2014 Sport steering control

Got home with my new 2014 Hobie Sport this afternoon, then putting it on a stand so I could check it over. I find that the rudder does not swing to the right, only about half way, going to the left it swings to all the way against the hull. Tried to take up line on right side of rudder but then could not swing rudder to the left side. After looking at steering handle with rudder centered straight ahead the steering handle is about 1 o'clock position but the arm in the hull where the lines are hooked is about 3/4 in it's swing. Looks to me that the hand handle needs to be repositioned.

How does the handle come off? is there a set screw some where? or does the little plastic cap that sits on top of the handle pop off, if so, how does the little cap come off?

I have read instruction that I have down loaded but this 2014 Sport has a different arm where lines are tied. Booth lines are tied at the same end and at other end of the arm is where the shaft from the hand control handle is connected.

Before you disassemble anything, lets review the basic rudder adjust procedure.
1. rudder should be down, locked and centered
2. directional control lines should be taut
3. now, move the rudder control lever full left and full right and look for equal rudder deflection in each direction. Adjust your lines at the rudder accordingly. Don't worry about where the rudder control is pointed at the rudder mid-point -- it can vary slightly. Your objective it to get equal rudder deflection using the rudder control, not the rudder itself.

I think this will do it for you.

Here's a link reviewing the procedure.
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=45884&p=196423&hilit=#p196423

If after that you still have a problem and you don't want to have your dealer fix it, you can lift the "H" emblem off with a dental pic or fine instrument to access the handle nut. As I recall though, the handle is not adjustable. If you remove the handle, be sure and use "Loctite Blue" or equivalent when reassembling it so it doesn't start backing out over time.

Roadrunner...Thanks for the reply. I had no problem adjusting the rudder to your instructions.
I now have same amount of deflection of rudder to the left or right, but not the amount that it should be.

The controlling arm that rudder lines are attached has a swing from 8 o'clock to 12 o'clock position.
Cannot get arm to set at 6 o'clock position because hand control lever goes up against hull and stops the movement.

When rudder line control arm reaches 12 0'clock, at the highest point of the arc which is the limit
that the arm can pull the rudder (right turn) .

Turning the hand lever further to the right now only put slack on the line because control arm is now going to 2 o'clock
position and beyond the top of it's arc of 12 o'clock. Hand control lever is free to keep swinging for there is nothing for it to go up against and stop it.

Like I explained in my first post, the left and right rudder lines are connected to the same end of the rudder line control arm.

The only control that you would have for left or right movement is between the 6 o'clock and 12 o'clock position of the arm.
So between 6 and 9 would be left and 9 to 12 right turn. That would make the swing of the rudder equally each direction.

As of now I do have it equally but using 8 to 12 o'clock swing but now losing full swing of rudder in both direction, 8 to 10 and 10 to 12 o'clock positions.
This why I was wondering if the hand control arm can be repositioned to let the rudder line control arm move down to 6 o'clock
position then locked down with hand control arm stopped against the hull. Now you would have the full swing of line control arm.

Hope that I didn't make it harder to understand with my explanation...

Different kayak models don't all use the same control arm and not all handles are positioned the same, as different cockpit layouts have different requirements. I don't have a 2014 Sport (new hull design) so I can't see what you see, but I do understand what you're saying. That being said, if your rudder handle swings the rudder about 35 to 40 degrees on either side, then everything is fine. More than that, the rudder stalls.

Here's a picture showing the rudder handle removed. It comes off with a 1/8" Allenhead wrench, not a nut as I stated earlier. As you can see, the handle is not really adjustable.



I think once you get the boat out on the water and operate the rudder, you should find that everything works well. If not, we can take a fresh look at it.

Roadrunner... Thanks for the picture of steering handle. Had the Sport out on the lake over the weekend, worked just fine with sail rudder and ST fins.

We had a 2013 Sport and 2009 Outback with us. We had a good stiff breeze to play in.

The 2014 Sport handled great with the new bow, not the noisy drum slap or spray of the Outback.

Ran Turbo fins in Outback and did sprint runs and in the 14 Sport too. I felt the Sport might be a little faster, but when doing a good sprint in the Sport with ST fins I felt that it was much faster for I was able to keep increasing my peddle cadence and never hit the wall as I do with Turbo fins. This is what I felt anyway...

14 Sport I was able to rock it back and forth while seated but could tell the difference when it hit the secondary stage. My heel did hit the hull at the end of a full stroke when set in #7 position but not bad, as I am 5'10". I just had to adjust my stroke very little.


All said and done, I believe now the new Sport is a great all around kayak.

I have read your testing articles of the Sport and they are very informative, thanks for all the help.