Leeboard Rigging Tip

Leeboard control rod attachment

While sailing a friends kayak the other day, I discovered something very cool.  His rig was mounted  a bit close to me and I found my paddle blade knocking into the leeboard control rods every now and again.  It wasn’t a big deal until I slid the paddle blade between the control rod and the gunwale on one particular forward stroke and it took an awkward maneuver to remove the trapped paddle blade.  Now for the cool part, I sat there in the cockpit pondering the situation when it hit me, attach the control rod from the underside of the leeboard head!

View from the cockpit

This effectively lowers the leeboard control rods and allows them to run flush against the hull.  They are now completely out of the way.   Wow, sometimes the answers are so simple.  I love it!   The only thing that takes a little getting  used to is that the leeboard controls are reversed, meaning to lower the leeboard, one must now push on the control rod  instead of pulling on it.    I really like this new rigging technique and urge you to  give it a try.

David