Here is what my rudders look like , they are a aero foil shape and are made completely from fibre glass so they are nice and light. Once again these are not part of the original superwedge plans but can be easily incorporated if you want to spend the extra dosh.
Top view of the rudder. According to a web site that i was reading one day the aero foil shaped rudder also acts like a flow straightner if placed in the right position. Hopefully i have mine fitted in the right place 🙂
Here is how i made the top mount, the concept was to keep it as light and simple as possible, so what i done was got some 6mm aluminium shaped it to fit the leading edge of the rudder then tapped a thread into it for the pivot point, i made this 80mm from the leading edge (anymore further than that i would think the steering would become to responsive and i’d be battling to keep it straight all the time) i then riveted it in place. Then made the long 6mm thick aluminium strip up and riveted that to the duct, at the other end of that strip i put a self lubricating nylon type bush so that the bolt has something smooth to pivot around.
You can see here the mounting brackets i was able to make out of 6mm ply which later got fibre glassed over, they are simply a bracket with a hole drilled at one end for the pivoting bolt to slip into. Once again i made a 6mm thick aluminium plate and riveted that to the duct , place another bush in the ply bracket and tapped a thread into the aluminium , screwed in a bolt then cut the head off it , that is my pivot pin :-). I also bolted a rose joint to the other end so that i can link both rudder together using threaded rod, that way both can move at the same time when i pull on one rudder.
Today i took a break from building the hovercraft and i spent over 4 hours re organising the workshop, everything that was on the shelves is now under the house and that gave me a heap of room to spread tools and all sorts of stuff around hehe.
It’s well worth the venture to spend the time getting on top of a messy workshop, cause now things are that clean i have increased my working area dramatically , and it makes stuff easy to find/ work in (don’t tell anyone but i even vacuumed the floor).