View Single Post
Old 05-26-2016, 05:11 PM   #16
Nomad Willy
Guru
 
Nomad Willy's Avatar
 
City: Concrete Washington State
Vessel Name: Willy
Vessel Model: Willard Nomad 30'
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 18,743
sean9c,
You're showing your sailboat past or perhaps present but you make better points than most of TF.
IMO the best non-power steering system is cable and sheave w a bit of chain. No mechanical advantage to be lost w the cable quadrant. Much more lineal feel probably too.
You said "A powerboat rudder is simply deflecting the prop wash to vector the thrust". That's true of fast boats but slow boats have props that have wash that frequently only goes over only about 1/2 of the rudder. I can steer my boat quite well even at very low speeds in neutral gear. But most SD trawlers are closer to planing hulls in this regard. However many are closer to FD than others.

I think you're selling "flat plate" rudders short. Stalling in water is much different than stalling in air ... air being a compressible fluid and water not. I have thought that drilling holes in the rudder near the leading edge would function much like "slats" that project from the upper leading edge of an airplane wing to to make the transition LE to TE more gentle. This should increase the usable range of deflection by increasing the effective angle of attack .. just like an airplane in "flare" just before touchdown. Just a backyard idea.
__________________
Eric

North Western Washington State USA
Nomad Willy is offline   Reply With Quote