Gary King wrote:

After a few months of fiddling with the vane and trim tab, enlarging the vane from OGT2 to OGT1 size, then eventually tossing the trim tab (it wasn't offset from the rudder which I think it needs to be). I was surprised the vane started steering properly with direct to the tiller - just needed to get the tiller distance right ....

After a few months of fiddling with the vane and trim tab, enlarging the vane from OGT2 to OGT1 size, then eventually tossing the trim tab (it wasn't offset from the rudder which I think it needs to be). I was surprised the vane started steering properly with direct to the tiller - just needed to get the tiller distance right, I think 45cm right angles from the rudder axis and requires trimming of the sails to reduce helm to work well. I sometimes use a thin bungy cord on the tiller to counteract any weather helm too, which works. It's worked well on beam, broad reach and downwind goose winged. Upwind, the boat sails itself with tiller lashed. So lots of fiddling around and you will get it working.

I've been slack lately since getting a Raymarine tiller pilot and neglecting the vane (TP is better in light winds), but now we are into rougher seas we should get back to it, as the TP has ripped the mounting points off deck and the tiller 4 times already. So the story is, TP for light winds and motoring, vane for everything else.

The rudder on our Badger is large with only 5% balance, it's not a particularly light steerer.

Annie, you certainly are right when hinting that I had something to learn in those days. However, as I recall it, it was not strong winds that gave problems. Malena’s rudder, totally unbalanced and sitting behind a skeg, simply needs some tiller forces to control it, higher than on the much bigger Johanna, with her horn-balanced rudder.

Now I re-read Bob Grove’s article about his “Reggy, the Regulator” in Magazine 51. The last paragraph opens with...

 “Without a balanced rudder this same vane could be used to control a trim tab on the rear of the rudder or become the driving force for a servo pendulum gear”...

From this I conclude that the rudder on Easy Go indeed had a balanced rudder, as seen on some of these Benford dories. Even Reggy, twice as strong as my Otto, would not be man enough to control a 5-ton boat with an unbalanced rudder. As you well know, quartering seas are just as eager to push a boat off course as the sail(s) are, so fitting a 2-stick rig would only solve half of the problem.

Cheers, Arne

Oscar Fröberg wrote:

Paul, small world! I just bought the Hebridean kit and addressed my interests  in developing a method of adjusting the course remotely and John replied saying there was a guy attempting to do it already and while he was skeptical  about it he promised to keep me informed about the potential progress. I assume it was you he was talking about and I hope you do succeed! :) Shoot me an email if you want to exchange ideas, I'd love to see what you've come up with so far. rr

Karlis,

Don’t let the rake of the folkboat’s rudder fill you with concern  -  it is no big deal for such a little craft. I have sailed quite a bit in the Marieholm IF (not mine), and I have raced a lot in a real, clinker-built Nordic Folkboat, so I can assure you that these are seriously good, nimble, and above all, weatherly sailboats. The rake of the rudder can do little harm as long as rudder angles are low  -  which they are most of the time. Moreover, with its ample keel area, narrow beam, low freeboard and really high ballast ratio (well over 50%), the FB simply cannot fail, in particular not when upgraded with a big cambered-panel junkrig.

Arne