[Bruce3966]

Being a newbie and have only owned power boats, on my P165 with a kick up rudder, there is a tensioning lever so....keep it tight, totally loose or slight tension?

It sits about 4 inches or so lower than my keel however, I won't be attempting of course to go any where near as shallow as my keel in any water so just curious what most do with a kick up rudder. I would think no tension at all would just make it ride up too high when cruising.

 

[krisscross]

Keep it rather tight, but no death grip. You will notice that if your rudder is too loose, it will ride up on you while sailing - and that can be a pain to adjust while sailing.

 

[Faster]

Yes, you don't want the normal drag of the water to 'kick it up'.. that's a nuisance, but at the same time you do want it to kick up if you hit something hard..

 

[Bruce3966]

I assumed the answers would be this and thanks again.

 

[IStream]

I like to keep the rudder hold down line drum tight but size the line so it'll break first before any damage to the pintles/gudgeons/foil if you hit something. Oh, and keep a couple spare lengths of line on board to repair the rudder if/when you ground it. ;o)