: Dusty,

snip

: John's comment about building a balanced rudder is spot-on, though you won?t
: need as much of a balance as is suggested for larger, heavier sailboats.
: The feel of the rudder is already on the light side on a sailing kayak.
: You don't want that "feel" to go away as it gives good feedback
: from the tiller controls (foot pedals)

snip

: Chris

Hi Dusty,
Chris has the right of it. For something as light as a kayak, I wouldn't go much above 5% balance on the rudder. John's example would give about 16% balance, way too light on feel for the size of boat. It would be very difficult to keep steady course.
If you look at dinghy's, you'll see that quite a few have non-balanced rudders and, as far as I know, all production kayak-rudders are non-balanced.

Mike Savage
South West Cork