Bustle Ahead of Rudder Turbulence

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by silverp40

Sorry for the confusion, but the Bottom pic is Before the nodifications.

Top of rudder was faired closer to the hull which helps a lot with water being chanelled aft versus to the leeward side.

Adding 2' to the back side of the rudder helped increase rudder area and gives it a noticeably more "bite" in the water.

Here is a foto of the rudder before ....

Yeah, adding 2 feet would add a lot of control! haha Nice job.

[silverp40]

Yes, 2" is more like it!!

[Jim Cate]

Makes me wonder: is the increased rudder "bite" from the two inch extension or the reduced turbulence in the water flow across the blade? Or both? Or the reduced gap at the top (something I have seen done on other boats with similar results)?

Nice job, and good onya for having the courage to change things.

Jim

[malbert73]

Makes me laugh when some other posters earlier suggested scrapping your boat instead of this project. Looks like it was pretty easy. My guess is the fairing of the bustle probably made most of the difference in steering and all of the difference in speed.

Is your steering heavier now that you added 2 inches to trailing edge?

Mike

[silverp40]

Thanks Jim, I think the "bite" is the reduced turbulence from a few things such as covering up of the rudder stock gap and also the fairing of the top of the rudder to the bottom of the stern.

Yes, I remember some poster saying to "just get another boat"...it was not a really hard project, maybe a bit longer than 1 week. Just took a bit of thinking ahead of time.

I did not notice the steering to become any heavier after adding the 2" to the trailing edge. Instead, the boat can turn in a much tighter circle/turns than before. Also quicker response from rudder under sail.

Ovi