How do I Tune a Hobie Rudder?

Thanks, Mark.  I travel light at the moment.  Except for pudgy little me in the seat, I'm not carrying much else for the lakes.

The SLA battery isn't centered; it's off to the right a bit.  I'll definitely check that.

Thanks, Mark.  I travel light at the moment.  Except for pudgy little me in the seat, I'm not carrying much else for the lakes.

The SLA battery isn't centered; it's off to the right a bit.  I'll definitely check that.

You can correct the trim of a Revo with body position in the seat.  Loading is more a problem on boats that are wide enough, and have enough primary stability that they can list to one side farther than you can correct with butt-in-seat adjustment.  If a Revo is so far out of balance that you can't correct it with butt-in-seat, you're probably going swimming. 

It doesn't take much of a list to start the Revo into a gentle turn in the lakes when it's calm.  I do a bit of seat-of-my-dry-pants-navigation.

But yeah, a heavy list in a Revo is reason to be alarmed.  Point worth making.

I don't know if this helps at all or not but my large sized rudder on my Oasis has about as much bend in it as the pictures above (always has, since brand new), and I don't notice any directional bias.

I checked the sailing rudder on my Hobie, and it has the same bend in the trailing edge as yours--all above the waterline.

Dave

Tinker, if your Revo13 (never been in one) behaves like my 16, you'll be able to use the sailing rudder to help keep the boat stable. If I'm pedaling along in my 16 and feel the boat starting to lean, I can flick the rudder and correct.   Conversely, if you snap the rudder too fast and aren't accustomed to how it affects the boat, it can actually cause you to loose balance and fall out. The first trip out with my sailing rudder I *almost* took it back off for that reason.

Conversely, if you snap the rudder too fast and aren't accustomed to how it affects the boat, it can actually cause you to loose balance and fall out.

Dang, first trip out on the new Outback and I added too much rudder going a decent clip and the boat nearly stopped and threw me off.