Well im starting to get quite tired of my current rudders (hobie 16 rudders, EPO) as they are very heavy, cavitate a bit, and produce fairly large rooster tails, all in all, they feel a lot slower than the original rudders i had.

I got in touch with the Brisbane Catamaran Centre and he said he has a pair of maricat 5.0 light weight wooden rudders that are brand new in top condition for $130 per rudder. As my budget is limited this certainly sounds like a good find.

However, im hesitant about getting wooden rudders again, as my original rudders were wooden and broke on me purely from side load on them when i was reaching through waves in about 22 knots (both of them broke, not at the same time, but each on different tacks, it was the leeward rudder in each case, first one broke but didnt come off completely, so i tacked to head back in and second one broke soon after, so i gave my mate who was out with me at the time a reluctant look as i asked him to jump over board and get the 2nd rudder which snapped off completely, fortunately i managed to get back into shore by steering with sails. Hence why i got the hobie rudders because i new they would be hard to break, however they have been hurting my performance ever since, feels like im dragging pair of small sea anchors behind the boat).

Anyway, russ from BCC said the rudders are very similar in design to taipan rudders and are in his words, in superb condition. but they dont have any fibreglassing etc on them ,so i am a little concerned as how well they will hold.

Any thoughts? Do they sound ok? Anyone know of any better second hand rudders for sale?

Regards.
Michael.

Mine are timber with glass sheath.

IMHO would feel the glass sheath provides substantial strength over the timber.

Will speak to my mate at work who has the remains of a mossie, his rudders may still be servicable, he may be able to lend you his rudders for awhile until you find something else.

The $130 each sounds a bit much, I sure they are good but.., as you could by a whole boat off ebay for $500.00 with some half decent rudders.

Also try norman jones who lives up at Maroochydore - he sells all sorts of cat bits on ebay. He currently has a calypso rudder listed, send him an email and see what he might have that could suit.

Maybe one of the Vic or SA crew have something for you ????? that could be sent up at low cost....hint....hint....to help a fellow mossie sailor......hint.

Cheers,

Norman is who i got the hobie 16 rudders off. I thought $130ea for a set of brand new rudders was cheap, the nacra rudders for like the f18s etc are like $300 a blade, and im under the impression that AHPC or boyer blades etc would be around the same.

Oh well maybe norman is not the go.

130 is cheap for almost new blades, I was thinking it was not good value if they are only timber and likely to break again.

Might be able to get them sheathed to put some extra strength in. I had a yacht rudder done and cost about 300 so could start to add up if the blades cost 260.

It all starts to get a bit complicated. Thought I saw some blades for sale somewhere, will try to find it again.

Cheers,

Hey there are a set of cobra blades on ebay from norman.

Certainly cheap and may do the job, would need a tidy up but would not be too hard.

Hi all,

I see a set of rudders in the trading post for FREE in fact you can make money out of them.

There is a Boyer Mk4 A class for $2000. With boyer foils and Carbon mast and reg trailer.

Keep the Boyer rudders and centreboards for that matter. Sell of the Mast to some F16 sailor for $2000. then sell the trailer for $500-$1,000. Youre laughing.

Wish it was in Vic, it would be gone.

Thats not a Boyer mark 4, that guys a dud he posted a photo of the Boyer and has only one photo of his very old timber A with the old style boards, rudders and ali mast
regards

No I saw that one, yes very suss. This one has a number of pictures of correct boat and lists Carbon Mast.

Michael,

I was pondering your posting and just wondered whether you had your rudders perfectly aligned. If the H16 rudders feel slower and produce rooster tails then it would seem that there is some mis-alignment. The H16 rudders are generally wider than the normal Mozzie rudders so would produce more drag.

Having the feel that it's like dragging a small sea anchor also indicates that there is an alignment problem. Try with the windward rudder out of the water and see if that makes a significant difference.

As for having un-sheathed timber rudders I think that they would not last too long. You really need the sheathing to provide some additional load bearing strength. Superb condition does not account for any minor blemishes in the timber at 22 knots and associated high stresses.

I race with timber rudders and have experienced many failures most of which can be traced back to poor alignment. I'm now paranoid about rudder alignment and have a new experimental set of rudders. It doesn't take much stress to bend tiller arms.

Regards,

Peter