As I had some rudder issues on my 1984 Capo 30 JouJou during this year's LongPac, I decided to go ahead and preemptively replace and upgrade my rudder and rudder bearings ahead of the 2018 SH Transpac. Phase I is getting the rudder built and installed, Phase II is sea trials and feedback on differences (and hopefully improvements) in boat performance with the old vs. new rudder. This posting is about Phase I of the project - I plan to have a follow-up post in the New Year on how the boat sails with the new rudder.
After shopping around a bit, I chose Larry Tuttle of Waterat Sailing Equipment (Watsonville, CA) to design and build the new rudder. There were cheaper options, but for such a key piece of equipment I thought that Larry's experience with similar boats (Olson 34 and 911S, Wilderness 30, etc.) and his relative physical proximity were worth the extra money. I also like to support local maritime businesses when I can. I pulled the existing rudder with the boat in the water and brought it to Larry's shop to measure and to discuss design options. He was very patient with my stupid questions and took a good hour to talk me through his proposed design and some of the trade-offs inherent in such an undertaking.
One important consideration was whether to stick with the simple bushing-style rudder bearings of the current rudder, or to upgrade to Jefa self-aligning roller bearings as part of the project. With a higher aspect ratio rudder there is more torque and therefor more pressure exerted on the bottom bearing. But installing the Jefa bearing is a big and expensive job, so after much debate I decided to start with just replacing the current plastic bushings and, if this proves inadequate, upgrade to roller bearings later.
I got the new rudder from Larry a couple of weeks ago and I hauled the boat out at SF Boatworks last week. See attached a few pictures to compare and contrast the old and new rudder designs. The surface areas of the two designs are essentially the same. As I understand it, the higher aspect ratio design of the new rudder will provide more lift, improving boat balance, and the deeper draft will help improve control particularly when heeled (I am sure there is much more to this). In addition to the difference in aspect ratios, the new rudder is also significantly thinner and weighs 30 lbs less.
While the boatyard is giving her a new bottom job, my job over the Holidays is to pull the old bushings and have new bushing machined to fit the new rudder stock and JouJou's existing rudder tube. Of course on hauling the boat other problems were found, so there is going to be more time and $ required than originally estimated (isn't there always?). I hope to have her back in the water second week of Jan. in time for the TBF. I will post a follow-up note on differences (if any) in boat handling I see with my shiny new rudder and whether I am going to have to upgrade to roller bearings as well.
After shopping around a bit, I chose Larry Tuttle of Waterat Sailing Equipment (Watsonville, CA) to design and build the new rudder. There were cheaper options, but for such a key piece of equipment I thought that Larry's experience with similar boats (Olson 34 and 911S, Wilderness 30, etc.) and his relative physical proximity were worth the extra money. I also like to support local maritime businesses when I can. I pulled the existing rudder with the boat in the water and brought it to Larry's shop to measure and to discuss design options. He was very patient with my stupid questions and took a good hour to talk me through his proposed design and some of the trade-offs inherent in such an undertaking.
One important consideration was whether to stick with the simple bushing-style rudder bearings of the current rudder, or to upgrade to Jefa self-aligning roller bearings as part of the project. With a higher aspect ratio rudder there is more torque and therefor more pressure exerted on the bottom bearing. But installing the Jefa bearing is a big and expensive job, so after much debate I decided to start with just replacing the current plastic bushings and, if this proves inadequate, upgrade to roller bearings later.
I got the new rudder from Larry a couple of weeks ago and I hauled the boat out at SF Boatworks last week. See attached a few pictures to compare and contrast the old and new rudder designs. The surface areas of the two designs are essentially the same. As I understand it, the higher aspect ratio design of the new rudder will provide more lift, improving boat balance, and the deeper draft will help improve control particularly when heeled (I am sure there is much more to this). In addition to the difference in aspect ratios, the new rudder is also significantly thinner and weighs 30 lbs less.
While the boatyard is giving her a new bottom job, my job over the Holidays is to pull the old bushings and have new bushing machined to fit the new rudder stock and JouJou's existing rudder tube. Of course on hauling the boat other problems were found, so there is going to be more time and $ required than originally estimated (isn't there always?). I hope to have her back in the water second week of Jan. in time for the TBF. I will post a follow-up note on differences (if any) in boat handling I see with my shiny new rudder and whether I am going to have to upgrade to roller bearings as well.
