Whiteman, yours is the second Dirigo 17 to be noted on this thread as not having a rudder. My familiarity with the Dirigo 17 is based only on my ruddered 1984 model; it may be that either Dirigo did produce some boats without rudders, or that people removed their rudders somewhere along the line. I'd be curious about the date of manufacture of your boat, which you can figure out from the serial number/letter code etched onto the stern (mine was on the starboard side). I know that my boat was utterly rudder-dependent, as the boat would do a complete 180 with the rudder not deployed, once I put down my paddle and let the boat have its own way as it glided along. I mentioned this to co-designer Peter Chase shortly after I bought the boat, and he told me then that I just had to learn to paddle it correctly (Peter probably will not remember this). The Sea Hunter may be a different story entirely.

Welcome to the Club! Once you get the hang of the Dirigo, you'll have some fine paddling experiences with it; I know several of my most memorable trips were made in mine. I hope whatever you need to find out, you can get the info here.