I had a rudder failure on my 2016 PA14 yesterday. Upon investigating, I found that one of the Spectra control lines was broken under the aft storage deck. It broke where it crosses over the skeg well, immediately aft of the rear access hatch. In the photo below, the black thing in the upper left is the aft end of the under-deck backing plate for the rear access hatch and the arrow indicates the area where the Spectra line is cutting through the plastic hull. I don't keep a lot of tension in the adjustable boa but apparently there was enough that the control lines have sawed through about 3/4" of plastic where the skeg well joins the bottom of the rear storage deck. There is a small molded gap in that joint about an inch aft of where the lines crossed over the skeg well, so am wondering if this is an incidental gap or if the steering lines were supposed to cross through that hole and were incorrectly placed during manufacture?
Can someone check and tell me where their steering lines cross the skeg well? If they are in the right place, then perhaps I can reinforce the area somehow to avoid further damage.
Thanks!
