29 Jun
2015
29 Jun
'15
7:45 p.m.
It seems like HDPE may just not be a suitable material for rudders in the thickness commonly used for this size of boat. It looks like it fatigues right where support from the stainless cheeks stops; right where you would expect. It seems to hold up well on smaller craft where the rudder is proportionally much larger. Its too bad since it made such a nice blade. Hopefully someone will come up with a clever design idea or maybe a replacement plastic. A nice thing about these events is that they test the boats beyond the limits that most of us use them and we learn a lot.