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Rudder ladder


Dave 2

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Hi all

putting steps on the rudder as way to climb out of the canal would this cause problems with the steering of the boat as the water passes around the rudder,or would it be better to have them removed and buy a proper escape ladder, reason being I find the tiller quite hard when under power whilst turning.

AEDAFE25-1107-48C4-9949-51819C7579A0.jpeg

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It would improve things more if you cut the corners off the back end and created a boat shape, not a box. Expensive as an aftermarket solution, but why do you think most boats are shaped that way.

 

A far cheaper solution would be to slice a bit off the front and back edges of the rudder rather than the blades. Extending the tiller may also help.

  • Greenie 1
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8 minutes ago, Dave 2 said:

Hi all

putting steps on the rudder as way to climb out of the canal would this cause problems with the steering of the boat as the water passes around the rudder,or would it be better to have them removed and buy a proper escape ladder, reason being I find the tiller quite hard when under power whilst turning.

AEDAFE25-1107-48C4-9949-51819C7579A0.jpeg

 

Just hope you never need to climb out while the propeller is rotating!

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Boats have to have a way of reboarding for the Recreational Craft Directive. Since the water is coming past from the prop horizontally, they shouldn't affect it much as they are in the same plane. Reboarding a boat in wet clothes is not as easy as you'd think. With the tiller full over, it would as a reasonably effective ladder, assuming there is a swan neck tiller above to grab hold to. I'd keep them. Not so sure about the squared off stern though!

Tiller weight and effort might be improved with more steel extending the tiller in front of the pivot to better balance the force. Assuming there is room between it and the prop. Make it more balanced. Other forum members are much more expert in this sort of thing though.

For comparison, mine has about 1/4 of the rudder ahead of the pivot and steers very lightly. Yours seems to have a lot less.

 

Jen

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Edited by Jen-in-Wellies
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32 minutes ago, matty40s said:

It would improve things more if you cut the corners off the back end and created a boat shape, not a box. Expensive as an aftermarket solution, but why do you think most boats are shaped that way.

 

A far cheaper solution would be to slice a bit off the front and back edges of the rudder rather than the blades. Extending the tiller may also help.

I would consult the shell fabricator on this. Presumably they have some understanding of vessel handling characteristics and rudder dimensions. 

 

It will all be in the plans. Along with things like tons per inch immersion and metacentric height. 

 

 

  • Greenie 1
  • Haha 2
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The skeg on our boat is so large that it acts as a step. There are also steps as extensions of the uxter plate. The rudder is also well balanced. The sleg is a reinforced length of 6x4 steel channel welded to the base plate.

The boat was a hire one and I suspect that the skeg was put on to help avoid rudder damage when it is accidentally cilled.

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Those steps will not make enough difference to notice. If it is heavy to steer it is possibly because the rudder is unnecasarily  large and personally I would think that adding a bit to the front of it would help to 'balance' it.  Depends on the clearance between the prop and the leading edge. if you could add a couple of inches that might help, Find a bit of handy steel and bolt it on, if it doesn't help then nothing lost, if it helps then weld it on sometime.

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I once got out of the Avon in Bath by climbing up the rudder and tiller of a narrow boat (I'd fallen in from Juno) - it wasn't my boat. The young lady who's boat it was got one heck of a surprise when she came out to find what was going on!

 

If they're big enough to climb on those fins could be a life saver - I managed without such luxury, but my need was great! 

Edited by magpie patrick
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