Rudder Rake Slop

The rudder should have little to no slop -- in particular it should not have play fore-aft. If you have a lot of slop, you get “the jumpies” - you hear and feel a clunk, and the pitch angle of the boat changes dramatically. More generally, the tighter your rudder setup, the more control you have.
We look at:

• Is the lower gudgeon in good shape and tight? If not, you might need to replace the plastic bushing (see parts list at end of this document). If the hole in the lower gudgeon is too large for the bushing, that might need repair/rebuild.

• Is the rudder rake adjustment wheel “snug” in its place? If not, you can try adding spacers at one end of the wheel -- layers of Tyvek tape for example. Make sure it still turns under some load.

• The rudder rake adjustment wheel contains a nut inside. If the nut is not firmly in place or there is slop in it, refer to the Rudder Rake Adjustment Wheel section to fix.