Fellow DSers
So I bought my fixer-upper '76 DS II less than a month ago and took it on it's first maiden voyage yesterday. Since I haven't attached an engine I decided to tack out of the creek before taking it into the river for a few hours. Made it out and in to port safely and only had a cracked rudder. The rudder that came with the boat is NOT the typical one like you see on the D&R Marine website: http://www.drmarine.com/proddetail.asp?prod=DS109
INSTEAD, it consists of a fiberglass/aluminum casing around a piece of oak (the rudder piece), where a 15" pin is inserted from the top thru the pintle holes on the boat. Beneath the tiller is a hollow aluminum box that has a line running thru attached to the rudder for kicking it up. Since the rudder kept kicking up while sailing yesterday I decided to bungee the rudder board down.
I'm not sure if the water pressure from sailing in the river or a combination of the old fiberglass casing, rough currents, and strong winds cracked the casing...
Instead of dropping $500 for a new D&R replacement, I was wondering if someone may have some ideas as to how to build your own STURDY rudder/tiller system, could recommend a cheaper alternative or had one for sale.....
Thanks guys for the help thus far and happy sailing!
surfnsail24