Rudder Line - What is it?

I’ve been researching self steering devices and came across a picture of Sarafin. There are several Hess cutters with lines from the aft end of the rudder to the transom. I speculate that it is a rudder limiter, attachment for emergency steering, a step to use for boarding in an emergency, something to hang on when clearing the rudder of lobster pot lines? It just looks salty, attached is a picture.

Quite a few BCCs have rudder stops, of varying designs and constructions.

“Rudder stops” is the traditional name. By reference to airplane rudders, they can also be called “rudder travel limiters”.

The functions are multiple, including (but not limited to):

  • to stop the rudder cheeks from bruising the transom, such as when at anchor or in a berth, if the tiller/rudder is not otherwise restrained;

  • to stop the rudder swinging more than 35 degrees, with the idea of:

  • preventing the rudder getting out of control when reversing under power;

  • preventing the rudder getting out of control in heavy seas, especially if lying a-hull.

Thirty-five degrees either side of the centreline is a common rule of thumb limit for rudder angle.

Traditionally, rudder stops for outboard (transom-hung) rudders were wooden stop blocks attached to the transom. Rich owners often ordered fancy bronze stop blocks.

Rudder stops made of cordage (either fibre or wire rope) attached to ring bolts (or their like, attached to the transom and rudder) by clips is fairly common with BCCs and similar boats.

Having clips on the cordage allows the stop(s) to be removed for convenience.

For many boats with outboard rudders (but not all designs!) being able to put the rudder hard over past the usual stop limit allows the prop shaft to be withdrawn (for example when changing the cutless bearing).

In their “Storm Tactics Handbook,” Lin and Larry Pardey wrote:

'For heavy weather, it is important to add rudder stops such as we use on Taleisin … . By limiting the travel of the rudder, these lines protect the gudgeons and pintles against shear and shock loading.

‘Taleisin’s rudder stops are spliced up from 7-inch prestretched Dacron lines. They run from eye-nuts on the outer edge of the rudder to the boomkin-stay.’

Sorry … my typing from the Pardey’s book was inaccurate.

That quote from the 2008 edition of Lin and Larry Pardey’s Storm Tactics Handbook should read:

“Taleisin’s rudder stops are spliced up from 7/16 inch prestretched Dacron lines. They run from eye-nuts on the outer edge of the rudder to the boomkin-stay chainplates, which are securely fastened through the hull of the boat”

That’s from the caption of a photograph, Figure 25-1.

The original 1994 edition of the Pardeys’ Storm Tactics Handbook did not include that detal (I think!).

Bil

Attached is a photo of the rudder stop I just made.

Cheers
Ignazio

And here it is attached to White Wings III’s stern.
The line is 14mm 3 strand polyester and the soft shackle is made with 5mm dyneema

Ignazio,

Is the boomkin end looped directly around the clevis pin? Just trying to figure out exactly how it’s attached on the boat end.

Cheers,
Mike

Hi Mike,

That’s right. The soft shackle loops around the clevis pin. I was wondering whether it is a good idea to put sideways force on the chainplate in the event of a wave hitting the rudder from astern, but the line has some stretch to it and it feels like it would absorb most of it. I think that in any case it is better than having all that leverage on the transom (I could actually see the transom bend a little when the rudder was pushed hard over from astern and I didn’t feel good at all about it). I might eventually consider drilling two holes in the transom and putting eye bolts through them so that the rudder stop can be attached to those, but for now I am happy with it and it is serving its main purpose well: it allows me to take the tiller off when I am at anchor and enjoy all that space in the cockpit without worrying about the rudder and transom, well worth the effort.

Cheers
Ignazio

Thank you, food for thought - Vixen doesn’t have a boomkin, gaff cutter rig, so I’ve got a set of small bronze chainplates I’ll through bolt above the waterline.

I used to sail Folkboats and we would snap our rudders right under the cheek blocks so the logic of having a line to protect the rudder is good. I seem to remember in one of the Pardey’s books they mentioned the ability to use the lines for emergency steering.

I was thinking this line might make a nice emergency step. We’d tie a rope ladder off the stern if single handing. I had a friend thrown off his boat by a ferry wake and he was in the water for a good half hour hanging onto the rudder unable to pull himself up. It was quite dangerous in sub 50 degree water.