Below is a reply from Alan Andrews-one of my favorite Yacht Designers-I had asked him what he thought of the E-38 Rudder-both on it's own merit and in comparison to the well established issue with the 35-2 and 32-2.
Note that the 2 38's (Cantata and Valentich's boat) were raced successfully in Socal, and both had rudder mods by Alan..
Read and enjoy:
"The old Ericson 35-2, if I recall correctly, is the Bruce King design from about 1970. If this is the boat, then a new rudder would certainly improve the boat. These boats had control problems in a breeze. This was probably due to several factors that include:
a) heavier displacement for W.L. length resulting in large waves and a big trough in between for the boat to wallow from side to side in.
b) relatively shallow rudder span resulting in loss of efficiency when boat heels and top of rudder comes out of water
c) IIRC, top of rudder chord is reduced which may lead to reduced end plating against bottom of hull.
d) A deeper rudder would likely need a stronger post but one can’t be sure w/o running the numbers.
The 38's had a different issue altogether.
If I recall, we added to the Cantata E-38 rudder in the same manner as adding to Chuck Valentich’s rudder. It was a big help. The big problem with the E-38’s was that the rudder ends on the skeg, not against the bottom of the hull. So, when the rudder is partially turned, it had no end plate at the top. The efficiency of the rudder is then about half of what it was before. If the skeg had ended forward of the rudder post and the rudder extended to the hull, then it would have end plated against the hull and the smaller rudder probably would have worked fine."
Cheers,
Alan
Interesting perspective, No?
Seth
Note that the 2 38's (Cantata and Valentich's boat) were raced successfully in Socal, and both had rudder mods by Alan..
Read and enjoy:
"The old Ericson 35-2, if I recall correctly, is the Bruce King design from about 1970. If this is the boat, then a new rudder would certainly improve the boat. These boats had control problems in a breeze. This was probably due to several factors that include:
a) heavier displacement for W.L. length resulting in large waves and a big trough in between for the boat to wallow from side to side in.
b) relatively shallow rudder span resulting in loss of efficiency when boat heels and top of rudder comes out of water
c) IIRC, top of rudder chord is reduced which may lead to reduced end plating against bottom of hull.
d) A deeper rudder would likely need a stronger post but one can’t be sure w/o running the numbers.
The 38's had a different issue altogether.
If I recall, we added to the Cantata E-38 rudder in the same manner as adding to Chuck Valentich’s rudder. It was a big help. The big problem with the E-38’s was that the rudder ends on the skeg, not against the bottom of the hull. So, when the rudder is partially turned, it had no end plate at the top. The efficiency of the rudder is then about half of what it was before. If the skeg had ended forward of the rudder post and the rudder extended to the hull, then it would have end plated against the hull and the smaller rudder probably would have worked fine."
Cheers,
Alan
Interesting perspective, No?
Seth