Oh ya I forgot to mention that I'm building outriggers as well to contribute to speed and stability not to mention staying dry! If you like I would be happy to send you a picture when the fig is finished!

> Now things are clearer. In that case, a pintle mounted rudder
> could be nice for you. Allowing easy removal for when you are paddling.
> As well making it a swing rudder, so you could swivel it up and down
> for those trips you do both. That would be easier and dryer then taking
> the rudder out of the water and setting it in the boat.

> I was just reading about some experiments with forward rudders
> and midship rudders. Neither worked well, having to do with weatherhelm
> and such. Which it's far too early in the morning to seriously ponder.
>

> In all honesty, I don't see why you couldn't put the rudder right
> at the stern. Mount the eye pieces there with the legs going down
> each side of the canoe a few inches. Basically just like the kayaks
> mount external rudder hardware when they chose not to drill a hole
> in the deck. If it places you further back then you'd like to be for
> grasping the tiller, you can always use a hiking stick with a sidways
> mounted tiller. Then it's be fore and aft pushing of the stick to
> steer. That's no big deal.

> However, just sticking with a side mounted rudder, as long as
> you've got it mounted somewhat abaft, you should be allright. After
> all, the little sail boats like Snarks and such don't have much distance
> between the rudder and the mast or dagger board. A canoe is longer,
> and should be able to have that sort of distance with no problems.
> Obviously you're going to need a longer shaft to get the rudder down
> low enough to be able to turn under the canoes hull. Though you could
> minimize this by shaping the upper portion of the rudder to match
> the hull. Or by offsetting it away from the hull. Of course, the further
> away you get, the more sensitive to roll it becomes. Just like those
> leeboards.

> Doing this is probably going to mean some loss of performance.
> You have to weigh out what you're after, and what you're willing to
> risk and experiment with. Most likely in a sailing canoe regata you'll
> be a slower boat and not be able to come up as close into the wind
> with your rudder further forward. But does that really matter to you?
>

> A whole lots going to depend on the boat design as it exists
> as well. Something with a lot of rocker is going to be a lot more
> reactive to having the rudder nearer the mast then a boat with lots
> of built in tracking. Similarly rolling effects.

> A canoe's an easy boat to do some crude experimenting with for
> your rudder. A couple of c-clamps, about a foot of pvc pipe, some
> scrap plywood and a piece of board. Now you've got a crude but effective
> rudder to play with and move around the canoe to see just how sensitive
> it is, and if you can live with it. I think you're going to find out
> you can live with it fine. Especially if you do some experimenting
> with a longer tiller and a hiking stick to get the rudder further
> back.

> What kind of sail rig are you planning on? Or is that an experiment
> too? I'll be putting sailing capabilities on my kayak/canoe/thing,
> probably this winter.

> Oh yea, if you go over to the newsgroup alt.boat.building or
> alt.boat.paddle and ask about a link to an old canoe book, there's
> a guy there that put up a really neat old book on canoe building,
> of which a fairly large portion was dedicated to sailing canoes. Alas,
> I don't have the link on this computer. I'll try to post it tonight
> for you though, when I'm at home. I think that's the computer I've
> got the link on.

> If nothing else, check out the link to Lost in the Woods. They
> do sailing rigs for canoes and kayaks, and have some nice pictures
> to look at.