talking with jerry the 'history' of the M15 rudder is as follows - the M15 rudder comes from Ron Holder and Jerry Montgomery co-developing hardware for the Vagabond 17 and M15, which were both being tooled at the same time. Jerry and Ron bought the material/parts together to reduce costs. Ron and Jerry developed the rudder with permission of two brothers in Florida that built a catamaran of about 25 feet called the Stiletto. the brother received permission to use the design from an English boat builder. the brothers had seen the design when attending the London Boat Show. the English boat builder had used the design, with permission, from another English boat builder/designer. Later Ron reduced the dimensions to work for the Vagabond 14. Ron then sold the 'Vagabonds' to Hobie and they became known at that time as the "Holders". :: Dave Scobie :: M17 #375 - SWEET PEA - www.m17-375.webs.com :: Sage Marine - www.sagemarine.com --- On Sun, 5/15/11, Bob Eeg <montgomeryboats@hotmail.com> wrote:
Daniel.....once you change back to the normal lightweight wood blade you can install the rudder and fold it back before backing down the ramp.
If it won't stay in the Folded Aft position it's because the Bungee Cord is weak. You can get new bungee material at Port Supply or even Home Depot.
As for the 'Flat' on the backside of rudders; this is old news from the 1960s. Even Hobie Cat mentioned vibrating blades and how to cure them several decades ago.
http://www.hobiecat.com/support/articles/archive/?src=http://2010.archive.ho...
The old Vagabond 14 (later Holder and Hobie built) had the typical folding rudder that we have today on later built M_15.
The only thing that has improved is the Bungee Material.
Bob www.montgomeryboats.com
(949) 489-8227