Ankle Biter Emergency Rudder 1 st edition Singlehanded

Ankle Biter Emergency Rudder, 1 st edition Singlehanded Trans. Pac, 2008

Simple Cheap The blade is a “more-or-less” foil shaped Douglas Fir 2 x 10. I shaped this one with a hand plane over 2 evenings in my garage. It’s not a perfect NACA foil, but it will do. The “second edition” of this rudder will be shaped by a rented power planer. The holes near the top are left over from a previous attachment system that didn’t work very well. Note that I’ve moved the Navik windvane off of the transom…. there it is, sitting up on the lazarette hatch. Also, I will paint the next one white, not brick red!

“J-24” Hardware is from Schaefer. I spent three hours trying to get the aluminum outboard motor bracket off and I couldn’t. I figure if I can’t budge it when all the nuts and washers are off and I’m beating on the bolts with a 3 pound minisledgehammer, the thing won’t fall off in the ocean. Oh, the s. s. rods in the top picture are the bracket for my Navik Windvane. That has to come off to deploy the rudder. The aluminum under where the lower gudgeon is placed is actually 3 x thickness and is quite sturdy. The wood spacer on the top gudgeon is necessary to keep the two gudgeons lined up. There are doubled-up fender washers behind all the nuts.

Tiller is a 4 foot length of closet pole. It is held to the side of the rudder blade with two “U-bolts”. (only one of which is shown in this photograph). The tiller just clears the top of the original tiller head and extends into the cockpit so I can sit in the cockpit and drive. Still in progress of measuring and setting up autopilot. Compare to flip-up rudder on Corsair F-27 in the background.

Why’s and Wherefore’s Why not a Cassette System? There’s no question that a cassette system would be better and easier to deploy. On a larger boat with a heavier, more awkward rudder to handle I would definitely use a cassette system. On this Santa Cruz 27, this low-tech rudder weighs less than 10 pounds and is about 4. 5 feet long. While it will be tricky and annoying to sit on the lazarette hatch with my feet off the back end of the boat, trying to wrestle the rudder into place I am confident that I can *do* it in a half hour or so without getting exhausted. Why a Douglas Fir rudder and not foam/fiberglass or foam/carbon? Simple answer; It’s a lot cheaper, it’s still easy to make, it’s only about 6 -7 pounds heavier and it’s plenty strong enough.