I am working on the rudder assembly for my Skerry. I checked how the pieces fit before epoxying. I've included pictures below, with the rudder down and then up.
Dumb questions: How does the rudder actually work? I understand that I will have a line that will pull the rudder into the down position. I assume that line needs to be taut to keep the rudder firmly in the down position.
How does the rudder go up and stay in the up position as I'm taking the boat out of the water?
I use a bungie cord permanently attached to the rudder to keep it in the down position. It is cleated at the yoke. I just put a little bit of tension on it, but the rudder can easily kick up if it hits something. In the past, I have used a seperate bungie temporarily hooked onto the rudder to keep it in the up position when launching/retrieving the boat, but I have found this to not really be necessary as there is just enough friction in the assembly to keep the rudder up.