My SS26 rudder has a draft of around 1m10. In practice this sets a sort of limit to the minimum depth the boat can be sailed at. In more shallow water, the rudder can be partly raised, but this makes steering hard. I have seen a solution on this forum where a shallower rudder was used, which can be lowered when the main rudder is up. This seems mostly a solution for when using the engine.

I was wondering if somebody has ever reduced the draft of the rudder itself, say by 20cm to a total depth of around 90cm. The rudder I have now gives great control of the boat, even when the boat is hardly moving. The control is so good I was wondering if a bit less rudder would not also work fine. With a smaller rudder, the force needed when the rudder is partly raised, would also be reduced. Hope someone has experience with this.

When I would try this myself, I would make a completely new rudder, since changing the existing rudder is not reversible, so when it would turn out to be a disappointment, I could not go back.

Hi

An interesting idea, but I am a bit worried for you if you find yourself sailing in heavy weather with a shorter rudder. I have noticed that when my 26 rascal is well healed over there is a very small amount of rudder still working. Control would be lost sooner with a shorter blade.

An alternative if you want to proceed could be to have a vertical sliding blade, which would need a different stock design and would not kick up if you run aground, but could be set to what depth you want, to suit the depth and conditions.

Philip

superseal 50 rascal

There's a chap I met a while back that keeps his SS26 at Holbrook Creek on the Stour in Suffolk. He shortened his rudder for exactly the same reason. He's sailed a fair bit since then up and down the East coast and he seemed to think it hadn't adversely effected the boats handling. That said, like Philip, I reckon the length of the rudder is to retain a bit of grip when boat is healed - these being boats that will heal a fair bit if not reefed sufficiently in a blow.