secondary steering system

I borrowed a AI before I brought one, the rudder pin failed on me, I steered back to the beach using the daggerboard, a 2 mile downwind bimble in light winds and against the tide with a partly furled sail to balance the rig/boat. I did curse!

Bearing in mind the rudder problems, I thought I might take out an old oar out with me, tie it the outrigger arm and use it for steering? Just in case. Once bitten, twice shy!

Has anyone done similar?

You could use the Hobie paddle Weysail to do the same. I have had an AI for two and a half years and used it heaps and not broken one. I don't think the 2011 boats will have that problem the earlier boats seemed to have because of the new design. I am a firm believer the problem in the older version was caused from too much vertical play in the rudder box system which shimming will fix. That is what I did and never looked like breaking a pin...Pirate

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Master of the galleon 'Pirates Lot'

Pirate, I'm curious why you think vertical play in the rudder pin fitting is causing pins to break? If you look at pins that have been seriously stressed, the forces appear to be lateral.

Weysail, I think a flat surface canoe paddle anchored on the aka would make a good temporary rudder. An alternative rudder has recently been discussed: http://www.hobiecat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=34429
On that thread, Whosyerbob made the following comment:
I would add that the Hobie paddle blade is also small compared to a typical canoe paddle blade.

Keith

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2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon

Keith I came to that conclusion after watching Mickey's rudder shimmy as he was paddling down a river a year or two back. It was quite obvious that the system was just not tight enough allowing the rudder and box to move laterally in relation to the hull. I did take a video of that action but it did not turn out that well so I did not present it to the world. I always thought the best fix was to sleeve the transom gudgeon to within acceptable tolerances, but that would have jeopardised the warranty. The next best thing for me was to shim up the system nice and tight so that itself was going to limit the amount of sideways movement and shimmying possible. It seemed to do the trick for me as I sailed the red AI is some pretty hairy conditions without a failure. I left the original pin in when I sold it and I am in regular contact with the new owner who has not yet had any trouble...Pirate

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Master of the galleon 'Pirates Lot'

Weysail,

I would only try it if you can attach the oar to a part of the aka that is not protected by the break away bolt. Otherwize you might end up with another problem.

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Jerry D.
St. Johns, Florida
2010 TI
2008 AI

Pirate, sorry, but I'm still at a loss as to what you did here. Did you take any pictures to help me & others understand better? Not breaking a pin is impressive, but not sufficient evidence of the success of your fix. Chrisj has also not broken a pin, but I don't think he made any changes to his rudder system.

Hopefully, it will all be moot once the new rudder system comes out. Moot, except for those of us with the original system.

Keith

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2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon

Sorry Keith no pictures and no boat and previously inadequate explanations.
All I did was to remove all the up and down play between the hull and the rudder box by introducing thin plastic washers between the surfaces, which itself reduced the amount of vibration the rudder box was normally capable of due to slop in the pin system. As I tried to say in the earlier post I could have achieved the same or better result by drilling out then sleeving the holes in the rudder box to closer tolerances but that would have caused warranty issue. Hope that explains it better.....Pirate

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Master of the galleon 'Pirates Lot'

Many thanks for that, if there is too much wind around for comfortable steering with an oar I'll just peddle back. I'd rather go out prepared. We'll find out at the w/e?