Beneteau260/ 25.7 Keel mod.??

[irl2605]

Hi All. I am the proud owner of a 2000 beneteau 260 Spirit But two things drive me mad. 1 the 100 winds it takes too get the keel up and down and 2 the silly twin rudders .
With regard to the rudders I intend to fit a single one from a 27.7 which only requires slight modification to make it fit. and now to the real purpose of this post .Has anyone come across any way of fitting an electric motor to this unit to make it push button .I am toying with the idea of fitting a tilt ram from an outboard which would also do away with the brass lifting nut which has failed 3 times in 4 years.. Ideas very welcome .. Happy sailing.. Iain /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

 

[beneteau_305_553]

Have you tried using a battery drill ? works really well.

The twin rudders are fine in my experience but you do have to use big bursts of power to maneuvre in tight corners.

 

[achwilan]

You just need to get accustomed to a twin-rudder: motoring, you must not go below 2 knots to keep full control, as the propeller has no action on the rudders, and backwards you must take care of a usually strong propwalk; which requires some anticipation, but with some practice, you can manoeuver in a shoebox.
the two rudders are interesting while sailing, with a far better control, especially with a spi when the wind is building up.
my advice is to keep your initial configuration...

 

[SteveA]

I think the whole idea of the twin rudders is to keep grip on these relatively wide beamed boats when reaching; it does seem to work well and I don't think Beneteau have put this design in just for fun!

There have been earlier posts about using a high torque battery drill to operate the keel - I prefer to keep it simple, after all it doesn't more than a minute to drop or raise the keel.

I also advocate keep the intial config.

 

[irl2605]

Thanks for the input guys, and I agree with everything you say,Esp about keeping her above 2 knots for manovering. This is my 2nd twin rudder boat (etap21i with tandam keel. Which was just awful to sail) and I really have no problem with the theory. Its just the wishy washy feel and the poor feedback from the helm due to the various lever points that come into play Also the poor construction of the blades and rudder stock means constant maintenance on them...Can any one recommend a drill that would be up to the job .. Iain

 

[PatrickB02]

Hi Ian,

I have a 210, which also has a twin rudder set-up. I find that these are fine, but can get a bit sloppy when the rudder bushes get worn. Each rudder (in the case of the 210, actually a rudder cassette) pivots on long pins that pass through upper and lower pintles, but there are white plastic bushes between the rudder cassette and the pin. These wear over time, and when they are worn result in a sloppy feel, possibly similar to what you are experiencing.

I don’t know if the 260 has the same set-up, but if it has it would be worth replacing the bushes before doing anything more radical.

The 210 also has large white plastic bolts that hold the rudder blades firm in the rudders cassettes. Again, if these are loose then you get a sloppy feel to the helm.

As I say, I don’t know how similar the 260 set-up is to the 210, so if there is no similarity then please ignore my pointless ramblings!