Revolution Rudder Handle

I bought a Revolution 6 weeks ago and love it. Does any one else have a problem with the location of the rudder control?
When using the peddles my left wrist get rubbed by my left leg when I use the handle. I have been doing some shallow rivers and use the rudder but not the peddles. Now the rudder handle is under my left thigh. This is a bad location at least for me.
I am in the process of making a new handle out of nylon that will come up and then out over the side of the Revo. Looks like it will be 2-1/2" up and 6" out but not passed the hull. Anyone have thoughts. I will post when its done.

Hi, Nelson, I made a tiller extension that works for me. Please see: http://www.hobiecat.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=7161 . This one could be made longer if necessary and curved out if you want. It is easy to shape using a heat gun, and the material is cheap.

Bill

Thanks obbm for the reply.
I made a handle out of nylon and was very pleased with it as I was on the lake all week. It replaces the original handle. I made it to come up about 2-1/2" and out 6". It does not extend beyond the hull. I may try your idea just to see if it will work on the Revolution.

Hi,
I just bought a Revo, after having owned a Sport for half a year. One reason I bought the Revo was that that Sport gave me RSI in my left arm. I am a left handed computer worker and I use a mouse a lot.

It seems that the Revo is indeed quieter to steer, but I have another problem now: my arm is too short! If I would put the seat forward, then it would cover the hatch where I keep my camera. (My main hobby is not fishing, but looking at water birds and making pictures). And the fins clap against the hull very noisily if I adjust them for that seat position.

I saw the mod that obbm made and tried if I coud do that too. However, electricity pipe is ugly white here in Holland, and I am not equipped to make these kind of things. I failed and my husband has two left hands, so he cannot help me.

What should I do? Bring my Revo back? I do not think that is an option. I like kayaking too much, Holland is an ideal place for bicycling over the water.javascript:emoticon(':D')
Very Happy

By the way, there are two other features I liked better on my Sport than on my Revo: the nice bag that could clip onto the seat that would hold something to eat, sweater, water bottle on one side and a box with my mobile phone on the other. The new tiny bag can just keep my keys. Maybe I can trade in my seat for an old model. And where should I keep that enormous water bottle that I recieved?

The second thing is the twist and stow rudder. The old one was very forgiving when you would forget to pull it up and it was easy to get out of the water when you got stuck in shallow water as happens to me quite often. For the new one I would have to jump out of my boat to get it up. Maybe it will go a little easier over time. It looks like a nice piece of engineering though.

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Woman from water- and bicycle country.

Hi Woman from water- and bicycle country,
If you could get someone to make the tiller extension that obbm did, you could wrap it with tape of a color you like or a rubber handle to slide over it, like a bicycle grip. I made a new handle out of nylon so it is white. That is more complicated and may not solve your problem.

As far as getting the rubber up, either loosen the nut or spray some silicone in the disk. That helped mine and is much easier to get up now.

Bruce

Bruce, thanks for the advice!
I will see if I can find someone to help me make a handle extension. It is a really good idea to wrap tape around, not only to make it look nicer, but also to have more grip on the handle.

I wish that Hobie would consider to make more models of rudder handles to giver us a choice, for people who do not like the one provided (and I think there are quite a few).

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Woman from water- and bicycle country.

I found grey electricity pipe. That made it much easier to make a handle just like obbm's example. It turned out that I tried to use water pipe, which is too wide and I could not bend it using a hair drier.

I also wrapped bicycle handle-bar foam around it. It is slightly too wide for the pipe, but it does not really matter when you are steering, and the grip is much better. This is the result:



Steering is so much more relaxed now! I wish Hobie would make parts like these for us!

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Woman from water- and bicycle country.

Here is a picture of the rudder handle I made out of nylon. It is much easier to use as I said before the original handle was under my leg. Now that I purchased a sail I couldn't have sailed with the original one.

Click on image to enlarge

That is some fine widdling sir.

Are you worried about that handle snapping off on the water. Looks long enough and thin enough that it may snap after a month or two.

TDRILL,
Thanks for the kind words. It was hand made meaning I held it when grinding. The round part that goes over the shaft I used a hole saw. The rest was done on a belt sander.
To answer your question, being nylon it is flexible but not to much and I don't think one could break it. I have caught it with a strap and it didn't care. It has much use this summer.
Like I said before the original handle was under my thigh and just didn't work for me. I carry the old one with me just because.

Just an update to a previous post above I summited. The white nylon handle is working great and hasn't broken. As I stated, the nylon is flexible. Been using it for close to a year.

Bruce

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Everything before 60 is just a rehearsal!