I have just about finished a new steering system to use on the 572 that Woogie and Danny will paddle in the Seaway to Seaway race. None of the Penetrators have had one yet and I'm fairly confident this new design will work really well. Woogie had bought one of those ones from o.s. that a lot of different manufacturers seem to be using but it looked kind of awkward to operate was expensive and maybe a tad obtrusive so I thought I would have a go at designing one myself. When building sailboats there are a number of different systems we use, although most of these are fairly complex designs being for cats with twin rudders. One for use on a Sup should be fairly straightforward, or so I thought! Oh no, nothings ever that easy and it took ages to come up with something functional, simple and lightweight but I think I've done it. All the components are made from carbon as I wanted to do away with using stainless steel if I could. Even the rudder shaft is carbon and the rudder itself carbon skinned high density foam. This has all helped to keep the weight down as well as eliminating the chance of corrosion, for the control lines I'd like to use spectra, an incredibly strong cord used mostly on race boats. The new board should be finished in about a week and a half and I won't know how successful the new system is until it's been trialed. If it works as well as I'm hoping and there's enough interest I'd like to produce some for other boardmakers. Fingers crossed!........Stuey

DavidJohn said...

That's great Stuey.. I can't wait to see what it's like.

I have found that when downwinding when you get a runner you often need to surf the board left or right to keep on it.

It worries me that with these long boat shaped boards they with not surf a turn and just fall over on their side if you try.

Is this true?.. and is the steering just for keeping straight with a side wind and turning around a buoy or can it be used while catching a runner?

DJ

Long Boat shaped boards, nice turn of phrase DJ, Woogie is a bit like a Viking! I haven't seen the Penetrator fall over on it's side yet and yes the steering is mainly for adjustments when heading to windward or with a cross chop and when surfing runners on these mega boards you tend to hop way back and surf like a king! The steering system is never used in these situations......

Clarky said...

Hey Stuey

Good to hear about the steering inovation, I'm in the process of doing the same right now. I'ts pretty hard to come up with something functional and lightwieght, when the CEO has hidden my wallet and cut up my credit cards. I can't quite come up with a definite system as I don't know the sweet spot on the board yet. Certainly would be interested if its an improvement on the ASS.
Clarky

Yeah Clarky these things can sometimes be difficult to get your head around, usually I find that once I get the general idea it usually becomes clearer as I start to build the thing. It was kinda lucky for me that the first customer ordered his 18' without steering which allowed us to give it a quick test run to find the sweet spot for the placement of the system in subsequent boards. The most difficult part I found in designing a new system was getting enough rudder movement from minimum foot movement but I think I have that sorted, as I say I won't really be sure how successful I've been till testing............Stuey