Does anyone know the approximate sizes of an Optimist dinghy rudder and centreboard? I'm trying to convert a little 8' rowing tender into a sailing dinghy and I reckon optimist stuff would be about the right size.
We have a fleet of 10ft training dinghies whose c/b is about 1.2 metre long with about 30cms inside the c/b case and about 27cms chord.
The rudder is a swing up in cheaks type about 60cms long of which about 45cms is in the water. This might give you some ideas. smaller would be ok and you can compromise as to what suits you. The c/b needs to be long enough and strong enough to lean on to right the dinghy. many dinghies having a fixed rudder don,t have it very deep but a larger chord. (Length front to trailing edge.) In this training dinghy the rudder and c/b are made of marine ply about 10 mm thick. Other small dinghies use aluminium plate for c/b but they sink quickly if not tied in when capsized. olewill