Rudder

[Brooksie]

A friend's boat steers hard to starboard and easy to port. I am suggesting a trim tab on the trailing edge of the rudder port side. Right? Top or bottom with a RH prop ??
Thanks

 

[traditions]

It shouldn't make any difference in making it steer hard one way.Some thing must be wrong in the helm or some where.Is this hyd. steering?Try switching the hoses and see if it turns hard to port.

 

[jojobee]

Or a bent rudder shaft

 

[Sailorgp]

When running at cruising speed I thought it was normal for a single screw boat to be more difficult to turn the helm in one direction than the other. When I take may hand off the wheel of my 26' Sisu it stays where I leave it, but it does take more effort to turn the wheel to starboard than to port. I thought it was due to the rotation of the prop.

 

[tunamojo]

Single ram or dual ram steering ?

 

[Brooksie]

When running at cruising speed I thought it was normal for a single screw boat to be more difficult to turn the helm in one direction than the other. When I take may hand off the wheel of my 26' Sisu it stays where I leave it, but it does take more effort to turn the wheel to starboard than to port. I thought it was due to the rotation of the prop.

Yes, I think it is normal unless it has been "trimmed out". Your Sisu may have a type of steering that does not give feedback through the wheel therefore it stays where you put it even though it wants to turn back.

Anyway, my friends boat has properly working, 2 station, hydraulic steering with the "anti feedback" valves in place so, like you, he gets no feedback either*. But it is twice as hard to turn to starboard as to port, maybe more than twice.

So I was asking if a wedge should be applied to the upper or lower 1/2 of the rudder to correct the imbalance.
Lacking any feedback from the forum, yesterday we screwed on a 3" x 1/2" wedge, 1/2 the height of the rudder, to the portside trailing edge of the rudder at the bottom. The result was that it not only solved the problem but actually went slightly the other way (a little harder turning to port now) I think if we shorten this wedge a little we are going to be right on.

I hope this helps some other imbalanced soul...

* These valves must be in place on 2 station steering but not on single station.

 

[Sailorgp]

Excellent food for thought...I'd love to get rid of the imbalance I currently experience. With all the knowledge of such matters on this board, it would be nice if others chimed in on their experiences with this topic.

 

[Blitzen]

So I was asking if a wedge should be applied to the upper or lower 1/2 of the rudder to correct the imbalance.
Lacking any feedback from the forum, yesterday we screwed on a 3" x 1/2" wedge, 1/2 the height of the rudder, to the portside trailing edge of the rudder at the bottom. The result was that it not only solved the problem but actually went slightly the other way (a little harder turning to port now) I think if we shorten this wedge a little we are going to be right on.

I hope this helps some other imbalanced soul.

I have seen on several older Fortier 26 boats that they did something similar on the back edge of the rudder. They bent over about 3 inches of the trailing edge to achieve the same thing.

 

[Brooksie]

I have seen on several older Fortier 26 boats that they did something similar on the back edge of the rudder. They bent over about 3 inches of the trailing edge to achieve the same thing.

Port or starboard side? Top or bottom? Do you remember?

 

[Brooksie]

Excellent food for thought...I'd love to get rid of the imbalance I currently experience. With all the knowledge of such matters on this board, it would be nice if others chimed in on their experiences with this topic.

Seems to me , if you have Hyd steering & only one steering station, you could remove the lockout valves and get a nice feel on the wheel. But in any case you need a wedge on the port side of your rudder maybe 1/3 of it's height.
I'm going to shorten the height of the wedge we installed and see if I can get the balance perfect.

 

[Brooksie]

Single ram or dual ram steering ?

Single balanced ram.

 

[Sailorgp]

a photo of the wedge would be great...

 

[Brooksie]

a photo of the wedge would be great...

No can do, already installed. Oak, 1/2 height of rudder, 1/2" - 0" thick

 

[Blitzen]

Port or starboard side? Top or bottom? Do you remember?

I am not quite sure to which side but it was just above the middle towards the top

 

[Brooksie]

I am not quite sure to which side but it was just above the middle towards the top

Yes, I think which side would depend on which way was harder, RH or LH prop.