Should We All Be Worried About Spade Rudders?
Latitude 38 received a letter from Mike Latta discussing the pros and ominous cons of spade rudders. (This is not the first debate about the ubiquitous, convenient, but undeniably vulnerable piece of steerage, nor will it be the last.)
Reading about Lucky Dog’s dilemma in Latitude 38 brought up the core reason why she was almost abandoned in the first place: the loss of her spade rudder.
OK, this will rile most of the sailing community, but it’s time someone piped up about unsupported spade rudders. Yes, they’re cheaper to build and great for around-the-buoys racing. They’re faster, can turn on a dime, and maneuver easily in reverse. But when it comes to bluewater cruising, spade rudders (without a proper skeg) are devil spawn waiting for the next basking whale, log, or drifting ship container to ruin your day.
I say this from decades of deep-salt experience, much of it singlehanding my Falmouth Cutter 22 (sail# 001). So, I know there are going to be times when your best attempt at deck watch is often less than adequate. Crewed or not. Day or night. Fair or foul.
Shit happens.
It’s bad enough that a typical fin-keel, spade-rudder hull aperture has minimal protection to keep the now fully exposed prop from getting ensnarled in fishing lines and nets. I would imagine many of these skippers eventually become fairly adept at clearing this particular problem.
Though at night in a seaway, watch out.
Propeller snarls are one thing, however. When a multi-ton boat slams into one of the above-mentioned multi-ton floating objects, the spade rudder not only loses out, but often takes a big chunk of the fiberglass bottom with it.
I spent a dozen years wandering the Sea of Cortez and Mexican Riviera and heard of two near-sinkings from fully crewed boats hitting whales minding their own business. And both yachts had spade rudders.
All my boats, starting with a wood Tahiti ketch, have been full-keeled, barn-door-rudder cruisers designed by the likes of Atkins, Alberg, and Hess. I might have reached Hiva Oa a few days later than some back in ’84, but who cares? We got there without a qualm in our wooden Atkins sloop despite having to trail warps for a night and day during Hurricane Simon along the way. Ultimately, it was a fabulous and safe crossing. A great experience. However, I wouldn’t have dared do it aboard today’s typical fin-keeled, spade-rudder boat.
I’d be interested if anyone has researched this conundrum. Or is this just my experience?
Please comment below, or write us here.
I have owned, sailed and designed many dozens of boats each with two spade rudders. Typically they are protected by some type of fixed fin so are not the deepest part of the boat. Over 30 years and more than a million sailing miles I only know of two problems, both caused by rocks. These rudders typically use solid shafts made from Aquamet (prop shaft alloy) or titanium and sometimes carbon. All will take a very healthy impact.
Rudders that are the deepest part and use stainless steel pipe with weldments for a post are the most vulnerable ones.
A spade rudder can be the best solution if done well. Don’t rule it out.
I for one am in favor of spayed rudders. There are too many stray rudders running around on the streets. The only way to control the rudder population is to spay them responsibly. I lift my glass and say “here’s to more spayed rudders!”
There is no ” right ” answer. I have sailed many blue water miles with alomst all of the different configs. I happen to prefer a balance ( 19 % + – ) and a tiller controlling a Carbon spade rudder…Why? I like the to “feel” of the boat, its balance, trim and when off the wind, the nuanced control when catching a wave and hooting…
The reason I like it so much is becase I have experienced the opposite – very little control…I remember trying to sail downwind on a Alden 65 and it felt like driving a VW buss with 4 flat tires….the keel supported rudder was almost like having no rudder at all. The actual “sailing experiece” was deminished and less enjoyable.
If you like the feel of a sailboat then get the rudder that allows you that visceral experience, if you want a sail driven transport vessel and care less about the “feel” of the boat, then hang a barn door off the keel or skeg and forget about it.
Spade rudders come in all various ways…..Production boat spade rudders and usually heavy, poorly made, subject to failure due to poor welds, asymetrical and have poor bearings, Well built Carbon rudders can take a beating, My carbon rudder was designed to be as strong as a solid stainless Steel shaft! and it weighed 25 pounds as opposed to 250 pounds….
so, there is no right answer…..it all depends of what kind of sailing experience you want…I hit a whale doing 14 k on an express 27 ….the whale’s tale hit the rudder and knocked me flat…then I got covered with all this stinky chum out of the blow hole – so I know it was a whale – and after that event- we kept the kite up and looked abond for damage – nothing- kept sailing – all good I lost a stock rudder with a SS shaft becase it snapped at a weld point that is under water…apparently when you weld stainless you can evaporate the chromium and you no longer have SS – and that is exactly where it broke….
So, again, no right answer…..
Jonathan Livingston S/V Punk Dolphin
Hi, Jonathon. Thanks for the response. You make several very good points as to the quality and strength of a well-designed and built spade rudder. However, as you mention, not all (90%?) of these rudders are built today to your great specs. And there lies my point: unless there’s a strong skeg forward of a spade rudder that can take the brunt of a heavy collision, most of them will not only bend, but maybe take a chunk of hull with it. Ouch. Mike Â
As a long time sailor, and engineer, I have owned/sailed mostly fin keel, spade rudder racing sailboats. I love the responsiveness of a spade rudder and it was certainly part of the equation that make most racing boats have one. I now own, and have been cruising for 3 years, a 36′ Ted Brewer designed moderate displacement, cutaway forefoot with skegged rudder that includes an aperture for the prop. It is ideal for cruising anywhere there are fishing longlines and/or lobster traps. Those are encountered much more often than hitting whales but in that rare instance I like my chances better with this set up as well.
As it turns out, my partner and I just sailed up from PV to Mazatlan and we had the “good” fortune to come across an epic longline early the second morning. We decided to motorsail parallel to the longline to try and find the end. We finally gave up after 4NM+ and just sailed over it. The bottom line is I like my racing boats with long spade rudders and keels, and my cruising boats with skegged rudders plus the prop in an aperture. There is no wrong answer, just lots of choices with pluses/minuses, and must admit I felt a little bit envious of the guy cruising a Pogo 40 we met here in Mexico…
If the primary concern is prop entanglement – and not collisions with heavy objects – how effective is the Shaft Shark at warding off problems in this regard?