Yes, good point. My stock rudder has a reasonable good foil shape. Kicks up nicely in water, beautiful, efficient. I leave it on at dock, tiller lashed. But if I needed a new one, Rudder craft for me.But… My RC rudder looked like it was built in Mars Rover Lab. Sent from my iPhone
On Jul 26, 2021, at 2:47 PM, Alex Conley <conley.alex@gmail.com> wrote:
I’ll plug for pulling the rudder! I leave my boat in a slip and remove the rudder and put it in the cabin after each sail; it protects in from sun and wayward boats and kids on paddle boards and reduces wear and tear and wind age. As long as I remember to swing it up when starting to put boat away it is dry and easy to slide in cabin right before I close up the cabin.
On Mon, Jul 26, 2021 at 2:31 PM David Grah via montgomery_boats < montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> wrote:
For what it is worth, I agree with Daniel and have to say I can not imagine a better rudder than the stock rudder on my Montgomery 15. The raising and lowering mechanism is fantastic, if nothing else.
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2021 12:19:22 -0700 From: <danielgrich@gmail.com> Subject: M_Boats: Re: M15 folding rudder To: "'For and about Montgomery Sailboats'" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Message-ID: <031b01d78253$243839c0$6ca8ad40$@gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Hopefully the fiberglass option has the same shape, weight, and size of the original wood one. The reason I say that is that my M15 came with a Ruddercraft that was like 6 inches longer than the original, and so much heavier. The person who had it made did it because he had too much weather helm and wanted to counteract that. I adjusted the rig for better balance, and went back to the original wood rudder. What a difference. It is light, responsive, and works correctly in the clever kick up arrangement of the original M15. So much better performance. I understand your reasoning with regards the slip etc, but I would be careful not to compromise the boat performance when sailing.
I sold my M15 and now sail a SCAMP that I built. But the M15 is a wonderful craft.