Prindle 16
I have had problems with turning my boat at high speed as well as low speed(isnt as bad). I have talked to several locals and they have all told me to toe my rudders in. One guy told me when speaking of boats and toe in, the trailing edge of the rudder is toed in? others have said to toe the leading edge? So now im a bit confused. I have also been told that the more Forward rake you apply to the rudders the easier the boat is to turn. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

If you are trying to turn down away from the wind, you need to ease your mainsheet as the main already has the rudders highly loaded. In an emergency maneuver, if you do not ease the main when trying to bear away quickly, the boat will not turn well and you usually end up in trouble.

Toe-in is definetly forward edge closer that trailing... otherwise it would be called toe-out.

On a Hobie 14, 16 etc. we go 1/8" to 1/4" toe in.

Rudder rake should be adjusted to leave a slight weather helm on any tack. That way the boat has a constant load on the tiller and the boat will round up slightly if you drop the tiller.

Toe in refers to the leading edge being closer than the trailing edge. If you think about it this way it may make sense. A catamaran slips sideways to leeward while sailing. You are using the rudder that is deepest in the water (leeward) to steer. The other rudder you want to disturb the water as little as possible. If that rudder (windward) were pointed exactly the amount that you would be sideslipping then it would not disturb the water much. On a daggerless boat (Prindle 16 or Hobie 16) you can use 1/8 to 1/4 inches for your toe in when the rudders are in sailing position (down).

Too much Weather Helm can be taken care of one of two ways either the rudders can tucked under the boat (forward) more or the mast can be moved forward. On a daggerless boat you are using your rudder for two purposes it doubles as a daggerboard as well. For that you would like to get the center of effort of the sail over the rudder by moving it back. This will load up the rudders helm so to counteract that you move the rudders forward. You can measure from the center of the rudder pin down the forward edge of the rudder at the maximum point will be about 1 1/8 inches forward of that line.

Hope this helps,
Dan

Wind the threaded hook out from the casting so that the tip of the rudder is moved foward [under the boat]. Whilst doing this, keep locking the rudder down to check that it is not hitting the hull. We used to file chunks out of the rudders to get them further under the hulls.

CORRECTION! thinking about it now, you may need to wind the threaded hook IN. either way, get the rudders under the hull.[its been a while since I mucked about with prindle rudders]

paul

I have never understood that...OK, so you have some leeway while sailing, why wouldn't you want BOTH rudders working for you when they are in the water? Foils work more efficiently with reduced loads and if you can share the leeward load between both rudders... I think someone somewhere noticed that with the toe-in, when they fly a hull and come back down, the windward rudder doesn't leave as much of a splash/trail as it re-enters the water hence it "must be faster"...then they won a regatta somewhere.

I will try all the things you all mentioned. My lock bolts that lock the rudders down have been popping loose so i am replacing them and when i do i will make all of the adjustments.
Toe in 1/8 to 1/4
Set rudder rake 1&1/8 forward of pin

I think you do. This varies from daggerless boats to boats with boards. The dagger / centerboards boats are usually more parallel. On the H14 and 16 and likely the Prindles, if you have the rudders parallel, the weather rudder will ventilate or track funny. Also the water flow of the transom is not symmetrical. Side note... I think that going to 1/4" toe-in was accommodating for loose tiller connection systems.

The fast guys sail with one rudder.

For me a boat with weather helm turns really well in 1 direction-upwind.
what do you mean by the boat won't turn?
weatherhelm makes a boat hard to keep going in a straight line. also it's tough to bear off and jibe turn with excessive weather helm.

toe-in and sailing w/ 1 rudder up is mostly dealing with play in the rudder system and the boat platform itself.
turn your metal hooks clockwise untill the rudders are forward enough to keep the boat sailing slowly up into the wind when you let go of the tiller instead of rounding up hard.