Making a new (dinghy) rudder

[Petercatterall]

As my boat engine was in bits (see below) I thought that it would be good to join in the spirit of the Conwy sailing week by testing my new (to me!) tender in sailing mode.
So rudder on dagger board in, just doing a bit of head scratching to sort out the gunter rig when passing boat wash (lots of it about last Saturday) lifts rudder out and it promptly sinks.
Current task is to fabricate a new rudder while the memory of the old one is fresh in my mind.
A couple of questions to the experts if I may?

1, Is something supposed to hold the rudder on! there was nothing on the original I guess just a pin through the spike that the rudder slots on or something.

2, The original had a bolt which allowed the main (submerged) blade to tilt upward, I guess that if you grounded this would tilt up so the rudder fixings were not damaged. I guess that this is really necessarry when ones rudder is firmly attached (unlike mine)
3, Has anyone found my rudder (unlikely as it sank like a stone?)

NB The mark 3 version will be tied on!!

Regards

 

[aitchw]

1. There will be either a hole to accept an R clip in the bottom pintle (spike) or a flat spring plate on the transom which springs out once the bottom fitting passes it to prevent the the rudder stock from lifting until you depress the plate. You should tie an R clip to the transom fitting so it can't be lost.

2. Hinged rudder blades are usual on dinghies but normally have a locking line to hold them down once in deep enough water. You relaese it as you approach the shore to allow it to kick up when it grounds.

3. Miracles do happen.

Whast type of dinghy is it? It is often much quicker and cheaper to find a used one and adapt it.

By the time you've bought materials and built new tiller, stock and foil you will wish you hadn't started.

 

[VicS]

Depends I guess on the rudder fittings you are using but some rudders are retained by a small plastic thingy. Fitted to Mirrors for example. They don't last for ever though but can easily be obtained and replaced. The Holt Allen part number was HA 21 when I built my Mirror. If you go to HA's website you'll find what I mean. Probably among the Mirror spares on Trident's website as well. Any chandler that caters for dinghy sailors should have them any way.

 

[Lakesailor]

I'll take a pic of my Heron rudder if that helps.

 

[Petercatterall]

Thanks for the pic offer. I have made one this afternoon so please, no pics (in case its all wrong). I guessed the foil dimensions from memory and have tried to build in decent strength into the side pieces and to allow it to be swiveled up for grounding. Hope it works!!
regards