust the nut so it is tight enough to hold the drum in its housing, but not so tight that it interferes with the rotation of the drum.
And then you're ready to go fishing again.
There are a variety of pieces of kayaking and fishing gear which can break and screw up a fishing trip. I have a plastic ammo box which contains a number of items of replacement kayaking and fishing gear and maintenance items, such as an extra downrigger weight and line, Mirage drive parts, dielectric grease, drysuit zipper lubricant, and a spare trolling reel. I throw this box in my vehicle on every fishing trip, and hope that I won't have to use anything in the box. Because a broken rudder line can screw up a multi-day fishing trip, I now carry a pair of replacement rudder up and rudder down lines with me in that box, with a small crescent wrench, two forceps, a Sharpie, and a heavy lead sinker, which are all of the tools which I need to replace my rudder up and rudder down lines while I'm on the road. Now that I've had some practice replacing rudder up and rudder down lines, I could do it quite quickly at a launch site with the tools listed above.
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