[prior]

Recently while escaping the Ontario winter I was in discussion with a C42 owner who was considering forms of protecting the prop and rudder from the myriad of crab pots in the SW gulf area of Florida.

His thought was a cable strung from the keel to the pivot point of the rudder.

I have managed to get my stern anchor rode caught between the upper edge of rudder and hull. Easily solved but required a swim while dragging main hook!

I am going to look at installing a L shaped SS bar along the leading edge of the rudder and as close to the hull as possible to try to thwart this. Not sure about the cable as if it came adrift from the rudder..........

~~ Has anyone considered this or other ideas for such protection?

 

[rugosa]

C&C used to insert a short stainless steel rod into the hull forward of the rudder swing radius, extending 2" down, 1/4 or 5/16 SS rod should do, drill & tap or epoxy in place, should be plenty of meat in that area

 

[Faster]

Our (non C&C) 40 footer had the same.. simply a pin embedded in the hull immediately ahead of the rudder's upper leading edge. Anything riding along the hull bottom would catch on the pin rather than get jammed into the gap above the rudder.

Simpler and stronger than what you're proposing and you'd still have a gap, however small, at the top of your bar.

For that matter, a shaped epoxy filet ahead of the rudder might do the same job and be better at shedding whatever tried to come along there too.

 

[JonEisberg]

C&C used to insert a short stainless steel rod into the hull forward of the rudder swing radius, extending 2" down, 1/4 or 5/16 SS rod should do, drill & tap or epoxy in place, should be plenty of meat in that area

Sabre did the same thing, very simple and effective...

I've strung light Amsteel between the keel and the bottom of the rudder, particularly when heading to Maine, or for down in the Keys... I think it's worthwhile, but it can have some downsides. You can sometimes catch some weed on the bottom of the rudder that would otherwise probably slide off... And one time, in Florida Bay, I snagged a crab pot float on it, while under sail... Bit of a PITA to get free, but of course still preferable to getting a wrap on the prop, had I been motoring... So, all in all, I think it's worth doing...

 

[Minnewaska]

I must not be visualizing the steel post properly. Spade rudders typically rotate from near the center. I'm picturing the leading edge just rotating away from the post. What am I missing?

For the OP, I like our Spurs line cutter we installed on the shaft, before going to Maine. Had never wrapped the prop before and managed not to over two weeks in Maine. Then, when transiting from Isle of Shoals directly to Provincetown, Cape Cod, we ran over a line while motoring in still water. Had to be 20 miles off Boston in June. That water would have been pretty stinking cold to dive the prop. It didn't immediately cut off. I first went to neutral, tried forward and then it cut off after putting in reverse, which was a bit odd. Still, the best few hundred bucks I've ever spent on the boat.