Locking a Rudder Down - Siren 17'

[Woodbinekeith]

I just bought a 17' Siren and am running into problems with the rudder staying down. It will go down, seem to be OK, and then sporadically it will pop up - usually at the most inconvenient times. It takes a person leaning out over the back to get it back down but this is not a good thing for single handing - or even with two people. I'm looking for a solution(s) to make an attachment that will keep it down with zero possibility of it popping up. There are no holes, attachments, devices, etc. on the rudder right now, other than the rope/cleat that is used to tie(lock) the rudder in the up position.

 

[ghamby]

Re: Locking a Rudder Down - Siren 17'

I looked at a pic of this boat. The solution might be to adapt one of the beach
catamaran methods for holding the rudder down.
Put a pin through the stock about an inch aft of the leading edge below the top of the stock. Place another pin on the leading edge of the rudder below the break. Tension a spring or shock cord between the pins on either side of the
rudder. This should hold the rudder down.
You could also apply the method used to hold the rudder up. A line, block and
jam cleat could be rigged to the leading edge of the rudder to pull it down.
This method won't give if the rudder hits something.

 

[Woodbinekeith]

Re: Locking a Rudder Down - Siren 17'

I found the proper method for the Siren. One hole at the leading edge of the rudder (closet to the boat) and another hole opposite and on the aft edge of the rudder. A cleat on the starboard side of the rudder towards the top and above the holes. One piece of rope - feed the two ends through the holes from the same side as the cleat. Knot the ends so they cannot slip back through the hole. Push the rudder down and to keep it down, cleat the piece of rope closest to the boat. To keep the rudder in the floating position, cleat the piece of rope closest to the aft edge of the rudder. It works fine.