Rudder Cable Question

pogue3one · Post by **pogue3one** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 5:42 pm

Okay. I've designed a rudder and gotten my cables in the mail today. My question is this: at some point I need the cables to go through the skin of the kayak near the stern. I am worried about putting holes in the hull. so I'm thinking of going through the aft deck of my wadefish. Still I'm worried about holes in the skin of the boat. I would love some feedback about how some of you have attacked this problem, and still maintained water-tightness.

pogue3one · Post by **pogue3one** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 5:13 am

starting to think I made someone mad. I've never posted a question here without an answer before.

dangermouse01 · Post by **dangermouse01** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 6:55 am

Mullet Key put a rudder on his WF (I think).
I will try to get photos today of how I did it on the one boat of mine that I put a rudder on.

Basically the rudder control cable goes thru a length of plastic/nylon tubing from wherever the cable enter the boat until it get to the controls. Any water that might mitigate the length of the cable would enter the cockpit and not the compartments. And that would only be a drop if any, since the cable for the rudder are above the water line.
http://www.rutabaga.com/product.asp?pid=1010182

DM

Post by **jem** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 10:27 am

I've never done a rudder but you will have to pass the cables through the hull at some point.... unless you get creative and mount/route it along the deck somehow.

dangermouse01 · Post by **dangermouse01** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 10:59 am

Heres a a few pictures of the one I did.
Epoxied 3 pieces of 4mm ply together, and fabricated th fitting from that. A little pre planning had to be done, since the black plastic tube is held in place inside with little black plastic cable clamps, those and the tube were all in place before I put the deck on. Attached a loop off string to each plastic tube so I could fish them out once I added the holes to the deck.
The steel cables are the left/right rudder controls and the black cord in the center raises & lowers the rudder. Each one runs thru a plastic tube. The one for the cord comes back out thru the deck where I can reach it with my hand, used the same type of fitting there. The rudder is a Sea Line Smart Trac rudder system.

You can see there isnt going to be much water coming down that tube.

DM

hairymick · Post by **hairymick** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 3:24 pm

My system is similar to DM's though not nearly as pretty.

pogue3one · Post by **pogue3one** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 4:44 pm

As always DM, thank you. Since you mentioned that the water, if any would empty into the cockpit, I assume that you have a similar setup where the cables emerge into the cockpit?

dangermouse01 · Post by **dangermouse01** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 5:20 pm

On the boat the rudder is on (not a JEM) the tube enter the cockpit thru a hole in the bulkhead behind the seat and travels along the shear clamp (where the deck and hull meet) and then just transitions down to where the footbraces are. The plastic tube ends an inch or two back of where the cable enters the footbraces. That boat is 18' long sit-inside and each plastic tube is probably 10-11' long, I think worrying about water traveling that length is a non-issue. And since you are putting it in a SOT your going to have water in the cockpit anyways, and your going to get more water in the cockpit from paddle drips that thru that cable.
One thing to remember when routing your cable is no sharp bends.

DM

JEM Watercraft

Rudder Cable Question

Rudder Cable Question

dang

Thanks