Hey gang, I've been told it's not good to trailer the boat with the rudders hanging from the gudgeons because you can damage them, so what's your solution? I just now bungeed them to the tramp in preparation for my move to TX but is this what you would do or wouldja do something different?



Here's my towing setup:




Got a bunch of clothes in the car-top carrier, along with some books some lines for the boat, and my ski boots. Which reminds me I should figure out how to fit my skis on there somehow. 8p

Thanks in advance for your advice on the rudders!

Pad them and put them in the boot (trunk) of your car

The biggest problem in trailering is chafe.

I would not put the rudders on the tramp. The weight and the hard edges will put holes in it on a long drive. You need to pad them (old towels work great) or put them in the box or the trunk of the car.

Don't have a trunk. That's my red pickup, and the back has got 1600lbs of my stuff in it right now. The car top carrier on the trailer is full of clothes and books. I'll see about maybe finding an old towel or three to wrap them and just leave 'em on the tramp then. I just dunno where else to put them for this drive. 8/

If it's a one time thing, I would spend the 15 minutes to take the assembly completely apart. You can put the tiller crossbar in the sail tube and find somewhere in your car topper to slide in the arms and blades. Besides, when you reassemble everything, you can do those adjustments and shimming that most boats need done.
Good luck,
Jack

I will typically leave the rudders on the boat for trips of up to 4-5 hours (the rudder pins take the worst of the "beating" IMHO). Another alternative is to just remove the rudder blades (store elsewhere) and leave the castings/arms on the boat.

Hi,

I take my rudders off everytime I trailer the boat. When I got the boat I spend quiet a bit of time to get excessive play out of a variety of places. Now the system is kind of firm and I would like to keep it like that.

I would go with what John recomended - just take the bolt off that functions as an pivot for the rudder.

Where in TX are you moving to?

Patrick (Austin, TX)

I'm in San Angelo now. I wound up wrapping a spare tarp around the rudders and bungeeing the whole thing in place (like in the pic above, but add a tarp there). No chafe on the tramp that I can see.

Once near the MS-LA border the tarp came up a bit and became a giant parachute so I had to pull over and adjust it. 8)~

My GF and I stopped in Jackson, MS the first night and then sailed with Jerome Vaughan the next morning for 2 hours or so on his boat.

Glad to hear you had a safe trip.

Where is San Angelo and where will you be sailing?

San Angelo is 260 miles west of Austin, 300 miles ENE of El Paso. There is a small lake here, that's as good as I can do without driving 3 hours to Lake Amistad on the Mexican border.