Hi Pam, Having the rod certainly helps in raising the rudder. Not like a kick up, but enough to "lift her skirts" so your rudder draft is close to that of the keel with the centerboard up. We just did that numerous times on a 2 week cruise. I have the boat in the driveway this week as we just got home last night. What info do you need about the shape? I can take some pics if you need. We normally ramp launch with the rudder mounted, in the raised position. I understand how hard it would be to pin the rudder in the water. We do have to turn the rod, or move the rudder side to side a bit to get it all to slide together. We use a split ring/ring-ding on the bottom of the rod to keep it from rising up. If the gudgeons on the rudder don't seem aligned, I would suggest backing off their screws, then slide the rod down through the various fittings. If need be, re-install the screws and gudgeons in the aligned position. Let me know if you want some pics of our set up or measurements. The transom pintle mounting positions may vary a bit boat to boat, year to year. Bill Makin' Time, M17 #622 On Mon, Sep 3, 2012 at 12:00 PM, pam and dana <denko@broadstripe.net> wrote:
I'm looking for information about the shape of an M17 rudder. The one that came with our boat did not include a rod so it could slide up and down, so we had one fabricated. Then I find that the gudgeons on the rudder (minus their pintils) are not aligned to receive this rod. If you don't use a rod, how do you install the rudder once in the water? We can't reach far enough to pin it in.
Thanks, Pam Port Townsend