Rudder downhaul braking

[Colin Morley]

I launched my BR and was just starting to sail when the rudder popped up and I lost almost all steerage. I was in a strong current among a lot of boats so this was a problem. The outboard then failed to start! Anyway I got to a pontoon, got the motor going and back to the trailer. The problem was that the rudder down haul and up haul ropes had been crossed over. The downhaul rope (red in picture) needs to be threaded up and over a black plastic pulley before it is threaded through to the tiller. If it is inadvertently threaded under the black pulley it rubs over a very sharp edge of stainless steel where the rudder stock joins the supporting mechanism. This cause the rope to rapidly fray. See first picture. The rudder up haul needs to go down from the top of the rudder and under the black pulley. See second picture. It will not rub on the steel edge because of the direction it is coming from when under tension.. So rudder re-hangers beware. A sailing boat without a rudder is a major problem

[Peter Cockerton]

Colin

How annoying for you, you didn't say whether this was a problem from boat delivery or not but it's sorted now. From my experience, part from forgetfullness to ensure the rudder was fully lowered and shallow water where the rudder " kicked up" i stll found the horizontall rudder gives some bite and steerage, not perfect but it still gave some steerage in the conditions at the time of my sailing. A usefull posting all the same to remind us how the lines should be routed.

Thanks

Peter