Rudder Discussion

Posted By: John S
Date: 6/23/08 3:06p.m.

Report: outside forum guidelines

In Response To: Why it broke - and a few other comments (link) (Chris & Lenore - Mac 26S - Teliki)

I wanted to point out to the post above that the material that the IdaSailor rudder is manufactured from is HDPE, high density polyethylene, which is lighter than water, and floats just fine. There might be a lot of other factors to the IdaSailor rudder owners who still round up, but I have to say that the round up would have occurred much sooner without the benefit of the Ida rudder's shape. I have a D model with an Ida rudder and daggerboard. The dboard has about 25 extra pounds of lead in it, but Ida always puts lead in the dboard or it will not go all the way down. I have 6 inches of rake, measured at the deck with my main halyard (minus the chicenhead offset) while in the water. My boat will sail on its side without rounding up, I mean with water on the rail and on the downside galley window. At the onset of roundup, there is a lessening of rudder authority, the boat starts to right itself, and the rudder begins to bite again before the boat rolls fully up. I have held the boat in this inefficient position for as long as I have sailing room. I believe that Macgregor originally saw the round up as kind of a safety valve to control what is essentially a light air sailboat. Also, any rudder can be broken. It is essential that one understands that the HDPE rudder can be stressed to failure just like a fiberglass rudder, which is also a type of plastic. A characteristic of HDPE is that it can be stressed to failure without coming apart. Then, at a later date and under less stressful conditions, the HDPE will separate, even though it was already broken to failure by the preceeding damage. High performance rudder made of carbon fiber also will fail after the original damage has already happened. There is no doubt in my mind that the original rudder is just sufficient, like evry other part and system of the Macgregor line. Those who see no advantage to the aftermarket airfoil shape of a replacement rudder, no matter what it is made of, are suffering from additional tuning problems. In purchasing an Idasailor rudder, you have solved the manufacturers crappy rudder design, if you are uncontrollably rounding up, you have other problems.....