Rudder Design

[atoll]

Originally Posted by giant

Brand new shinny Hunter 50s come straight from the factory in the USA with a long dangly exposed fin/spade type rudder the same depth as the keel (or very close)... not shoal keel either AFAIK.

From my experience it is no fun running aground with that type of rudder.

or watching the spade rudder floating away behind the boat mid ocean

[Albro359]

Properly designed skeg mounted rudders are IMHO the best compromise....
BUT even then, if you hit something with the rudder, it can result in dislocation of the bearings and leaks at the gland....
The same impact with most spades would wreck them.
Our yacht DIVA with a large rudder on a skeg and a deep fin keel was the most directionally stable yacht I've ever sailed on...windvane self steering worked perfectly...and when we did inadvertently back onto a corall reef and hit the ruddr in Vanuatu, all that happened was that the gland leaked....repacked it, retightened it, no problem...didn't even have to haul out