Aluminum rudder on pre-71 Fish

Halfcentury

New Member
Picked up an old Fish at an auction that I am restoring. From what I have read on this forum (incredible resource thus far) it is a pre-71 boat, since it has the old style rudder hardware & the short cockpit. It has an aluminum rudder blade w/ it that looks original. Has anyone ever seen one of these? Am I mistaken & in need of replacing it w/wood? Are there performance issues w/ this type of rudder? Thanks fo ryour help.
 
I think can say with some conviction that the Sunfish, wood, old style (pre 1972) and present never had a factory built aluminum rudder blade. A lot of small boats do have aluminum rudder blades (Butterfly, Flying Scott to name two). The upside of an aluminum blade is good strength and no maintenance, but the down side is poor hydrodynamics.
The wood blade is a truer hydrofoil than a flat aluminum blade with rounded edges. The flat aluminum blade will also stall sooner, and this could be a boat control issue in higher winds.

Alan Glos
 
Picked up an old Fish at an auction that I am restoring. From what I have read on this forum (incredible resource thus far) it is a pre-71 boat, since it has the old style rudder hardware & the short cockpit. It has an aluminum rudder blade w/ it that looks original. Has anyone ever seen one of these? Am I mistaken & in need of replacing it w/wood? Are there performance issues w/ this type of rudder? Thanks fo ryour help.
If I remember correctly, a very similar looking boat, the Aqua Finn, uses an aluminum blade rudder.

Posting pictures will help considerably toward getting more than guess work.
 
Here are some photos. Whoever made this went to a lot of trouble to replicate the wooden one. I put a wooden blade next to it in one photo. Do you think it will have performance problems. I haven't pout the boat together yet, as the hull is still being restored & I didn't sail it before I began the restoration process.
 

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Here are some photos. Whoever made this went to a lot of trouble to replicate the wooden one.
Ahhhh..., OK, I'd say that says "fed up with split wood blades"..., really fed up. :eek:

Has anyone ever seen one of these?
That's a one-of-a-kind custom made, home-built.

Performance will be different, but you will be better off sailing it and seeing just what that difference will be before planning any changes. Slightly adjusting the weather helm balance could very well be all that's needed. That generation of rudder blade wasn't exactly rocket science..., it was just a canoe paddle bolted to a tiller.

On the other hand, it's likely it will at least "sing" at some speed. The HobieCat web site has a guide to tuning out the harmonic vibration of aluminum blades in their Customer Support area.
 
OK, finally got this boat done. Totally faired top & bottom. Had a friend proffessionally spray it w/ Emron paint. Looks beautiful! Anyway, took it out in 15 mph wionds on Sunday. The aluminum Rudder worked great. It didn't "sing" yet, maybe in stronger winds. Excited about the fact that it will never need re-finishing & is virtually indistuctable (especially since it is the old-style that doesn't "kick up"). Anyway, thanks for your help & feedback.
 
OK, finally got this boat done. Totally faired top & bottom. Had a friend proffessionally spray it w/ Emron paint. Looks beautiful! Anyway, took it out in 15 mph wionds on Sunday. The aluminum Rudder worked great. It didn't "sing" yet, maybe in stronger winds. Excited about the fact that it will never need re-finishing & is virtually indistuctable (especially since it is the old-style that doesn't "kick up"). Anyway, thanks for your help & feedback.
Glad to hear all is coming together successfully.

Hmmm... it should still kick-up since that mechanism is part of the mounting on this design and not the rudder blade/cheeks, like the "new style". Or, was that part also modified and is now locked in place?
 

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