# Escape Rumba Help



## KnotRight

Hey All; I’m just decided to learn to sail and picked up a Escape Rumba but it’s short a dagger board and the rudder assembly. I figure I can build a dagger board from pictures off the internet but the rudder might be a little harder to reproduce. Just looking to have a little fun off the coast of NC. Thanks for any help


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## svHyLyte

We have a Rumba that I bought for my daughter (named "Rumb-baba") and have the rudder in our garage. The rudder blade is made from solid spruce (plywood will not work). I will be happy to temp-plate it for you if you like. The trick will be to come up with the rudder-head fitting with the retractable pins to allow you to mount/dismount the rudder. Doug Fisher of Ullman Sails in Sarasota, Fla (941) 951-0189 used to sell the boats and may have a source for replacement parts. Let me know if you're interested.


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## KnotRight

That would be great svHyLyte, would it be too much to ask to temp-plate the dagger board also. I would gladly pay you for your troubles. Thanks again Danny


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## CalebD

You might be able to buy those parts too: Escape Sailboat Parts
or even here: APS - Sunfish - Rudder, Tiller and Daggerboard
Probably more fun to make your own though.


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## svHyLyte

KnotRight said:


> That would be great svHyLyte, would it be too much to ask to temp-plate the dagger board also. I would gladly pay you for your troubles. Thanks again Danny


Danny,

I will PM you with my email address so you can respond with your mailing address so I can send you the pattern. The Rumba does not use a dagger board. It has a center board that rotates on a nylon pin that bolts across the centerboard trunk so that the board can be rotated up and down. A shock-cord runs from a hole in the crown of the center board through a jamb cleat so that one can adjust the board's position depending upon one's point of sail. Off the wind we rotate the board up almost entirely and she'll go like heck. Unfortunately, however, we laid the boat up for the winter once the water temperatures dropped below 75 and getting her out, off the trailer, and unbolting the centerboard at this point would be a costly and difficult endeavor. I'll be happy to do so in the spring, however. There is some possibility that my neighbor may not yet have stowed his boat (I bought two from a hotel that decided they didn't want to rent them to guests any longer due to insurance costs; rehabbed both, and sold one to a neighbor for enough to cover the out-of-pocket costs for both boats so ours cost my labor alone). If so I will see if he's willing to allow me to dismount his center board long enough to pattern the board. If you do not have it, the pin will be an issue but I suspect you could conjure one up by using a piece of plastic pipe with a matching diameter dowel through the center; or, by getting a local cabinet maker to turn down a small block of starboard on a lathe.

They are fun boats but not so easy to sail as Escape portrayed. One thing to do is buy some foam pipe insulation or a pool noodle that will fit the boom and "pad" that back half unless you're willing to wear a helmet while you're sailing. You will brain yourself with the boom sooner or later and it will hurt without one or the other, I guaranty you that. Another thing is to dump the single line outhaul/furling line. I found that having two separate lines, one red for furling and a second, green, for out hauling the sail worked a lot better and one had no doubt which line one was hauling on. There are times when one does need to reef the sail and the two line arrangement seems to work best.

N'any case, check your PM's.


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## Propertydoctor

*Escape Rumba parts source*

Hi Guys!

As far as I know, the only supplier of Escape boat parts is George at _Mountain Road Trading Post_ Home 603.895.3501. He is a super nice guy.

I do know that George has a source for the rudders and centerboards for the Rumba. He probably has a source for the rudder head and tillers too, if not, I was looking at my sunfish rudder head and believe it to be a functional match to the Rumba's. Unless the cost of the parts is prohibitive for you, or you just want a woodworking project, I would buy the proven parts and go sailing. I have an extensive background in boat building and fabrication and could easily carve these up but my time is too valuable. Why spend 3-4 hours cutting, sanding and finishing? I'd rather be on the water 

I also have a PDF of the Rumba manual if you need it. Send me an email and I'll forward it to you.


