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Unfortunately I did not pick up the hull three days ago, this is just the third day I have done any work on the project. But that is how it goes sometimes. I drove to down to visit my girlfriend Stacy on her lunch break today in Largo, so on my way back I took the opportunity to hit a few shops I don't get down to much. On the way I got a new (used) rudder, so check one thing off the list.
My first stop was at the Tackle Shack
to check out thier used Hobie parts. Wow, they have a lot of used
stuff, from full boats down to individual components, not to mention
they also deal in new gear too. It is the kind of shop I can get lost
in if I let myself. I was shown around by Jimmy, who was gracious
enough to answer all my questions about the new Hobie Adventure Island.
When I was done drooling over that way cool boat, he showed me the used
rudder blades I was after. Instead of getting a Hobie 16 blade and
tiller to fit the casting I had, Jimmy suggested a larger foil. What he
showed me was a beutiful, custom mahogony and oak kick up rudder and
tiller. To guestimate, I think it is about 25% more surface area than
the Hobie 16 blade, and it is gorgeous, with just a few nicks and
scraps to clean up. Needless to say, I picked it up on the spot.
The next stop was Don's Marine Salvage
in Clearwater. Next time I go there I need to tell someone so that if I
get lost they know where to start searching. They had several whare
houses and many outside racks full of anything and everything that
could come off a boat. Complete masts of all sizes, an outboard
graveyard, miles of line, and blocks of all sizes. I got there just as
they were closing, but I will definately be going back before this
project is done.
So with my browsing done I returned home to see
how my new treasue will fit, and of course it doesn't fit the gudgeon
setup as is. Now the transom on the vaka is small, but I can definatly
rearrange the existing gudgeon and add a new one. But I was thinking,
how effective would it be to mount this rudder on the aft crossbar? I
have seen several images from Gary Dierking's Outrigger Sailing Canoe site
showing steerin oard mounted there. Would a rudder work at all or would
it be totally ineffective. I guess I will have to make some posts to
hear what the collective internet brain has to say on the matter.
Any
thoughts post them to the forum, you have to sign up but that is just
to keep away spam robot advertisers, I promise I won't sell your email
or anything crappy like that.
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