Hello all,

I made a rudder for my Night Heron. Two years ago I had to paddle 15 km on one side only with side wind on the Müritz in Germany. Last year had the same troubles on the Spree tour so I decided to make a retractable skeg like Björn Thomasson described. But I hesitated to place the saw in the deck and the bottom and would not give up valuable storage space. Therefore I came to a rudder.
The first prototype rudder blade broke in the waves at 4 Beaufort. It was made from 3.5 mm triplex with 1 layer of glass on both sides. So I made a new one wiht three layers glass (160 gr) on both sides and that is strong enough. It functions well. I am not a see kayakker only paddling on the big lakes and rivers. A skeg would be more reliable but I am satiesfied with this. Next week I set of for a 200 km tour on the lakes and rivers in Mecklenburg Germany.

Here are two pictures .

Greetings from the Netherlands.
Daan Daniels