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## KnotRight

Thanks Propertydoctor; the manual would be nice to have. I have not been online long enough to send e-mails yet so I hope you'll get this. As it work out the boat came with all the hardware for the rudder just no blade nor anything with the centerboard. I did send a e-mail to MRT but will give them a call next week and ask about the centerboard. The bad news is the upper part of the mast is at the bottom of Kerr Lake in NC so thats my next challenge.Any suggestions would be welcome. svHyLte was kind enough to help with the rudder temp-plate so I think I'm on the way Thanks for your help Danny


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## Propertydoctor

Because I am new to Sailnet and don't have 15 posts yet I can't private message anyone and because I don't have 20 posts I can't email anyone. KnotRight or anyone else that needs the Escape Rumba manual can email me direct at RFLucas64 @ gmail(dot)com and please put "Rumba Manual" in the subject line so your message doesn't end up in my trash folder.

Happy sailing!
- Propertydoctor


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## svHyLyte

Danny--Since I haven't rec'd anything from you I assume you cannot yet receive PM's. You can send your home address to me at svHyLyte(at)hotmail.com and I will forward a paper pattern for the rudder to you via USPS.


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## svHyLyte

Danny--I got your email to our ship's account and made up a pattern of the rudder earlier today. I will send that off to you together with some notes and photos tomorrow. No joy on the center-board thus far but be patient. Sailing season is some while yet.


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## paulkart

I have been doing repairs for local state park on Rhumba escape and sunfish. The rudder metal or plastic parts are the same as sunfish. I am refinishing daggerboard and rudder and can do paper tracing or photo and measurements for you. send me email 
[email protected]

Paul


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## BenTuval

*Re: Escape Rumba parts source*



Propertydoctor said:


> Hi Guys!
> 
> As far as I know, the only supplier of Escape boat parts is George at _Mountain Road Trading Post_ Home 603.895.3501. He is a super nice guy.
> 
> I do know that George has a source for the rudders and centerboards for the Rumba. He probably has a source for the rudder head and tillers too, if not, I was looking at my sunfish rudder head and believe it to be a functional match to the Rumba's. Unless the cost of the parts is prohibitive for you, or you just want a woodworking project, I would buy the proven parts and go sailing. I have an extensive background in boat building and fabrication and could easily carve these up but my time is too valuable. Why spend 3-4 hours cutting, sanding and finishing? I'd rather be on the water
> 
> I also have a PDF of the Rumba manual if you need it. Send me an email and I'll forward it to you.


Completely agree, George is excellent guy.
I am planning to get Rumba soon.
Please email me manual, [email protected]

Many thanks,
Ben


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## DanielF

Can anyone perchance comment on the Rumba vs a Sunfish? I haven't been out on my Rumba yet (got it Saturday...currently assessing small repair), yet I'm considering selling the Sunfish because I can't exactly keep both boats


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## svHyLyte

DanielF said:


> Can anyone perchance comment on the Rumba vs a Sunfish? I haven't been out on my Rumba yet (got it Saturday...currently assessing small repair), yet I'm considering selling the Sunfish because I can't exactly keep both boats


Dan,

The best thing about the Rumba is the fact that you can reef the sail if the winds get snotty or when you dump the boat (you will). We sailed a Sunfish as teenagers and it was a great boat but it did not have the performance of the Rumba which is more akin to a Laser. I bought my Rumba--two actually--from a hotel that used to rent them and then decided that they'd had too many problems with tourists getting stuck down wind of the place and calling for assistance. The boats were pretty beat up and took some fixing but when that was done I was able to sell one for the cost of both plus repairs and so got ours for the value of the repair labor. We towed ours around on vacations with the kids for several years and it was a lot of fun but it was a bit much for a kid alone. It's really a fairly performance boat for a youngster (I put a knot in the lead-line for the furler so the kids couldn't get the sail all the way to keep thing somewhat under control). With my daughter now grown, we don't use the boat much but when we do, I get a kick out of it.

My wife still prefers a Sunfish as she thinks the Rumba is too much "work" but I like the boat and it is fun. (Actually, she really prefers the "big" boat as with that, all she has to do is steer, which she can do without getting soaked--most of the time!)

FWIW...


