MacGregorSailors.com

Obelix wrote:When motoring the at or below 6.5mph, I leave about 1 foot of daggerboard and the rudders down. This may use a little more gas, but the boat is very steady in this configuration.

Obelix

I may be taking this statement too literally, but when you say “I leave about 1 foot of daggerboard and the rudders down”, you really mean that you leave one foot of the daggerboard down, and the rudders fully down, yes?

Ray

NiceAft wrote: I may be taking this statement too literally, but when you say “I leave about 1 foot of daggerboard and the rudders down”, you really mean that you leave one foot of the daggerboard down, and the rudders fully down, yes?

That's only 5.5knots. The upper limit of blades-down motoring.

The construction of the sentence implied the rudders were not fully down, but rather, only one foot down. He said he leaves about 1 foot of daggerboard AND the rudders down. Again, I may be taking it too literally. To me, that reads both are only a foot down. That's why I inquired whether he meant “fully” down with the rudders. The rudder brackets on Mac's are not constructed for the rudders to be anything but fully up, or fully down; no in between.

Remember good old Archimedes; he said “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” In this case, i don't know whether it's the rudder or the Mac which is the lever, but the poor bracket is what is taking the beating. The rudders need to be either down or up. That is why I questioned what was meant in the post. To me, it was unclear what was meant. I may be reading things too literally.

Ray

I wondered about it also. I thought he was running with the rudders part way down. Unless you really look at the bracket, you might be tempted to sail in shallow water with a little dagger board down and rudders partially down.

Your analogy was spot on - give me a partially down rudder for a lever, and I'll move the rudder assembly right off the back of the boat...

Has anyone built a shallow rudder (or a set of them) for thin water sailing? I'll do some searching, but just curious.

NiceAft wrote:To me, that reads both are only a foot down. That's why I inquired whether he meant “fully” down with the rudders.

Ah. I see.

Rudders partially deployed is a Very Bad Thing.

At hull speeds , I always run with at least one rudder down . If the water is rough , or high winds , I run with both down .

When in a tight docking situation , I always put down both rudders and some keel .

With all her fins in the water , Gypsy , will spin on a dime !

I sail with the rudders partway down often. Only in very shallow waters though. Just take it easy and have the right sails up. As soon as you are in deeper water put them all the way down.
Shallow water rudders would require a complete new installation of rudders in a different location or massively overbuilding the existing setup. For the way many sail these boats, leeboards would be better then the factory setup. Leeboards could be the correct width for slower sailing and would not intrude inside the boat. Since they kick up you can drag them across shallow waters and then the force on the rudders is lessened.
Ix