DaySailer.org Forum

Neither of the rudder pintles on my DS1 have a hole for a safety pin. Is this normal? Of course my concern is losing the rudder.

Are you planning on turtling your boat? Not that anyone plans for it, but you'd have to be at some extreme angles to lose your rudder. Remember, it pivots, so merely hitting something (a jetskier, for instance) isn't going to lose you the rudder. However, if you're really worried, drill a hole at the top of the rudder cheeks and pass a line from joke to an eye bolt somewhere aft. Should do the trick. Nevertheless... 4 years sailing my 1958 DS, no pintle guards, no problem.

Definitely not planning on turtling....in fact I will be doing all I can not to! Just surprised as I have seen others that are pinned. Seems like a simple add for securing the rudder.

There are other ways to hold down a rudder.

My boat has two of them.

One is an L bracket that rotates on a screw. Normally it points down and the L prevent the rudder from being lifted. If turned, the L moves to the side, letting the pintles pass.

The other is a flat metal spring. It sits against the back of the rudder in a shallow V with tip of the V pointing down. The free tip rests against the pintle, below the gudgeon. The idea is that it will wedge itself when you try to pull up the rudder, but lets the rudder be lifted if you hold it against the back of the rudder head with your free hand.

Together, they are fine for casual use, though I'd find a way to rig a lanyard or something (or to drill the tips of one of the pintles) if I ever were to take this boat on an extended expedition style cruise.

Note, I rebuilt my rudder and it does float, possibly unlike the stock rudder.

GreenLake...thank you for the reply and information. I'm a visual person so if you have photos of your setup you can share that would be helpful.

Sorry. just never took a closeup from the correct location. All of it is a bit obscured by tiller and or rudder blade when installed and viewed from behind.

Drilling the tip of a pintle isn't the end of the world. Just get a cobalt bit and apply steady pressure; you'll get the hang of drilling stainless, if not on your first bit, then on your second.

If you put a ring or clip through that you'd be really safe. What I have is convenient, but not perfect. I go on lots of very short sails so that's what works for me.

Former machinist in a prototyping shop...drilling is not a problem. Just curious to see your set up. No worries. Thanks.

Well, one works like a spring-loaded ratchet, hooking behind the upper gudgeon. You should be able to picture/duplicate that with that much experience. The other (L) is just something that's on the transom to prevent the pintle from being pushed up. It's set up to release by rotating 90 degrees.