Hand Rudder Control

[PiratePete]

Im building 2 Wadefish SOTs with Hobie Mirage Drives in them I have most things sorted out but I am stumped on how to set up the front end of my rudder for the control.

As my feet will be in the peddles I need some way of controlling the rudder with my hand. I think I need some way of setting it a mid ships for 90% of the time but also stay where I set it when I need to say whilst fighting a fish. I would also think it would need to be on the right side of the boat as I hold my rod with my left & wind with my right. This means & can then use my right hand to control the boat whilst the left controls the rod.

Any ideas any one???????

[CC TX]

I don't know how well this would work. But, I have heard of others using this: http://www.kayakproshop.com/SeaL_Trimtab.html

I built my own. It uses a nylon lock nut to hold rudder position. It works very well for me. Since your rudder tilts, you would also need a band around the drum to keep the rudder control line from coming off the drum when the line becomes slack. You would also need access to a lathe to make one of the parts.

This is what I have on my Sabalo.


Another option is the steering control for the Hobie Pro Angler or any of the various steering controls on the other Hobie kayaks.

[PiratePete]

Thanks for the reply CC TX.

Do you have any more pictures of your control?

[CC TX]

I ony found 2 more. I forgot to take more pictures when I made it. I started working on making another one; and, I will try to post some pictures of it later.




http://www.picturetrail.com/tx-kayak

[CC TX]

Here are a couple more pictures.





And a picture of the parts.

[PiratePete]

Do you adjust the tension on the hand knob so the rudder can stay in a set position or does it just swing back to the centre??

[CC TX]

The rudder stays in a set position. The nylon locknut provides the resistance to keep the control from turning. .

[CC TX]

Here is another picture showing the assembly of the parts. (shown expanded) The bolt and plywood disc will be epoxied to the kayak. The nylon locknut will be epoxied to the brass fitting. The control line drum will be secured to the brass fitting with a set screw.