Ruddercraft / Idasailor Rudder problem - cant lift it out.

[romandesign]

My 1989 MacGregor 26D has this rudder, but I can't lift it out of the water by pulling the cord. It goes to about half swing (90 degrees) or less and doesn't go farther no matter how hard I pull. I have to fish it out with a hook. I thought maybe it's a gas strut, but when I do fish it out wiht a hook to close to vertical position, it slowly goes to vertical by itself, so at least some push is left in the gas strut. And it doesn't seem to move around when sailing, I don't feel any movement at least and it steers OK. It's on a trailer, and I can life the rudder with my hand just OK, but not with the cord. Any ideas? I'll try to post photo her, not sure it it will work.

[Dragos Filimon]

I have a 26x and I bought rudders from ruddercraft. Same problem here. They seem to be slightly thicker than originals, they get stuck in the welding line of my rudder brackets. I force them in and out several times until I could see the area that was a problem, then I took a dremmel and shaved it thinner. You do not have to get a lot maybe 1-2 mm deep , and now works A OK .

[romandesign]

With 26D the whole thing, including all the metal is part of the Ruddercraft rudder. They advised me on the phone to loosen the bolt 1/4 of turn, I also oiled all of the moving parts. So now it seems a little bit better. Still takes a lot of effort, almost all my power, to lift it, and I have to do it fast so it covers the top arc with inertia, but the important thing I found out - I should NOT pull all the way, it actually prevents it from rising! If it's about 120 degrees up pulling the line does not rise it at all, no matter how you pull, it's geometrically impossible. I have to pull really hard, but when rudder swings up at about 135 degrees up I have to actually release the line and let it sink back - then inertia and gas strut pull it the rest of the way and lock it up. But before I was pulling hard all the time and actually stopping it. To release it again I need to do a fast pull then release - it pushes it back, then it swings down. Now I get it. Also topmost roller's pin was partially out and skewed, I hammered it back so it rolls again...