OK, I know I could easily find the answer, myself, ...But we need some activity on this board to get things hopping.
My H-16 rudder pins are well worn. I'd like to make my own, instead of buying them. What are the measurements for the pins: diameter of aluminum rod, length of rod, and size of the little holes the cotter pins go in, and distance between the little holes ???
Should I consider using something else besides aluminum ???
Jeff Peterson
H-16 Sail #23721
Big Marine Lake, MN
Jeff,
These pins are SO cheap (less than 10 bucks a pair) that it may cost you more to make them rather than buying new pins. If you sail on the beach you might want to consider the plastic/fiberglass pins since they are
sacrifice
pins and will break before your boat does. Hobie also has stainless steel pins if you care for their durability.
Jeff, I don't have the measurements right now but I think it's 3/8" dia. aluminum rod. I picked up an old 16 to teach my kids to sail on and wanted some cheap spares. I picked up a length of aluminum rod for about $5 and was able to make 6 sets of rudder pins. It took me all of about 15 minutes to do. I figure I'll never have to buy/make another set. I also like to keep spares on hand if someone breaks one, Lord knows people have done it for me in the past.
I'll try to get the lengths for you.
Clayton
H20, H16
Beware the fiberglass rudder pins! In my experience (granted, on a Hobie-18) the pins self destructed from normal sailing in about 20-25 knots of wind, causing the loss of an entire rudder assembly - and they were brand new at the start of the day. The stainless ones were also problematic - they are hollow (another sacrificial design) - they deformed under normal sailing loads and required quite a bit of creativity to remove once this happened. The standard aluminum pin seems to work best, but don't offer the safety of sacrificing themselves - but the other options don't seem viable to me. Is it different for a 16? Maybe, but I would think a high mast rake setup in decent winds would put enough load on them to worry.
At Hi-Tempo, in White Bear, MN, the pins were $8.50 each. (This is my first reply to a reply on this new forum. Let's see where it ends up.)
Jeff Peterson
H-16 Sail #23721
Big Marine Lake, MN