I paddled yesterday with a fellow who just bought a second hand Dagger Baja. This boat has the Dagger horizontal profile under stern rudder, shown in recent Dagger advertising. The rudder could not be moved from the fixed position easily. The control cable to release the pin lock had stretched, or maybe the rudder shaft had bent, but the rudder kept locking. At one stage it locked full right, leaving my friend fighting hard to avoid paddling in circles. The rudder control cables seemed excessively stiff to operate. It seems the rudder lock/unlock cable needs shortening or another fitting provided at the cockpit end to fully disengage the lock. Anyone else had experience of this rudder system and problem, and fixed it? The boat itself can't be all that bad, I have heard on the grapevine that a paddler from Victoria (Australia), recently paddled one from Vancouver to Alaska. Regards, Peter Treby 37º 42' S 145º 08' E *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Hello Peter, I have the Baja but haven't had that particular problem as I haven't engaged the rudder. In fact, I was thinking of an epoxy pour to keep the rudder from the half inch play. I used to have about an inch play which I fixed by replacing the 'screw pin' (the one that fits in the notch on the round plate above the rudder) that was bent from excessive force on the foot pegs. This may be the cause of your friends problem. the way that I would diagnose it is by first disengaging both wires from the rudder mechanism and make sure that they are freely moving by putting a little pressure on both (pulling a bit on them) while your friend is pushing on each foot peg. if they are stuck, I would pull them out and either replace them or lubricate them with a waterproof grease. Check the vertical pin with the straight slot screw next and make sure that it is straight- this was the problem with the play in the mechanism with mine and if it was bent more could lock the mechanism by slipping out of the plate notch. When you unscrew this pin you can see whether the pivot rod of the rudder is sticking for any reason. I haven't gone this far into the mechanism, but I would presume that you can release the springs and unbolt the plate to slide the rudder out for cleaning. I had contacted Dagger over the net about my "play" problem and they sent at no charge 2 replacement pins within the week for no charge. They were very helpful, though I would change that pin to case hardened if I was designing the system. I am cleaning my wife's DAgger today from the weekend Delmarva excursion so I will look a little closer to see if there is any other things you can do with it. I have had that thing out in rather diverse/adverse conditions with no need of the rudder, with tiny trim adjustments weathercocking is almost eliminated. I would imagine that the rudder could be useful in the surf though I haven't used it for that, rather the paddle in my rather lame attempts. Tell him to contact Dagger, I have found them very helpful. Please let me know how you rectified the situation. later, gabriel -- : : Gabriel L Romeu : http://studiofurniture.com furniture from the workshop : http://members.xoom.com/gabrielR life as a tourist, daily journal : http://studiofurniture.com/paint paintings, photographs, etchings, objects *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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