Rudder Pushrod Out The Side on Rigger?

[TomL]

I saw the picture of Don's rigger and it looked like the rudder pushrod (a cable) was on the outside of the tub. This got me thinking about attaching the rudder to the right side of the transom or even on the side of the tub, the servo to the inside-side of the tub, and using a flexible pushrod.

This would give the advantage of giving the rudder a lot of offset from the prop and maybe greater leverage for steering. The servo could be located more centrally for more central weight distribution.

I think I will be trying this on a Blizzard, assuming I get around to making one, and it isn't a really bad idea.

Maybe somebody's already tried this?

[Don Wollard]

Which picture?

We use solid push rods on all the rigger's. At least as far as I can remember. Its possible that one of the guys has a boat set-up that way.

I prefer the rudder on the right side on my riggers. It just works better with my boats. Other builders prefer the rudder on the left. My experiance is with a high angle of attach on your sponson's, the left side rudder is easier to set-up.

To me, if your rigger is literally running on the'edge', you will have better control with the rudder on the right. All of our Oval and SAW rigger's which are competitive have rudder's on the right.

Hope this helps.

[TomL]

Sorry Don,
It's the picture of Brian Vega's 12 cell rigger in the picture Gallery.

"Thats one Badd 12 cell!!!"

[Don Wollard]

Tom-

There is a better pic of Brian's boat that is in the SAW pics which will appear in a couple days on the new RR Home Page.

Perhaps you can get a better view. Happy to send you a shot of one of our boats in the event it helps.