Can't get rudders to lock straight down into position!

I just bought a hobie cat 14 turbo and I can't seem to get the rudders to lock down into a vertical position. The bar inside the metal piece "i think it's called the casting" is hitting the top of the black stern facing C shaped catch. I tried rotating the black piece upward a bit so the bar would go into the C cut out of the black piece but the black piece will not budge other than half a centimeter either way. Is this normal? I think the last owners were sailing with the casting resting ontop of the black C shaped piece. Please send me any ideas you have, this is my first catamaran and I don;t want to damage it on my first outting!

Thank you in advance for any help anyone can offer!
Sincerely, Joe Doucette, [email protected]
Canada, Ontario.

The "C" shaped piece is called the rudder cam. It works kind of like the latch on a car door to hold the rudder in the "full down" position.

It sounds like your cam is stuck in the "locked down" position. Try jamming a flat bladed screw driver underneath the cam and levering it up. It should rotate on the rivet that attaches it to the lower rudder casting.

Once you get it moving, put some waterproof grease on the underside (not on the top where it contacts the lock-down plate on the upper casting).

There is a post in our FAQ section that covers the cams...

http://www.hobiecat.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=467