Water Rudder Plans?
09-26-2003, 04:55 PM
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Water Rudder Plans?
I was wonderinf if anyone out there has some plans for a water rudder. I scritch build mine, and its now falling apart, so i want to replace it with something better, if not to just get some good ideas how to scritch build another
09-28-2003, 10:20 AM
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RE: Water Rudder Plans?
I just epoxied a red nyrod to side of plane, curved back to float and epoxied. Cut rudder from liteweight alum. bent a lip off the top. Attached with a couple hinges to rear of float. Works great, and I havn't bunged it up yet. Heres pics.
09-28-2003, 05:32 PM
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RE: Water Rudder Plans?
Since introduced to SPADs I have been using the corner of a piece of square PVC downspout to form the water rudder as well as the angle brackets mounted on the rear of the floats which clamps the hinge material. If you do not have a piece of PVC downspout I expect you could use the corner of some plastic container. By the way the skin from a piece of Coroplast makes a great hinge!!
Craig
Craig
09-28-2003, 08:03 PM
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RE: Water Rudder Plans?
I recently made two water rudders using 1/32" ply on the "Ernst style" design, with flip up feature, coated with epoxy, do not know how long they will last. Pain to make-at $7 for Ernst plastic rudders, its not worth the trouble. Two things plastic is good for-gas tanks and water rudders. Flipstart
09-30-2003, 08:38 AM
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RE: Water Rudder Plans?
Craig, Awesome job on that water rudder! That's great. What size are those little cap screws and locking nuts? I've used the two pieces of ply like flipstart, and agree that it is not worth the effort.
10-09-2003, 06:19 AM
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RE: Water Rudder Plans?
Just a quick question... Have you tried flying the plane without the water rudders??
Several years ago we had a similar thing happen, ie. water rudders breaking, we removed them so as to keep flying and the performance improvement was amazing. Takeoffs and landings became so much easier, and the plane looks much better without the nyrod bending aroung to the floats etc.
Sure, it's not scale, but water handling isn't a problem, just hold up elevator and use more throttle to turn downwind and less throttle to turn upwind.
Just my opinion, it works great for all the guys in our group...
Several years ago we had a similar thing happen, ie. water rudders breaking, we removed them so as to keep flying and the performance improvement was amazing. Takeoffs and landings became so much easier, and the plane looks much better without the nyrod bending aroung to the floats etc.
Sure, it's not scale, but water handling isn't a problem, just hold up elevator and use more throttle to turn downwind and less throttle to turn upwind.
Just my opinion, it works great for all the guys in our group...
10-09-2003, 09:33 AM
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RE: Water Rudder Plans?
PeterNzen,
That is totally depends on the individual plane and its rudder authority. Yes, most sport planes with good rudder authority can live without a water rudder. I did it on my Cloud Dancer 60. It would turn in about a 30 foot dia. one way and about 20 foot the other way. Most of the time this is OK. There was rare occasion when the wind was a little strong and I needed to turn the way that the plane didn't turn so good. Out of many many flights, this only happened once or twice. I would say that most trainer types do need a water rudder. My Sea Cruiser II definitely needs a H2O rudder and the one designed on the plane works well. Depends on the plane.
Jeff
That is totally depends on the individual plane and its rudder authority. Yes, most sport planes with good rudder authority can live without a water rudder. I did it on my Cloud Dancer 60. It would turn in about a 30 foot dia. one way and about 20 foot the other way. Most of the time this is OK. There was rare occasion when the wind was a little strong and I needed to turn the way that the plane didn't turn so good. Out of many many flights, this only happened once or twice. I would say that most trainer types do need a water rudder. My Sea Cruiser II definitely needs a H2O rudder and the one designed on the plane works well. Depends on the plane.
Jeff
