and just when y'all were . . .
. . . hoping you wouldn't hear from me again this weekend, I have another rudder question . . . Does rudder weight affect rudder performance, and if so, why? For instance, will an ultralight rudder allow more lift? I was thinking it would be good to add more weight to my kickup blade to help keep it down, but it seems I've read that performance rudders are very light. Or is it just that EVERYTHING on a performance boat is very light?
Craig, I can't imagine why weight by itself would affect performance of the rudder. That's more of a geometry problem. Now extra weight CAN (or WILL) affect the overall performance of the boat simply because it means the boat displaces more so as it moves through the water it will affect the water (resistance) more, and I think the general wisdom is that it's better to keep weight out of the ends of the boat as much as possible for pitching, although I don't have a good understanding of why that would generally be true. Sorry I can't be more help. Maybe Jerry or someone else will offer more. Tod
. . . here makes sense to me, Tod, thanks! So basically, adding enough weight to help the kickup blade stay down shouldn't add a substantial amount of weight to the transom, therefore, board dimensions and profile are going to be more important than weight . . . --Craig ----- Original Message ----- From: htmills@bright.net To: 'Craig F. Honshell' ; 'For and about Montgomery Sailboats' Sent: Monday, January 24, 2005 5:52 PM Subject: and just when y'all were . . . Craig, I can't imagine why weight by itself would affect performance of the rudder. That's more of a geometry problem. Now extra weight CAN (or WILL) affect the overall performance of the boat simply because it means the boat displaces more so as it moves through the water it will affect the water (resistance) more, and I think the general wisdom is that it's better to keep weight out of the ends of the boat as much as possible for pitching, although I don't have a good understanding of why that would generally be true. Sorry I can't be more help. Maybe Jerry or someone else will offer more. Tod
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