Kick-up rudder advice

Builder's Forum
1

Hi all,

Been sailing my NED for the past couple years with a kick-up rudder that never needed to be pulled up given the boat's deep water locale. I've now got the boat in an area with a lot of shoals and wondering if I should replace the parachute cord that keeps the rudder up with some shock cord or bungee? Perhaps that was what it was supposed to be all along?

My goal is to make sure the bottom part of the rudder folds up if it accidentally hits a shoal or when I'm beaching the boat. Seems like a bungee/shock cord would be the way so long as it was tight enough to keep the rudder bottom down during water pressure while sailing.

Any advice? Thanks much. 

2

I suppose shock cord might work for this though I'd have to think something with enough give would have to be stretched pretty tight to keep a kick-up rudder in the water at speed.

With my Waterlust I've opted for an auto-release clamcleat that's adjustable for the amount of force needed to make it unlock. (I looked at CLC's offerings, failed to find anything like what Duckworks offers.) Needs a fairlead though or the downhaul line'll present a challenge when it's set free on it's own.

3

That's a great solution @spclark. Thanks much for the wisdom.