Rudder setups--notes, comments, opinions?
DougC
yesterday and managed to get it installed correctly. Have not gotten it
wet yet.... My question is, are they all built this flimsy? The strength
for normal use seems adequate, but the fail-safe mode worries me.
The control cables loop to the foot-rest sliders and the cables are
fastened with a couple of copper crimps. The problem I see with this is
that if you get hit from the side with a big wave or accidentally push
on both pedals at the same time, then something bad that disables your
rudder is going to happen... either the cables will slip in the crimps
(and you can't fix that in the water or on land) or the plastic loops on
the end of the foot-rest sliders [that the rudder cables loop through]
will break off, which you can't fix either and would seem to cost quite
a bit to remedy besides.
This is made even odder by the fact that a couple websites online note
that "rudders can be easily damaged by severe waves" ,,,,, but,,,, rough
water was the reason I paid $200 for the rudder in the first place.
The manufacturer's website did not show any close-up photos of the
rudder system so I didn't know what it looked like beforehand.
???????????????
I thought about putting some bungie cord in there, to provide the cables
with some "give". That would protect the setup from both hard wave hits
and "two-stepping" as well. I didn't do it though. The bungie cord would
wear out, but you could easily carry more and it would be easy to fix on
dry land. If you put the bungie cord loops back on the rudder itself
(instead of inside the footwell) a friend could even fix that on the
water....
I put some Superlube grease on the cables but other than that, is there
any common mods to these setups people do that manufacturer's don't
provide? What's the most common failure that happens IRL?
--------------
I am aware of skegs, I have read of the operating concepts and I would
have been willing to try either--but no local dealer had any boats with
skegs that were in the price range I was looking at. The skeg boats were
fiberglass/composites costing quite a bit more than the poly-roto boat I
got, and I didn't know how well they would withstand the usual
beginner's klunking around.
~
(PeteCresswell)
> the fail-safe mode worries me.
On my surf ski, I have enough line connected to the rear deck
bungee that if one of the cables parts, I can hook the line onto
the rudder in it's place - putting it under tension and making
the other cable able to fully control the rudder.
I've also practiced paddling with no rudder - and it's not
pretty. Your boat might be better or worse in that respect, but
either way it's worth a little practice time.
All things considered, I'm not wild about stainless steel cable
as rudder line. It's come on very ski I've owned... but for my
money, the right stuff is something like 600# test kit surfing
line - which seems to me tb jury-riggable in the water.
--
PeteCresswell
DougC
I am very-much inland so I don't have the salt corrosion problems.
I got the kayak with no rudder, it came without and had they to order a
kit. I used the kayak once in fairly-rough (for me) conditions, waves
8-12 inches. Paddling three times on one side and once on the other,
just to keep the boat pointed in a useful direction,,, is not real
entertaining.
Good news is, the rudder totally changes the rough-water experience.
Bad news is, the rudder pedals wouldn't adjust far forward enough for me
without risking them bumping up against the bulkhead. I adjusted the
setup so my legs had to be bent (up agsint the thigh pads) but that is
quickly tiring/painful, so I need to figure out some way of fixing that.
I am going to try taking the pedals off entirely and running a piece of
cord between the two front ends of the sliders, maybe with a piece of
stiff plastic tubing over it. If I use some bungie cord, then I would be
incorporating the bingie-protection I wandered about in the other
post.... I kinda wondered about the risk of entanglement with this, but
there's not going to be enough slack to get tangled around my foot. And
I prefer to take my water shoes off and get into the boat barefoot anyway.
---------
Related news:
I bought a CRKT Renner Neckolas for a PFD knife.
http://www.crkt.com/Renner-Neckolas-Neck-Knife-Blunt-Tip-Blade-Orange-Handle-and-Sheath
The clip is reversible (can be put on either sides, but only in one
direction) and I needed the clip attached to the opposite side (-also I
wanted to put some threadlocker on the screws too....-). When I took the
clip screws out, I found that one was too short and wasn't holding
anything on, and the other was badly bent. CRKT has a support page for
parts requests, dunno what else I can do but wait for that. The screws
are tiny, 1/4" long and like 1/16"dia x 56 TPI. ...If you have one of
these knives, it may be worth checking that both screws holding the clip
on really go all the way through. The clip may be held on only half as
well as you thought.
Does anyone still sell cheap water sock-type shoes? All I can find is
the mesh-running-shoe things that I don't want, or the $85
FiveFingersInYourWallet things.
~
Paul Tomblin
>Per DougC:
>> the fail-safe mode worries me.
>
>On my surf ski, I have enough line connected to the rear deck
>bungee that if one of the cables parts, I can hook the line onto
>the rudder in it's place - putting it under tension and making
>the other cable able to fully control the rudder.
Do you have a picture o that online anywhere? I'm curious what you're
describing, and whether it could be adapted to my ski.
--
Paul Tomblin <ptom...@xcski.com> http://blog.xcski.com/
"Power corrupts. Powerpoint corrupts absolutely." - Vint Cerf
(PeteCresswell)
>
>Do you have a picture o that online anywhere? I'm curious what you're
>describing, and whether it could be adapted to my ski.
It could, no doubt in my mind.
My ski just came out of the shop after some repair work. Give
me a few days to get it back together and I'll snap a pic. Once
you see it, it will be obvious.
Basically, the way the rudder lines work is that each pedal pulls
the rudder in one direction. Pull it left, push the left pedal.
Pull it right, push the right pedal.
The bungee thingie just loads, say, the right pedal with the
bungee. Now, if you take your foot off the left pedal, it's as
if you had pushed the right pedal. Push on the left pedal and
it's like /... you pushed on the left pedal. i.e. One pedal
has complete control.
--
PeteCresswell
DougC
I made new pedals today.
After four outings, I decided that the stock rudder pedal setup wouldn't
adjust far enough forward on their plastic beams (the front end of the
sliding beam would hit the forward bulkhead) and the pedal surfaces
themselves were mounted too low.
I could have cut off the front (1" or so) portion of the plastic beams
and re-positioned the rudder cables. That would have solved the problem
of them not being far forward enough, but that still wouldn't address
the issue with the pedals simply being too low for my feet. The stock
pedals pretty much hit the arches of my feet, which wasn't real good for
control.
The new ones I made from some aluminum sheet and tubing, held together
with some aluminum "welding" rod (Forney Easy-flo, but they're pretty
much all the same). The tubing is 1.5" diameter, is centered 1" above
the centerline of the beams, and the tubes tilt 20º upwards besides. The
DIY pedals allow better leg-length adjustment also.
http://www.norcom2000.com/users/dcimper/assorted/inanities/general_wtf/kayak/pedals.html
made tiny-
http://tinyurl.com/2dmgfzc
The tubes rest under the ball of my feet, giving much better control.
The slots on the aluminum sheet are long enough to reach across any two
holes in the side-beams, giving better adjustment. There's a couple
little blocks of aluminum behind each beam (I made those blocks also)
and stainless screws & washers holding them together.
There was more stiction with this setup than before, but some superlube
grease on the plastic "slider" beams" got rid of that.
~