Re: Another Kick-up rudder question

The Costas (uffda@sonic.net)
Tue, 25 May 1999 12:46:44 -0700


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West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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Curt wrote:

>I do have a question, though. it seems my kick-up rudder is pretty good
>at going up, but getting it down in the fully extended down position
>again is a royal pain. I t seems that the only way I can get the rudder
>extended is to pull it out of the gudgeons and beat it on something
>until it straightens out. Am I doing something wrong, or is there
>something wrong with my rudder? Anybody else have this problem? (And
>yes, I did release the kick-up line (is that what it is called?)).

Curt

If your rudder (lower half) pivots freely when out of the water then you
might be suffering from a problem that some of us have with our big Potters,
"floppy downhaul line." What happens is the downhaul line floats off to one
side of the folded rudder causing you to lose what little leverage is built
into the system. One suggestion is to add a metal eye (that is large enough
for the line to slip through, but small enough so it can fit between the
cheek plates) to the leading edge (near the top) of the lower section of the
rudder. In theory this will keep the line where it will do the most good.

I haven't done this yet and rely on luck... and a long paddle to get my
rudder back down.

Larry