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## DanielF

svHyLyte said:


> Dan,
> 
> The best thing about the Rumba is the fact that you can reef the sail if the winds get snotty or when you dump the boat (you will). We sailed a Sunfish as teenagers and it was a great boat but it did not have the performance of the Rumba which is more akin to a Laser. I bought my Rumba--two actually--from a hotel that used to rent them and then decided that they'd had too many problems with tourists getting stuck down wind of the place and calling for assistance. The boats were pretty beat up and took some fixing but when that was done I was able to sell one for the cost of both plus repairs and so got ours for the value of the repair labor. We towed ours around on vacations with the kids for several years and it was a lot of fun but it was a bit much for a kid alone. It's really a fairly performance boat for a youngster (I put a knot in the lead-line for the furler so the kids couldn't get the sail all the way to keep thing somewhat under control). With my daughter now grown, we don't use the boat much but when we do, I get a kick out of it.
> 
> My wife still prefers a Sunfish as she thinks the Rumba is too much "work" but I like the boat and it is fun. (Actually, she really prefers the "big" boat as with that, all she has to do is steer, which she can do without getting soaked--most of the time!)
> 
> FWIW...


Thanks a ton! Just want to make sure I'm not "downgrading" to a lesser boat by moving to the Rumba.

I need one more thing, hopefully someone can help me out here. See, my boat, for which I paid only $50, is missing the boom. I'm going to have a proper one bent out of aluminum tubing, but I need the dimensions. If somebody could provide _accurate_ dimensions of the thing, that would be extremely helpful in my quest to get this thing on the water! I thought of two ways to measure it: either measure the distance between the ends (long side of the triangle) and then the other two sides by means of lashing on broom handles (or the like) to bring the roughly ninety degree angle to a point, or simply _accurately_ measure the distance of the long side as well as the two angles. Either method will provide me with what I need to come up with a new boom. Thanks in advance to whomever can do this for me!


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## Harold Koehn

KnotRight said:


> That would be great svHyLyte, would it be too much to ask to temp-plate the dagger board also. I would gladly pay you for your troubles. Thanks again Danny


I am in the same situation. Recent purchaced a Rumba Escape Sailboat without the centerboard. Any help would be appreciated. - Harold


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## Nancymaine

svHyLyte said:


> Danny,
> 
> I will PM you with my email address so you can respond with your mailing address so I can send you the pattern. The Rumba does not use a dagger board. It has a center board that rotates on a nylon pin that bolts across the centerboard trunk so that the board can be rotated up and down. A shock-cord runs from a hole in the crown of the center board through a jamb cleat so that one can adjust the board's position depending upon one's point of sail. Off the wind we rotate the board up almost entirely and she'll go like heck. Unfortunately, however, we laid the boat up for the winter once the water temperatures dropped below 75 and getting her out, off the trailer, and unbolting the centerboard at this point would be a costly and difficult endeavor. I'll be happy to do so in the spring, however. There is some possibility that my neighbor may not yet have stowed his boat (I bought two from a hotel that decided they didn't want to rent them to guests any longer due to insurance costs; rehabbed both, and sold one to a neighbor for enough to cover the out-of-pocket costs for both boats so ours cost my labor alone). If so I will see if he's willing to allow me to dismount his center board long enough to pattern the board. If you do not have it, the pin will be an issue but I suspect you could conjure one up by using a piece of plastic pipe with a matching diameter dowel through the center; or, by getting a local cabinet maker to turn down a small block of starboard on a lathe.
> 
> They are fun boats but not so easy to sail as Escape portrayed. One thing to do is buy some foam pipe insulation or a pool noodle that will fit the boom and "pad" that back half unless you're willing to wear a helmet while you're sailing. You will brain yourself with the boom sooner or later and it will hurt without one or the other, I guaranty you that. Another thing is to dump the single line outhaul/furling line. I found that having two separate lines, one red for furling and a second, green, for out hauling the sail worked a lot better and one had no doubt which line one was hauling on. There are times when one does need to reef the sail and the two line arrangement seems to work best.
> 
> N'any case, check your PM's.


i have concluded that the outhaul line is worthless...perhaps not enough of an angle to the sail clew on the sail to efficiency pull?


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## Jeff Vennell

I am looking to replace strop strap that connects the fiddle brock to the mast on my Rumba. Mountain Road Trading Post does not have the part; does anyone have a source where I might purchase one?
If anyone has the problem I did with the mast plate screws coming out, contact me - I found a decent solution that permits me to continue sailing - always good news!


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