Has anyone tried alternative materials to the standard plastic Rudder Cams. I was wondering if anyone had used a fab shop to maybe water-jet these parts out of aluminum or stainless? If aluminum, which alloy did you use?
Trying to some up with something that lasts longer than the plastic ones.
The Hobie "kick up" rudder system was designed with a few sacrificial parts, the cam and rudder pins are the important ones. Without something being expendable, you risk tearing out gudgeons or worse... transoms. In order to obtain optimum life of the cam, you should assure the correct fitment of the tiller bars which will mostly likely involve filling and drilling the back hole in each rudder and maintaining lubrication on the plunger and the cam. My 1983 model still has its originals. I check their operation often and service then about twice a year. See: https://www.hobiecat.com/articles/rudder-tuning,87/
You could do it but it sounds like a real hassle and expensive. Honestly the parts aren't that expensive and last fairly well. I wouldn't overthink it.
I have a nephew up in Jersey who works in a machine shop on the water jet table. I asked him about custom parts fabrication. He ball parked $350-500/ hr to set up and run a small batch. Buy a big bag of the plastic cams and replace them regularly. As stated earlier, those cams are sacrificial.
The best setup I've seen/used/had on a set of Hobie rudders was to "cut the cam" so that they don't move.
The best setup I've seen/used/had on a set of Hobie rudders was to "cut the cam" so that they don't move.