High performance Rudder-Blades

High performance Rudder-Blades made by special composite material

Zoz Group with it’s headquarter in Wenden, Germany is a global player in the field of nano-structured high-tech materials.

One of the key units of a catamaran sailing boat with respect to mechanical stress are the rudder blades. Since these parts frequently collapse either by overload while hitting something in the water or on the beach or by aging in the salt-water and under the sun, Zoz is trying to improve these parts by applying high performance materials.

The first two prototypes of rudder-blades with a multiple times higher fracture toughness and bending strength compared to the conventional cast plastic parts have proven their superiority in Germany and in the lab during mechanical testing already in spring/summer 2007. As of September 25, 2007, they are used under real condition on HobieCat14 and 16 in Coche/Venezuela at Zoz Sailing.

Very important is the behaviour under salt water and heavy sun where a key parameter is the water-load of the material which has been determined at 0.06 % in the laboratory:

The new material for the rudder-blades was cleared for the market on October 15, 2007 and is now available at first for the models HobieCat14 und 16 at Zoz Sailing in Wenden, Germany. The economical conditions are even better than those of the conventional parts.

Much higher quality for less investment is hereby a perfect performance of materials science and process engineering.:

quality promise:

Upon the return of a broken Zoz-rudder-blade, a new part will be supplied against a protection fee of € 100,00.

If only a fragment should be retuned, the Zoz serial-number must be recognizable (to be found close to the fix-points). This regulation so far is only applicable for the serial-numbers 00001-00050 but we strongly expect, that no one will manage to break these parts by using. Never ever broken rudders !