New "Hydrodynamic" foil shaped rudder.

[Barry Pyeatt]

A couple years ago I helped a builder with his Weekender to correct for just that problem. His complaint was that the boat felt too heavy on the helm all the time and at times was really hard to handle. His rudder was well made and everything else looked to be pretty well straight and correct until he told me that he wanted to also do something to raise the boom as it was too low at the aft end under sail. I had him check the angle of the mast box at the front of it. He had installed the bulkhead just a little off angle and the difference created too much rake in the mast. He didn't want to tear things apart and didn't know what to do to correct for it.

I had him measure the angle at the front of the mast box and see just how much it was off and the difference as I recall was about 7 degrees. Shimming the mast wouldn't correct that much difference so I suggested that he cut a 7 degree wedge off the mast base and glue it onto the other side of the mast to bring it to the correct angle. It looks like a bent mast tabernacle if you pull it out of the mast box but with wedges inplace it places the mast (above deck) as it should be and corrected the problem(s). I sailed it after the correction was done and it handled very well. Still has some weather helm and as the wind freshens, it gets a bit heavier, but he said it was such an easy boat to handle once that was corrected and he could hardly believe the difference. He said it also made quite a bit of difference in tacking in light air. He could hardly make it thru a tack before but now it just moved right on thru the tack. And of course he had lots of clearance below the boom with the mast angle corrected.

He also had too much travel on his rudder and was stalling in his turns. With two blocks installed inside the lazerette to limit the travel of the tiller, it solved that issue as well.

If the mast angle is correct and the rudder is working as designed, a larger jib, such as a Lapper should bring the handling to just about neutral in light air and give it just a little weather helm in heavier air. About the time it gets hard to handle, you should have already reefed the main and gone back to the standard jib or even a smaller storm sail.

Small differences in mast angle can make a huge difference in handling. A 2-3 degree difference in angle at the base can move the top of the mast quite a distance aft and change the handling significantly. Installing wedges to block the mast into position can help with a loose fitting mast base. Then adjusting the tension on the shrouds so that they are relatively even in tension when pointing directly into the wind can also help. They will change as you bear off one way or the other. If one side or the other is tighter or the front or rear shrouds are unequal from side to side can also make a significant difference. They are made to be adjustable and working with them under varying conditions can help to improve the performance and handling on most all of them. It is called tuning and once you find a nice balance it pays to mark them so that they can be set that way each time at launch.

For a new boater, it will all come slowly and it won't all happen the first few times out. Learn how the boat feels and handles and then start making adjustments a little at a time. If it is better, good, if not then go back to where you started and do something different. Don't be so eager to change or modify the boat until you understand how it works. These handle differently than most other sailboats out there. And they can be magic once you get used to them and tune them up a bit. 8)

[Frank Hagan]

He also had too much travel on his rudder and was stalling in his turns. With two blocks installed inside the lazerette to limit the travel of the tiller' date=' it solved that issue as well.

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I have a tiller, and I do have to be careful not to push the helm over too far when tacking. I think the original design, with the stub tiller through the hole in the stern, probably avoided that possible flaw.

The Stevenson's did a lot of things right in their little boats. :wink: