Regarding the Ida Sailor kick-up rudder, I would think you would be experiencing a huge amount of weatherhelm before you had enough torque to make the rudder blade twist. The cheek plates are pretty substantial. I really doubt we're getting any twist or flex. The tiller doesn't have any of the flex feel that I've noticed on the stock M15 kick up rudder. I've only been using mine one season so I can't speak to the long term durability issue other than to say the quality and strength of construction look very good. The pointing ability doesn't seem to be any different than the stock rudder, which is a good thing. My stock rudder was one of the earlier, balanced models and I was reluctant to replace it, but since it couldn't even be raised vertically in shallow water I needed to do something. The foil shape is very good on the stock 17 rudder, so I was pleased that the kick-up rudder seems equal in performance. I have no vested interest in Ida Sailor, and get nothing from them for endorsements. I did get a discount on my rudder for helping with the design. I just believe it's a good product. The rudder breaking on the Santana is somewhat worrisome. I have also heard of a corrosion problem on the aluminum cheekplates on one of the east coast boats, which was also blamed on substandard material. There are about a dozen Ida Sailor M17 rudders out there last I heard. Anyone else having any problems? Larry On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 19:32:55 -0500 <htmills@bright.net> writes:
While those plastics no doubt offer some advantages, I would suspect that rigidity of the overall blade would be less than the factory rudder, meaning that when viewed from the top the tip of the rudder would want to bow to weather with weather helm and might well twist, putting the tip at a different angle of attack than the upper part of the blade if the shear center of the foil doesn't coincide with the center of lift, which could offset some of the gains of the "good" foil shape. Still, for some people it's probably a very good option, certainly better than getting your transom bolts popped.
Tod M17 #408 BuscaBrisas (<= who's transom bolts got stretched significantly once)
-----Original Message----- From: montgomery_boats-bounces+htmills=bright.net@mailman.xmission.com
[mailto:montgomery_boats-bounces+htmills=bright.net@mailman.xmission.com]
On Behalf Of Tom Smith Sent: Monday, November 28, 2005 12:34 PM To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats Subject: RE: M_Boats: New Kick up rudder
Larry has an Idasailor rudder, Randy Graves has one, and I have one that's not yet installed. I'll let those guys speak regarding durability over time and performance, but I'm impressed with the quality of the build. I wasn't aware of a new, lighter version, or if the Montgomery blades can be ordered in a different hdpe material than what I got or not. It sure seems industrial strength to me, and in my opinion it's a superior solution to grounding than the original slide-up design.
t
/)) Tom Smith & Jane VanWinkle M15/345--Chukar M17/496--Unnamed
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