Hello Mark,

No pics of the rudder yet, but I can certainly take some tomorrow and post them. Where I paddle we get six foot seas quite often, and the main problems I had was with the current and swells forcing me in different directions. My paddle partner paddles a Futura Surfski, 19' x 21". It's a fast boat with a rudder system. I was having to struggle to keep up with him because he could just keep paddling and use the rudder to correct. I had to do a corrective stroke every three or four strokes in heavy seas. Charles is a very strong paddler, so keeping up is hard enough as it was. We do about 15 miles each Saturday and Sunday.

The rudder is a huge help. I can stay with Charles in his Surfski, and I don't have to do any corrective strokes. The Seal-Line rudder is a foil rudder, meaning the blade is asymmetrical, and rather than a flat piece of metal it is shaped like an airplane wing. This generates "lift" on one side when the rudder is turned, and that lift pulls the kayak to one side. The pulling effect allows for a smaller rudder, and less rudder angle. The result is less drag, a lighter system, and less wind resistance. The whole thing lies at or below deck level, without the big pulley rig sticking up like a "standard" rudder system. I am well pleased with it. It did not add much weight to the boat, and it was easy to install.

You will really enjoy a rudder. I debated it for a while, but after paddling Charle's Surfski I had to have a rudder. The Seal-Line is only slightly more than a standard system. I would highly recommend at least getting the rudder if you don't like the foot pedals. The foot pedals have a fixed foot brace, and a toe pedal to steer with. There were a few folks on the board that said they had them break, but I put them through some stress tests and I feel they are very strong. If you prefer the Yakima metal braces you can use them with just the Seal-Line rudder. The whole system is modular, so you have to order:

Foot Pedals
Rudder Blade
Rudder Housing
Tubing Kit

in order to have a complete kit. You also need to chose which mounting type: flat mount (for a flat stern), or peg mount. The peg mount fits in a hole on the tip of the stern. This is what I chose, as I didn't want to saw of 6" of my stern to mount the rudder. I did have to knock off about two inces so that I had enough material to drill the hole without compromising the strength of the stern. My stern had a very sharp point on it, and sawing off two inches took it back to a thicker part with more area to drill the hole through.

A skeg will help tracking, but only a rudder will help correct against wind and current. The Seal Line has an optional rudder lock that mounts on the deck. It allows you to lock the rudder in position for long trips across a current or wind where you want to set the rudder at a slight angle. They call it a "trim tab." It also moves with the rudder so you can visualize when your rudder is straight or angled without having to look back and see. The toe control was a little awkward for me when wearing hard-soled sandals because I could not "feel" where the rudder pedals were. It was just one of those things that you have to get used to. Barefoot or with lightweight booties it would be much easier to feel the steering pegs.

I hope this helps. Also please note that when you install this you need to drill all the holes oversize on your Guillemot, and then fill them in with thickened epoxy. *Make sure you don't just use fairing filler, which is not as strong as colloidal silica or microfibers. I used fairing filler just to get the brown color, and then added colloidal silica for density. On the rudder hole in the back I added microfibers to the mix, and it was so hard that I barely could get the drill bit through. I don't think it will abrade any time soon.

FYI, I had been given a free Wilderness Systems rudder system, and I'm glad I chose the Seal-Line instead. Not that I'm knocking WS, they have great boats and rudders, but the Seal-Line is much better in my opinion.

Hope it helps. I'll try to get pics of the system installed on my boat. I'll also get a pic of these cool guides that I found to run the haul-out line through. They are actually door catches for boat cabinets. I used the half of the catch that had a nice eye that screws in with two screws. It looked and worked really well.

Good luck,

Malcolm