Dear All
Had a chance to Sail on Compaen/Blind Date last year when the new rudders had just been mounted - these were my notes:
Personally I was really impressed with the system - the boat steered easy - no creaks, groans, sloppiness or anything - much better than before. If anything it looked heavy - but as shared by Rick the forces are large. With the rudders mounted further to the end it did seems to turn easier than before.
Some of my notes
- rear rudder had a tendency to 'run away' - it would not stay straight so needs a lock which it did not have yet.
- boat still had a tendency to luff / was hard to bear away when close winded at low speed - it is a fine balance. Crude way - rear rudder straight - front rudder 30-40 degrees to lee - will loose flow connection but at some point 'bites' - seems the way it was most used - thought was that the drag from the rear rudder would stall the boat. I did not spend enough time testing but tried more a slight steer from the rear and careful steering with the front (maintaining flow) - a bit tedious but better in the end to develop the feel. This is not yet comfortable for tight situations - guess the real solution here will be the schooner rig - which will allow to stear with the sailpoint as well.
- I am not such a fan of fairly deep rudders which you can not lift in shallow draft environments (although they will kick-up) - but that is a design choice with conscious pro's and con's.
- The 'gear boxes'/ rudders are far forward with significant extra surface - so with more (especially short) waves it should get wet with quite some breaking/slowing down, and reducing the advantage of 'wave piericing'
- If I remember correctly Nol looked into (and preferred) hydraulics but could not find what he needed/trusted.
- the ability to use the rudders at 90 degr to the boat in the harbor, combined with a engine that turns sideways is a revelation combined with the shallow draft means it is super easy to literally park the boat sideways.
Let me know if there are more questions.
Fedor