hello, firstly if I may introduce myself. My name is Peter Evans, I have an interest in tacking outrigger canoes. I respect Harry Proas and respect the work Rob Denney has done, but cant say that they are for me. Rob knows this and has kindly allowed me to be a member of this group.
This is my fist post
I have a website devoted to exclusively to tacking outriggers, some may know of it already, but for those that dont it can be found here http://www.tacking-outrigger.com
my opinion is that proas are superior sea boats to tacking outriggers, but tacking outriggers are a bit simpler, offering lower performance, the upside is in my view greater simplicity. Example off the shelf rigs, centerboards, and rudders can just be slotted in. Performance is gernerally less than a proa (not as fast) but faster than a monohull
moving on, the reason for this post
some proa rudder ideas
Firstly an old one from 1969, the end 2ft of the proa hull can pivot allowing the proa to steer (kinda like a fish tail)
http://harmenhielkema.blogspot.com.au/2009/06/outriggers-1969-ayrs-publication-68.html
Next a new one seen on Michael Schact's proafile.com website
http://proafile.com/forums/viewthread/97/ (post number 5)
note that the rudder blade can kick back on grounding as it is held in via elastic. I say rudder blade. As drawn it is simple a daggerboard, but it could be modified to incorporate a pivoting rudder blade component.
Lastly, my humble attempt. Concept is a drum that has its spinning axis horizontal. The drum is placed in the ends of the proa hull (one at each end). A stainless steel rod goes through this drum to which is attached teh rudder blade. The wooden skeg is attached to the drum. Steering is via a yoke and push-pull rod. The thing is significant is that the yoke stays is the exact same position if the rudder is deployed or retracted.
Reason for this idea is that there have been some recent proas with rudderboards which are liable to damage, example the 20ft CLC Mbuli proa (has broken rudderboards in the past). More recently the 30ft CLC proa Madness uses a similar setup and has rudders which are in my opinion vulnerable (fine for a blue water boat, not ideal for coastal crusing), and now very recently Paul Beiker is designing a 32ft pacific proa with similar vulnerable rudderboards.
I know with my limited sailing experience I was always going over shallows and causing damage to my boat and I think foils need protecting from accidental grounding. Anyway, here are my humble sketches and some text for explanation. A 3D freehand sketch that may better explain the concept is on the way.
http://www.tacking-outrigger.com/proa_rudder.html
regards
n peter evans