We launched SCOUT for rudder Sea Trials, Paddle Mode, total success once we remembered the uphaul line was jam cleated! To back up for a second, the rudder is being added to the arsenal for use with sailing rigs, but after the discoveries today during tandem and single paddling we might use it when just paddling.
Here's a photo to get a general idea of where the steering line and rudder uphaul line are routed.
First I needed to place a couple of blocks for the line steering to run through, to determine their location I laid out the steering line that came with the rudder and picked the nearest thwart, which turned out to be the midships thwart. I drilled a 1/4" hole in the gunwales just forward of the thwart and used 1/8" Dacron Cord from New England Ropes to tie a block to port and starboard. The blocks came from Capn Jack's stash, not sure where he found them, they might have come off of the USS Portsmouthfrom back in 1846. The I ran the steering lineup through the blocks and added a snap shackle to the end to connect to one side of the rudder horn. The line was barely long enough to where I could skip the snap shackle, pull it real tight and tie a Figure 8, but I deduced that the line had shrunk over time and it needed some work to stretch it back out. The line was too tight for my liking is why I added the snap shackle, plus it was more Capn Jack hardware that gets to see Sea Service on a small boat.
Next I contemplated how to rig the rudder uphaul, it needed a fairlead centered on the rudder horn so that it would not pull the rudder off center. I thought maybe I could run it under the pintle keeper but not only did the steering line pull loose when tugged on, it displaced the pintle keeper as well, which would allow the pintle to fall out if the canoe capsized. The next options considered were to add an eyestrap or drill a small hole, so I drilled a 1/4" hole angled aft top to bottom, centered on the horn, and fed the uphaul line up through that and forward near the stern seat. Next I needed a place to secure the line to keep the rudder up, and Capn Jack whispered "jam knot" in my ear. I tied a loop in the uphaul line at a position where Skipper can jam the knot into a small gap between the stern cap and the gunwale, and secured the rest of the line with some semblance of a clove hitch further up onto the steering line. More on that later, plus a video.
We launched SCOUT with Skipper in the stern seat and Moveable Ballast up in the bow seat. Set out to sea and paddled about 15 minutes. I asked Skipper if the rudder was working and she said not really. I thought about it for a bit and asked if the rudder had gone all the way down. She sail it was barely in the water, so I asked if she had released the uphaul. She said something to the effect of "what uphaul?" Note to self, I need to write up a Functional Check Float (FCF) test card and brief the Functional Check Pilot (FCP) on what items need to be checked during the FCF. Skipper released the uphaul, the rudder dropped and after that we Ported and Starboarded and Slipped and Skidded and Tracked all over the bay with ease, which is a feat. Our corner of the bay has a bayou nd a river that dump into it, plus we get strong fetch at times. Winds were NW, light at 7-9 knots, seas about a foot with short sets, and with the rudder I could do a 360 turn from the bow seat with 10-12 strokes from just the bow seat, with no Skipper steering. Without the rudder it took about twice many strokes that and some retired Jarhead aggressive paddling. We also found it was easy for her to set a little rudder trim and keep us tracking to a point vs the convoy zig zag we had been doing, counteracting tide, wind and current. Back to the beach, the rudder uphaul worked as advertised. Tandem FCF complete.
We got back to the beach and I took out the canoe for a single seat FCF, I paddled from the aft thwart, did some 360s, paddled backwards and played with the uphaul. Here's a photo of me outbound, will I make it back?
I found that I could slide the clove hitch on the end of the rudder uphaul line back and forth on the steering line to allow the rudder to drop and then raise it again, and there was enough tension to hold the rudder up.
Rudder uphaul video, don't blink, you might miss it: https://youtu.be/hhcpQvfvejY
Canoe maneuvering video: https://youtu.be/_a7gh3Wcbh8
Made it back to the beach again!
Another video to show the design elegance of the steering and uphaul: https://youtu.be/8CvouQjtCsI
FCF complete, no discrepancies noted, celebration time. Cafe du Monde from a Stanley thermos and mandarin oranges.
Next up, install the main mast step, rig the gaff, peak halyard, throat halyard, leeboard bracket, port and starboard leeboards, mizzen mast step, mizzen, bumkin, mizzen sheet, rudder, rudder steering line, rudder uphaul line, grab a cup of coffee, push Skipper and SCOUT out to sea, take pictures.
Log of SCOUT.
Important Apple Watch Note: The Apple watch has an annoying feature that tracks Activity - Move, Exercise and Stand rings. We always close our Move and Stand rings, but to close the Exercise ring the watch has to sense 30 minutes of exercise equivalent to a brisk walk. We have gone out brisk walking and even jogging (wogging) and the watch might count 14-20 minutes of our 30 minute WOG aka "brisk walk." A pleasant surprise was we found that if we select Workout - Paddling, it counts pretty much every minute, whether paddling or not. Now we can select Paddling, even when walking, and close that pesky ring :)
Log of SCOUT.
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