all thumbs wrote:
I'm wondering if I have the quadrant set up right. At full stop on the
quadrant, looking at the rudder shows it's only turned about 45
degrees. Is this correct? Is that some theoretical limit of effective
angle or something? Thanks.

That would depend upon what you want the rudder to do. . .
Turn the boat? 45 degrees is a good number. Stop the boat, (or keep
the boat from moving after a tack) 45 isn't enough.

I see people trying to tack out of the channel holding the tiller "hard
over" all the time. Often these are the guys who never accelerate after
tacking enough to make it to the other side of the channel.