Rudder position indicator?

[O C Diver]

I could add one to my comnav, but can't justify the cost. Even though I kept room in my helm panel for one. But if I added a jog lever, it would make sense, and I would have two fun toys...

The jog lever sort of functions as one. My docking station has a jog lever. You move the lever to the angle you want and the rudder moves to the lever's position . That's how my Simrad works anyway.

Ted

 

[DavidM]

What hasn't been said here is that a rudder position sensor helps the autopilot to work better. It gives the autopilot positive information about the rudder angle and lets the steering algorithm work more effectively.

David

 

[Northern Spy]

What hasn't been said here is that a rudder position sensor helps the autopilot to work better. It gives the autopilot positive information about the rudder angle and lets the steering algorithm work more effectively.

David

I would imagine one is required with hydraulic steering. I have the feedback sensor, just not the indicator.

 

[Nomad Willy]

You are supposed to turn them towards the curb if you park on a hill so if the brake fails your car won't run down the hill. It's in the book.

I thought I needed a rudder position indicator when I first got my boat. Turns out, I don't. Turn the wheel all the way to one side, back three turns and it's straight ahead. That's for when I'm stopped. When moving, I just turn the wheel to make the boat go the direction I want it to go. I don't need to know the position of the rudder,

Wes,
Good point about turning the wheels into the curb and I do that on a grade or hill. We live in a river valley and have almost no hills to drive on so I usually do'nt think of that. We look up at almost a 45 degree angle to the top of a 3000' mountain but there's only logging roads on the mountian.
Even a better point is your notion of just observing where the boat is headed at slow speed and steering accordingly. I do indeed do that.

 

[Sailor of Fortune]

in my opinion not an option, a necessity at all stations. You really want to try and guess? This is a situational awareness issue. I'm not buying the twin screw argument either.

 

[Pineapple Girl]

If you've just come straight down the fairway, it is centered.

No wind or current in your fairway?? or you don't use the wheel on the fairway, just engine controls?

 

[Sailor of Fortune]

Your rudder is in the position that you left it in. If you've just come straight down the fairway, it is centered.

I will count the turns before leaving the slip. Otherwise, I don't need to.

The problem is when you get distracted and don't remember where you left it. Not all evolutions are "straight down the fairway". Sounds great at your home dock....

 

[Britannia]

For me the rudder indicator is most useful when leaving the dock and when maneuvering at low speed. In the first case it's just convenient to be able to center the rudder without 7 turns or more of the wheel. In the second case, my boat doesn't react much at all to the rudder at low speeds in neutral. I use the prop to generate some wash across the rudder to turn. When maneuvering at low speeds the boat is often in neutral, with occasional shifts into idle to help steer. The boat won't react until I apply power, and by then I'd like to know that my rudder is where I want it. With the relatively slow reaction my boat has to any changes, it's not as easy to "see what is happening" and adjust in real time.

Now with my old boat, a 36' sailboat, I would never have considered a rudder indicator. A destroyer wheel, 1.5 turns lock to lock, a huge spade rudder and a fin keel meant she would turn on a dime and was very responsive at 1 kt. My Krogen 54 with a smaller rudder and a full keel - less so!

Richard

 

[twistedtree]

The jog lever sort of functions as one. My docking station has a jog lever. You move the lever to the angle you want and the rudder moves to the lever's position . That's how my Simrad works anyway.

Ted

That's true if it's a followup steering control where the rudder follows the position of the dial or lever. That's what I have to for remote stations, and agree there is no need for a rudder indicator.

But the other common steering lever is a non-followup which is essentially a set of momentary contact switches. When activated, the rudder starts moving in the commanded direction, and stops when you release the level. The lever centers, but the rudder stays where you left it. With that it's pretty easy to lose tract of where the rudder is because you neither know how far it moved, or where you left it without an indicator.

 

[dhays]

Now with my old boat, a 36' sailboat, I would never have considered a rudder indicator. A destroyer wheel, 1.5 turns lock to lock, a huge spade rudder and a fin keel meant she would turn on a dime and was very responsive at 1 kt. My Krogen 54 with a smaller rudder and a full keel - less so!

Richard

On my sailboats a Turks head tied at the center point on the destroyer wheel gave tactile feedback as to rudder position. On my hydraulic steering, there isn't an endpoint "lock".

 

[Britannia]

On my sailboats a Turks head tied at the center point on the destroyer wheel gave tactile feedback as to rudder position. On my hydraulic steering, there isn't an endpoint "lock".

Yes - mine had that too. It was a form of rudder indicator. And with cable steering it stayed centered. Not true with hydraulic steering as you point out.