F25 Rudder Construction

[yarrow]

Thanx for posting all these pictures, they are really great to see. I think this could really help to raise the stern out of the water and create better balance.
cheers,
Yarrow

[Jack Woods]

That's a good point Yarrow. Mine is stearn heavy too and it seems to me you could have the same shape rudder but save thirty pounds with a bit more modern constuction techniques....

[peaceandfreedom]

I saw a write up on the freedom 21 yahoo site a number of years ago about a F21 owner that made a carbon fiber rudder. Not sure how much weight he saved.
Jim D

[R. Bush]

What exactly do you mean by "stern heavy"? My boat has the inboard diesel, and tends to sit with the base of the transom about 1/2 in. out of the water when she is sitting at the slip.

[Jack Woods]

I just got my boat in November but when I first saw it in the water the scum line is going to be just where the bottom paint will end (everywhere except the stern). I like to have a couple of inches of bottom paint not submerged as a buffer. My stern is as you described (about a half inch out of the water). The cockpit drains are pretty close to the water. The galley sink drain is pretty close to the water too. Next year I'll paint under the stern and not keep within the (looks like) factory waterline.
Now to throw out a bit of conjecture....
I see various numbers for displacement on factory prinouts as well as varying LWL dimensions....
Did the F25 hulls come in overweight and thus have a longer LWL than designed? I don't know.
It is a very good looking boat as it sits in the water though.

Jack

[yarrow]

I have the inboard diesel, and last year I scrapped all bottom paint. From what I saw it looks like the hull had to lines from factory: inboard & outboard from seeing pics and talking to people the outboard model has most of the stern out of the water, and the inboard has the entire stern touching the water. Last summer was may 1st season with the f25 but I did think about moving as much weight forward as I could:
put fresh water tank under sink, and moved batts forward, on my blog: freedom25yacht.blogspot.com u can see my water line and Alge when I pulled out. I was able to raise stern, I also did not get and back wash through cockpit drains which I've heard is a common problem.
I like the idea of finding out if my rudder is water logged, and saving weight in the stern to help balance the boat as much as possible.

[yarrow]

I finally weighed my rudder: 60lbs

I have also been talking with a composit expert about making an updated rudder.

Goals:
1. to be better balanced,
2. less then half the weight,
3. better performance with out giving up strength

If anybody has anything they want to add please list what u are thinking.

[yarrow]

Would anybody be interested in a new rudder for their F25, if it was not balsa core weigh half the orig weight and was more balanced.
cheers,
yarrow

[unfetteredalexandria]

Perhaps. Keep me in the loop.

[moosemcclintock]

Would anybody be interested in a new rudder for their F25, if it was not balsa core weigh half the orig weight and was more balanced.
cheers,
yarrow

Yarrow,

We've talked about this, what kind of time frame would you be looking at?