How to replace DOWN rudder line on a Hobie AI

Fixed my rudder line on the AI from this thread and thought I would share it in case it helps anyone else in the future: http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=54003.0 

The problem was that the DOWN Rudder line was frayed and needed to be replaced.  As luck would have it, this is probably the easiest of the rudder lines to replace!  There are four lines running to the back from the left, right, up and down rudder controls.  Three of them run down the left side, but the fourth, the down rudder line was run all by itself on the right hand side so it's very easy to identify and fairly easy to re-run.

Like Salty. had mentioned there are a series of knots and loops that connect the external rudder lines to the internal rudder lines.  This means that you can just re-run the six or so feet of rudder line that is most likely to wear out or break overtime.  The internal line has a knot on the end of it.  You basically create a loop, and then double over that loop to create a solid connection.  There was an excellent how-to-video on YT that shows how to upgrade from a Twist and Stow rudder to the newer version of the rudder on the AI that showed this here:


 

So now that I had a good idea how to proceed, I went ahead and tied off the internal down rudder line so it would not disappear when the old one is being removed.  Here is a shot of the original knot as well.

Then I went to the end of the line where it connects to the rudder and cut the original knot out.

Now I went ahead and connected the new rudder line to the attachment on the rudder and tied it off, then re-ran around the bend, then up through the rudder frame.  This turns out to be a mistake, as when you go to connect the lines on the inside, it's much more difficult to slip the loop over the knot to join the two lines together. 

So instead, do the reverse, and start at the inside connection and run the control line out then connect to the rudder.  I used some wire that I had around to help thread the new control line through plastic tubes on the inside of the kayak.

For the internal loop it looked like the original one was made with a double surgeons loop, so I did that the first time I ran the control line and it worked fine.  The second time that I re-ran the line I used a bowline knot instead, with a extra square knot for good measure.  Don't think that it matters much as long as your sure your loop will hold up to tension. 

Another mistake that I made was running the line without enough slack on the inside of the hull.  This was caused in part by my first mistake where I ran the cord from the inside out, vs. outside in. You need about four inches of slack or when you pull the rudder into the up position, the tension on the down rudder line knot, inside the hull, will press the tube out the back of your kayak.  Because I neglected to leave enough slack, I had to re-run the entire control line one more time to get it right again.

Thanks for the show and tell Al. Every time I pull the rudder up or down, I get that sinking feeling that one of these days that line is just gonna snap. Not sure why it is so hard to pull. I wonder if there's any pulley in the hull. If it does, perhaps I need to grease it or something?

Hey Ernest!  Not sure about the pulleys inside the hull...  But will say that there is a pad eye up and under the left and right side of the hatch that holds the tubes out of the way of your storage hatch. On the port side there are three of them, and when I pulled them out of the pad eye to get a look at which line goes where, I put them back in the pad eye/clip wrong and felt a difference when using my steering handle.  I may have inadvertently crossed them when putting them back in the clip.  But I pulled them all out and slipped them back in one at a time and the problem went away.

I assisted HobieDave.  Definitely a 2 man job.

 Great tutorial Al.

Thanks for the tutorial Al.

Good stuff ... going to apply some of this on my 2014 Hobie Sport.   

Will have to do this soon to my 2012 revo. Thanks for sharing, this will be useful!

I discovered the hard way that the rudder lines are slightly abrasive.  I had the down line wear down the plastic at the rudder end enough to cut through the line.  Managed a temporary fix with a trip to the Albion hardware store for some braided line.  Took while to figure out how to do the repair without the internet.  Thank you Brian at Headwaters for the material for a proper fix.