hi All,
I am building a timber surfski and am currently playing around with the rudder setup. I have a CF rudder that I removed from my current surfski. I belielieve that it is designed for weed shedding but is useless for anything but flatwater. i replaced it with a 9"elliptical surf rudder (Epic) which is great.
Main problem is the placement of the post, so I cut off the original post to move it back so that rudder was more balanced.
From this;
[IMG]http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p23/CraigMel/17112011520.jpg[/IMG]
to this;
[IMG]http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p23/CraigMel/17112011521.jpg[/IMG]

It occured to me that it might be beneficial to reduce the front angle while I am at it. The surf rudders are not as raked back
to this;
[IMG]http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p23/CraigMel/17112011522.jpg[/IMG]

this image shows the difference between a universal rudder and a surf rudder.
[IMG]http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p23/CraigMel/WeedlessRudder.jpg[/IMG]

There are some smart blokes on this forum and was hoping that somebody would know if reducing the rake?? of a rudder intended for openwater, downwind and surf is beneficial and why?

The ski is based on a clc pax20 so being hard chined and having a fairly defined keel/stern, I expect that it will track very well with or without a rudder.
cheers