Dart 15 Forums

Folks ,
I am currently repairing my rudder tips for the 3rd time in 12 months For some reason when I haul my boat out of the water and drag it up the slip way with the rudders in the upright position they invariably drop to the floor and damage rudder tips . The cross bar and tiller are connected when this happens. Others don't seem to have the same problem so is it something to do with my rudder lifting / locking mechanism Any suggestions on how to resolve this issue would be much appreciated
Cheers
Derek .

Mine are prone to dropping down when moving the boat around the boat-park even on tiny bumps. I've serviced my rudders with new parts from brian but it didn't really fix dropping but did remove all the play when down.

I've given-up on trying to diagnose the problem and put in place some mitigation. I now have a short piece of bungie from a ring on the rear beam with a hook on the end. Looped round the tiller bar in pulls the bar down and locks the rudders-up. It's stopped me taking great chunks out the blades on the concrete slipway.

Regards

K.

Hi Derek, Couple of thoughts , on the bases the lock roller system is all in good working order and the rudder bolt and sleeve are all free.
1) Where the lock roller drops into the cut out in the blade make the cut curve deeper out sharper using a round file.
2) If the cross bar gets lifet for any raeson it can/ will release the lock rollers and the blade will drop. A common cause can be the mainsheet block if the mainsheet is still attached to the mainsail or a bumpy beach making the connecting bar bounce. Windsport boats have a shockcod toggle fitted to the tampoline line in the centre of the rear beam. When the rudders are raised we use the toggle by taking it over the bar and securing it back on itself. The effect is to hold the crossbar down , until such time you release the toggle and lift the cross bar to drop blades.
Hope that helps.
Brian Phipps
Windsport Sprint 15 technical support

Thanks for the advice Brian and Karl ,
I have now patched up my rudder blades and tried filing out the locking wheel slots . To be honest I am nervous to file too much of this section away in case I make things worse . I will try repaired rudders and go for the retaining bungee aswell which is a great suggestion Thanks for comments and I will let you know how I get on .
Cheers
Derek .

Hi Derek,

When I acquired my current Sprint 15 both rudders had problems either staying up or down.

My first move was to strip, clean and lubricate the whole stock and locking mechanism. This actually made the problem worse (because the rollers moved more freely in their slots) but at least it eliminated a potential cause.

My next step was to file a dip in the blade using a round file (as Brian suggests) at the precise point where the roller rests in the fully up or down position (depending on where the problem was occurring). I did this with the rudders mounted on the boat as it is very hard to judge the effectiveness of the locking action when the rudders are just held between your legs or similar. I filed a bit, tested the action, filed again, tested again, etc. Like you, I didn't want to file more than necessary. In the case of the blade that didn't lock down, I wanted to be particularly sure my adjustments would not prevent the blade kicking up if grounded.

Anyway, the end result was successful. No problems for the rest of the season.

Good luck with yours.

David