To Mary Z, Alex and other Seal line experts! Would you have any thoughts about adapting the foil blade principle to other rudder heads ? In my particular case, I am looking at ways of adapting the standard Klepper rudder by making up my own foil blade to fit the standard head. Seal Line claim an advantage in efficiency and drag with the foil shape. I presume the foil relates to an aircraft wing with a leading edge and trailing edge? Peter Rattenbury, Oz *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
>Would you have any thoughts about adapting the foil blade principle to >other rudder heads ? In my particular case, I am looking at ways of >adapting the standard Klepper rudder by making up my own foil blade to fit >the standard head. Save money and don't buy the Seal Line Just get a piece of 4 mm Al, marine grade and do a bit of filing to it to get a bit of shape. If you are really keen, make a wooden shaped blade and glass or carbon fibre it. What ever you do in time and money has got to be a lot cheaper. PLUS make it longer. I made a blade for a freind out of a Data General computer front panel, just roiunded the ends and a bit of a notch to suit the rudder head the Klepper uses. He was very happy with it as it worked so much better than the original that broke. The panels are from 19" racks. You could make a set of blades of different lengths for differing conditions - use the shortest possible for the day, take a spare in case you need to change. Use a pull-up, pull-down system to save using a spring though a bit of bungy might do to start it down on releasing the up line. >I presume the foil relates to an aircraft wing with a leading edge and >trailing edge? Yes, which is why I suggest a bit of filing - how much an hour is your time? At $20 per hour that's a lot of filing.... Alex . . *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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