The notch coincides with a hole in the stainless steel rudder stock and allows a pin to be put through, trapping the rudder in the full down position. This is good in that it removes reliance on the cam cleat (ours has let go occasionally) but you would have to remember to remove the pin when in shallow waters. Our notch does not have a fitting in it.

Ewan

Hi

When I acquired "Sulito" 325 it had a metal bolt that would slot into the notch

However Pascal (From Paimpol France, Maruli 325) suggested at the time that if you grounded hard you would either damage the rudder or the rudder stock. He used a wooden dowel (8mm) which in the event of grounding the rudder hard, the dowel will break and so protect the rudder and stock

I brought a length of 8mm round dowel from B&Q and cut several sacrificial lengths, just pine nothing special

I put a small hole in one end and tie on the back rail, works a treat. I am still on the original dowel 5 years later

But it does hold the rudder from popping up and if moving into shallow water you can release the cleat and the wooden dowel will hold the rudder in place. A very sensible option, we can thank Pascal for his idea

Regards

Barry Tiernan

I already wondered how to keep the blade down while releasing the rudder downhaul in shallow water. I already had situations where I lifted the keel to a level where the rudder blade must have must have been the lowest point (about 1.20m). Fortunately the blade never touched a hard bottom so far.