Rudders

I just bought my first kayak..actually just showed up today.  It's a prowler trident 15.  It does not have a rudder.  Is this something I should get or do I even need one.  I'm going to start fishing my local lakes to get started but I would like to eventually start fishing out in the bay for rockfish.  My kayak doesn't have the cables prewired so I wasn't even sure if I could put one on anyways.

Yes you can install a rudder system. There are places in the mold for the holes that would need to be drilled for the cables and foot control racks. Do you need a rudder? Some will swear by them. I like having one in Tomales bay when its real windy and it is coming on a corner of the boat. A rudder can keep you tracking straight so you don't have to alter your paddling rythm. You can also turn faster if you need to. If you have big feet maybe the foot track will be in the way. Less is the way to go for me. But having one is a plus if you are windy conditions most of the time. Ocean kayaks list price for a rudder system is 280 plus tax and I am thinking labor would be another hundred. Looks like around 4 bills when its all said and done.

I have owned several kayaks without rudders and finally have one now with a rudder (WS T160) and wow what a difference. Turning is a breeze, no more one armed paddling. It helps big time tracking the wind if it's hitting you from the side. The only downside is the added weight, and if you do snap a cable while out on the water you will have one foot rest all the way forward.

Jeff

It's pretty easy to install the rudder yourself.  I put one on my P15 but the instructions are essentially the same:

http://www.outdoorplay.com/store/product_images/OKRTRI_Inst.pdf

Unfortunately, I found the OK rudder to be less well designed than the Wilderness System rudder on my Tarpon 140, so I put the WS rudder on my P15.  The WS mechanism is much smoother and easier to move the rudder up and down.

Rudders are great but not necessary. Since you'll be fishing lakes at first, go hit the water and see how it paddles. Then decide if you want a rudder. That's probably the best thing to do.
And congrats on the new yak!

Agree with Sin coast, learn how she handles without a rudder first...get used to paddling in a variety of conditions. THen slap that puppy on there, you won't regret learning to paddle without the rudder, and then using the rudder after the install

IMHO it depends a LOT on the boat.  The T-15 loves to weather cock in follwing seas and the rudder makes all the difference in the world.  I have had other boats that never had one and they were just fine. 

I agree with Doug, the OK rudder leaves a bit to be desired.  Also the "rubber grommet method" of installing the cable housings shown in Doug's pdf link has really sucked for me as well.  Next time I will use standard cable housing with flaired ends...much nicer, easire to do, and smaller holes in the yak. In other words...get your own and install it yourself, or have someone that knows ho to do it do it for you.  I like the setup Kunz put on his alot.

t15 and t13 weathercock A LOT.  A few weeks ago in Monterey, my son and I were getting hit broadside with a pretty stiff wind plus following seas and one sided paddling was losing the battle, even with the all the methods we had learned to make it work before.  We ended up facing the wind, then turning our backs to it and zig zagged our way in.  We will be adding rudders to make life easier.

however it is nice to learn to deal without the rudder, in case the rudder breaks or something else happens.

Also if the tankwell is heavy, like a nice stringer , the weathercocking seems to be less severe. 

Thanks for the advise I will definately do some research.

Rudders are like cruise control on my truck. Yes, I can drive without cruise control, but who wants to? I have a trident 15 also, and I installed my own rudder. It took about 45 minutes. It actually took longer to get all the stuff together to install it , than the actual work. A couple of ice cold Coronas and you are done. Get the rudder.

I got a great deal on a Trident 13 to add to my old P13 a couple months back.  I had a rudder on the prowler and wanted to add one to the new trident. After doing a little research I went with the feathercraft kit from KFS.  The quality of this kit made the OK rudder look like a cracker jack toy.  Oh yeah it was also $70 bucks cheaper.

As far as installation; this was my first attempt and it took about 4 hours start to finish.

On more thing I found out I liked about the rudder was when I was drifting for halibut on the bay this past weekend I could control the angle of my kayak while drifting. It's nothing by any means fast positioning yourself but once you find that right sweet spot it's so nice to hold the exact same position throughout the drift.

Jeff

Interestingly enough, while trying to decide which OK Trident to go with (T13 v T15) I gave the technical support staff at OK a call... Great guys - Probably spent 15-20 mins on the phone w/ me answering various questions.

Anyway, when I told them I'd likely make this first time yak purchase sans rudder, they definitely steered me (no pun intended) in the direction of the T15, stating that the longer boat would track better without the rudder...

I hope to purchase my T15 in the coming two weeks 

Jeff (a.k.a. "Steelerhead")