Has anyone seen or come up with a better way to attach Prindle 18 rudders? The factory way of tying knots in the control ropes and tucking them into the holes in the rudders seems sort of antiquated--and not a lot of fun when taking 'em apart at the end of the day. (Those knots get tight!!!). If it makes any difference, my Prindle 18 is a 1988 model.

Thanks,
Kevin
Largo, FL

Perhaps you can take them apart a different way? Most cat rudders are disassembled for trailering by disconnecting the tiller cross bar and then removing the pin from the rudder casting (removing the whole rudder assembly from the stern). There shouldn't be a need to undo knots.

Jake,
I wish it were the case of just removing a pin, etc.! I'm not sure how many other brands of catamarans use the Prindle type of setup--perhaps no other brand does. At any rate, you'd have to see it to understand their odd system. The tying of knots has to do with connecting the ropes which raise and lower the rudders, and those ropes are woven through the housing bolted on the transom which holds the rudders...

Kevin

Kevin,

You can't just remove the Pintle? (see diagram)

I don't have an answer to the question but rather another question? Why take off the rudder blades? When I put my P-18 away for the day, I just yank the two pins and pull off the entire tiller/rudder assembly together. Slides right into the cat box easily. I even leave the tiller extension on.

Sheldon

That's what I'm talking about - remove the pintle (stainless or aluminum pin) and the whole casting and blade should come off.

Hello -
I had a P-18 and just used lazy 8 knot and stuffed the line tails in the hole. Works the same on the P-19. You could just remove the 8" pin that attaches the casting to the stern of the boat and remove the castings, connecting bar and tiller all in one piece.

Paul

I've always trailered my boats with the rudders on...

My friend replaced his P18-2 rudder system with a TheMightyHobie18 rudder system. He loves it!

Hey, thanks everyone! The idea of removing the pintle looks like a winner--odd that I hadn't seen that, but I was just following the owner's manual (I got the boat this past winter).

As far as trailering with the rudders on, I've been warned that it stresses the transom. True or not??

Kevin

You're going to get a lot of varrying opinions regarding trailering with or without the rudders on. I'm less concerned about the stern than I would be about the rudders dragging / swinging and hitting something. What if a line breaks allowing the rudder to fall. I have seen someone come up with a triangular aluminum support that went over the horizontal mast and supported the bottom of the rudders while on the trailer.

Kevin,
I agree that you will get a variety of opinions on whether or not you should trailer your cat with the rudders on. I will say this from the viewpoint of being a Prindle 18 owner (1981 model). My boat has almost as many miles on it trailered as it does on the water. When I trailer the boat I strip it of everything that is nonessential or could pose a problem on the road, which includes rudders. Prindle rudders aren't the easiest things in the world to tune and to do it right you really need two people. I say, mark your cross bar adjustments when tuned with a grease pencil and do the same to your lock nuts (though they really should not come loose if adjusted correctly) and take the rudders off the boat when you are done sailing via pintle removal. The other thing I warn you about is that the casting on Prindles is notoriously weak...if it breaks it will break on the part that connects through the pintle to the upper gudgeon or along that line. Good luck

Matthew

Good point. Those damn prindle rudders don't stay up well enough for trailering unless you don't mind grinding off a few inches from the tips when they hit the pavement at 55 mph. They barely stay up when bringing the boat out of the water on the cat trax. They work well when sailing however. As far as removing them..the pintels on the P18 and P16 are much harder to remove than the P19 and 18-2. There just isn't a lot of room back there to get your fingers in to pull out the split rings or cotter pins. Stay away from the quick release pins. I've had them come out while sailing!

Same problems during my experience with Prindle 18 (about 2 years). Original rudder is far from 'sailor friendly' rudder, I would also add problems with windward rudder blade raising on fair wind. For trailing, like it was mentioned before, we removed retaining ring from the top, then pintle .. and packed everything up on trampoline. Not so time consuming.
It is very important to prevent corrosion and oxidation by keeping pintle lubricated with oil.

someone mentioned changing the sylt of the rudder system to hobie. I've used hobie, prindle and Nacra rudder system. I'm not sure about this is possible cause I'm not starting at the two systems next too each other, but the Nacra system seems to me to be the best design, as far as ease of use. I seems that I might not be too hard to replace the prindle systme with the nacra system, they kick up better, and are easier to pull dull. Again, sorry if there is some blatently obvious reason that this wouldn't work, but none of my freinds have a rpndle anymore, and I can't look at one.