Hello Graham. You have a problem if water does not come out of the rudder. Henri Amel was always thinking. Always. He noticed that, try as one may, rudders designed to keep water from penetrating into the core eventually failed to do so, resulting in the destruction of the rudder. So, he designed Amel rudders to invite the water inside and made them so that this was a good thing. The water adds weight/mass to the rudder to give it better “feel”. The hole in the bottom ( stick a Philips head screwdriver in the hole when you dive on the bottom to keep it open and flowing ) is there so water can migrate to prevent captive water from attacking the internal metal and welds as happens when it can’t flow in and out.

I love having unfamiliar surveyors/shipyards attend to an Amel I am selling in a new to me location. Yep, as soon as the boat comes out , the surveyor puffs up and declares the rudder junk while the shipyard guys rub their hands together in gleeful anticipation of a windfall repair. When I tell them this is normal, they treat me like a prevaricating used car salesman and say bad words about my lack of parents. All is well when I show them a drawing of the rudder with a short letter from Amel that I carry in my survey bag stating that the water draining out is normal…

It’s fun to see the reactions.

Have fun with your Amel, Joel

Joel F. Potter/Cruising Yacht Specialist LLC

THE EXPERIENCED AMEL GUY

954 462 5869 office

954 812 2485 cell