Boone Dox ODC Rudder Upgrade?

[Salty]

I'm curious, does anyone here have any experience with the BooneDox ODC Metal Rudder upgrade for Hobie kayaks? Just wondering if this is a decent choice to upgrade the rudder on a 2020 Hobie Outback. Would love some input on this if anyone has any! Or if anyone knows of a better option.

Here's the link to what I'm looking at:
https://www.boonedoxusa.com/product-page/odc-rudder

[JohnMckroidJr]

Even with the guard piece up, my outback rudder seems to get scraped all the time. The beauty of being flexible polypropylene is that it can bend and absorb shock. If it were metal, I would be fearful that something else would get broken.

[Salty]

Originally Posted by JohnMckroidJr

Even with the guard piece up, my outback rudder seems to get scraped all the time. The beauty of being flexible polypropylene is that it can bend and absorb shock. If it were metal, I would be fearful that something else would get broken.

I had that same thought. The rudder itself might be stronger, but I'm kind of worried about the pivot points, etc. taking the brunt of the impact instead. I have been running into some issues where the kayak won't track straight. Looks like the rudder has a slight warp to it- probably from dragging it through sand too much if I'm being perfectly honest... That's why I was starting to look in the first place. Maybe the best bet is to just get a stock replacement. Unless anyone else has any recommendations for something better?

[JohnMckroidJr]

Originally Posted by Salty

I had that same thought. The rudder itself might be stronger, but I'm kind of worried about the pivot points, etc. taking the brunt of the impact instead. I have been running into some issues where the kayak won't track straight. Looks like the rudder has a slight warp to it- probably from dragging it through sand too much if I'm being perfectly honest... That's why I was starting to look in the first place. Maybe the best bet is to just get a stock replacement. Unless anyone else has any recommendations for something better?

Having used only PA14's prior to the newer outbacks, even my scrapped up bent Outback rudder tracks better than my PA14 with a sail rudder. If Hobie could make 1 improvement on the newer outback rudder, I would wish that it could stop snagging my fishing lines. I tried filing the fwd top edge of the rudder to help lines slide clear when the rudder is pulled up and that helped a little.

On the PA, pull the rudder up while peddling and the line usually comes clear. Wish the same could be said for the outback. I have had to cut my line and lost fish on several occasions on acount of that rudder.