disasterous day

well, took her out into green bay finally today, not knowing there is a very small channel we were supposed to stay in. ran aground 3 times.  once with keel all the way down.  so i raised keel up half way.  20 minutes later, run aground again.  so i raise keel all the way up.  half hour later, run aground again.  guess i need to start reading some charts.  i was well over a mile out all 3 times.

the rudder......is another problem.  mine is one of them split rudders, can raise it up when trailoring the boat.  however, mine keeps coming up on its own, every so often.  sure makes it very hard to turn the boat, with both rudder and keel up.  gave up early, brought her back into the slip.

speaking of which, tomorrow i trailer the boat for the first time.  first time in water, i had marina put her in.  i wanted them close by in case anything should go wrong.  think i will try that 2 pulley method i say on youtube.  looked pretty promising, and pretty easy.

thruout all that tossing and turning, from running aground, somehow the boom line got out of control, went overboard, and go wrapped  up in the prop.  easy fix, i shot off motor as soon as i saw it go in.  for a moment there, i thought "im gonna get stranded out here" lol.  no rudder, no keel.....and no way to bring in the main sail.  

does anyone have any ideas about my rudder?  would greatly appreciate it.  i'd say it raises almost all the way up every half hour or so.  in a good 20 knot wind, everyone knows, just cant turn rudder to the side and kick it down lol

First let's start off by saying there are two kinds of sailors. Ones who have gone aground and those who are going to. It will happen to us all sooner or later. That being said I can whole-heartedly recommend the course on navigation by David Burch. It is available through Starpath at http://www.starpath.com/ or as an e-book at about half the price through Amazon as a Kindle book if you have a reader.

As for the rudder, not having seen it. I am assuming you have the rudder that came stock with the craft. Pinning the swinging part of the rudder with a wooden dowel with cotter keys to keep the ends in place may solve your problem. Just drill a hole through both parts of the rudder some distance away from the pivot and pin it down. Start out small and test the stress required to shear the pin. You don't want it too stout or you could do damage striking and object with the rudder. At the same time it needs to hold the lower in place firmly until you actually strike bottom or a rock. This will function just as a shear pin does on a propeller. If you could post a picture of the offending rudder it would actually help in diagnosis of the problem, but this is a best guess for a fix without actually viewing the rudder.

Fair winds
Terry

i think you nailed it on the head.  sad part is, i work 80 hours a week, and only home 2 days, if that.  sorry to say, most of the work i will not be able to do myself, but i can have done.  thank you frelichth.

99% of my boat is all original, i am very happy to say.  even the pin hole for the lock for the swing keel, i dont think that bolt has ever moved, still has the original rubber parts on the washers, and still functions perfectly.

that course, i will look into while on the road this next week.

thanks a whole heap
kevin

a: add lead to the rudder so that it wants to stay down

b: run line down the front of rudder so that when you pull up on the line in lowers the rudder blade.  Can use auto releasing camcleats to hold it down yet release if you hit something.  http://duckworksbbs.com/hardware/cleats/sd002570/index.htm

I claim to be a third type of sailor.  I'm trying to carve my name in runes on the top of the Olympia rock which is less of a rock than the top of a gravel bar!  The only problem is that I can only hit it when the tide is out!