I have a Wilderness Systems Sealution fiberglass kayak, with the rudder. After yesterday’s paddle, I was washing it in the backyard. I decided to roll it over to clean the bottom with a soapy sponge instead of the normal hosing off. Well, not thinking, I rolled it onto the rudder. When I finished and rolled it back upright, the rudder bracket had snapped off!
I removed the rudder and control lines, but have a snapped off piece of the mount still bolted to the stern of the kayak.
Being that the boat is a few years old, and discontinued, is there any chance of finding a new/replacement mount?
I’ll be calling WS tomorrow, but don’t have much hope of finding a new one from the factory. If indeed it turns out that I can’t get a new one, does anybody have any ideas on where I can find a replacement?
Thanks in advance!
check this out
http://www.kayakfishingstuff.com/articles_view.asp?Kayak_Articles=35
also here:
http://www.clcboats.com/footbraces_rudders.php
Broken rudder
I have a broken rudder on a plastic Sealution II. The rudders on the CLC site look like the WS rudders. I think the broken part on my rudder is called the block.It is a plastic block with holes for the lines that raise and lower the rudder to pass thru.I will contact CLC for parts,hopefully the can help.
Thanks!
Thanks for the tip rpalm!
I’ll check them out and see what I find.
BTW, the piece I broke is the piece between the boat and the rudder itself. Seems to be a resiny sort of thing. Broke off at the “bottleneck” portion where it slims down from the bracket before it flares back out to hold the rudder.
Are you the same person, or another,
who lives near the Shenango River and Greenville PA?
My practical advice is that you might find you could take the whole rudder assembly off and save some weight. But you’ve used the boat a lot and are probably skilled in making the rudder work for you. I de-ruddered my Necky after finding I could manage quite well without, but if I were an experienced rudder user, I might want one, even in a boat as short as my Looksha Sport.
broken rudder
I emailed Feathercraft about rudder parts and received a guick response stating that replacement parts are available thru them.
www.feathercraft.com
That’s me
"who lives near the Shenango River and Greenville PA?"
Do I know you? (Was it your brother that bought my little Dagger?)
“But you’ve used the boat a lot and are probably skilled in making the rudder work for you.”
This is spooky. 
How do you know how much I’ve paddled it? Freaky… 
Actually, I used the rudder all of about 10 minutes. Tried it, decided I didn’t need it, and it’s been flipped up since then. Still, I didn’t want to just bust it off!
I removed the control lines, and obviously the rudder itself. All that’s left on the boat is the part of the bracket that’s actually bolted to the boat. It’s snapped off within an inch of the tip of the stern.
Paddled it the other day sans rudder, and never missed it. I do however want to “clean it up”, and either replace it, or remove what’s left.
Not brackets though
Apparently they don’t have the bracket (that I broke), only the actual rudders. 
From their website:
“NOTE: We do not supply or manufacture mounting brackets, foot braces or track.”
I’m thinking more and more that it’s just gonna be a case of taking it all off and being done with it…