emergency tiller

[brackish]

As one who has experienced a tiller succumbing to previously undetected dry rot and snapping off in my hand about file miles offshore in dusty conditions, my thoughts go to emergency tillers.  Any ideas on the subject specific to Com-pacs? 

Frank

[Craig Weis]

I got to admit. I never gave it a thought. At least the actual tiller snapping. It's a pretty stoutly made of ash and mahogany all glued together. Laminates are strong.

But I suppose it could happen. I think that if the tiller is serviced by a sanding and a dozen coats of varnish every season and the coating is not compromised by flaking off, cracking, or exposing the wood in some way to weather you'll be fine.

Keep the UV cover on when she's on the dock.

I can not fathom any reason why this piece of wood would fail.

Additionally the hardware, ss plates, bolts, washers, nuts and however the rudder's head is attached to the cast aluminum mating piece bolted onto the transom is always a concern.

I sail with zero tiller/rudder slop with my pressed in bronze shoulder bushings back to back that nobody likes.
I suppose if the tiller broke I'd affix a line coming off port and starboard through some hole and steer that way. May have to jump into the water to do the hook-up though.

Bob Burgess in his handbook for trailer sailors rigged two lines to push/pull the tiller while sitting on the bow sprit.

Oh I did tire of locking down that pinch handle so I drilled clean through everything and inserted a snowblower shear pin. She's down now and stays down.

One of the things the kids do at The Sail Training Foundation here is Sturgeon Bay is to sail there Optma sailing dingy with out a rudder. It's all by sail. It's a great class for preteen kids.
skip.

[NateD]

I have a collapsible paddle that I could lash to the rudder or whatever was left of the tiller. Worst comes to worst you could always undue the goose neck and lash the boom to the rudder and sail back with just the head sail. I think if it happened to me 5 miles offshore, I would just fire up the motor and use that to push/steer the boat home.

[brackish]

Skip, that tiller was varnished every year and never had any breaks in the finish.  However, we never took it off the yoke to do that.  It actually dry rotted from the bolt holes forward, and when it snapped off the entire area in the yoke was soft but dry. 

Good point Nate, my experience was with an inboard so an emergency tiller was necessary, but with the outboard it would be possible to steer it home under power.  On the inboard, we lashed a telescoping boat hook to the stub and made it in.  However, after that I got a section of aluminum square tube that would fit over the yoke and kept it on board.

Frank

[Craig Weis]

skip, that tiller was varnished every year and never had any breaks in the finish.  However, we never took it off the yoke to do that.  It actually dry rotted from the bolt holes forward, and when it snapped off the entire area in the yoke was soft but dry. 

Wow. That to me is really strange. What comes to mind is my Navy dad's saying...as a flyer he always said, "Accidents don't happen. You have to let them happen."

Rot at the holes...I guess the tiller needed to be fully removed...there are no short cuts.

skip.

[bmiller]

I can not fathom any reason why this piece of wood would fail.

I can.

We were sailing our Hunter 23 on lake Roosevelt in Arizona. Had to run a couple miles in a pretty nasty blow. During a tack while I moved from one side to the other we got hit by a sharp roller and I got knocked over, landing on the tiller, in just the perfect manner to break it off.

Shit happens, in the weirdest ways.

[NateD]

Shit happens, in the weirdest ways.

Profound.

[Bob23]

I remember reading somewhere a potential cure for this.
  The theory being that the rot originated in the bolt holes, the cure was to oversize the bolt holes, fill with epoxy until cured, and then drill out the epoxy to the exact bolt size. Kinda isolated the ss bolts from the wood tiller and in the process, seals all parts of the wood.
   Makes sense, right, considering when we drill though our decks or hulls we seal all the edges of the hole with epoxy or polyester resin to prevent water intrusion.
   Not that I've done this to my tiller...maybe a winter project.
Bob23...sometimes I think too much.

[Joseph]

Rot at the bolts also caused the solid teak tiller in my 22 to break at its but... Duct tape saved the day (as in many other instances before...) and epoxy and a couple of embedded bolts restored it back to action for at least as long a I kept the boat. I had a spare tiller (laminated) which never got into action.

Once, while chartering a 34 Aloha in the North Channel I decided to try the spare tiller before leaving dock... it did not fit the rudder post as it clearly did not belong to that design! I was told that it had been in the boat for years and nobody had ever complained before...

Another time while sailing north of the San Juan Islands a wave caused the helmsperson (actually it was a she...) to lean on the wheel which broke more than half the spokes. The spare tiller was a bent pipe that due to the binacle could only be operated sideways, but it also saved the day. I remember that in Sidney, BC we even found a welder who did a fantastic stainless steel welding job, on a Sunday morning, at no charge...

J

[newt]

I worry more about loosing the rudder, as I if I hit something while being forced backwards, or I have the rudder bolted in to boat and it grounds. I carry a wooden oar about 8 feet long for backup. I also use it to push off rocks, test for depth, and occasionally for rowing!:)

BTW I recommend everyone learn how to sail with the rudder up and just using the sails, as well as trailing warps and drogues to steer. Be careful that you have enough depth below you when you trail warps- Don't ask me how I know that!

[Craig Weis]

newt; What is a trail warps ? Gotta ask. Have no idea. Thanx.
skip

[newt]

Trailing Warps is a time honored way to slow a boat down during a storm. Slocum ( and quite a few modern circumnavigators ) used large long lines out the back of their boat to slow it down, forming loops sometimes hundreds of feet long.  A shorter loop (warp) can be used on one side of the boat to turn it one way or the other. Try it someday when the depth is deeper than the warp your going to put out. Just one more trick you can keep in your hat.

[Craig Weis]

newt: That trailer tire seams a bit of an idea that has been OVERCOOKED. Where and how are you going to store it? And I think it'll make a horrible scar producing fender. Tires are for barges. I think your thinking too hard.  Soft buckets distort with water pressue so not much good at resisting water to make a shock absorber. Maybe?  :->

Ok just a chunk of line tossed over board, tied to the stern cleat, to slow up the boat in a following sea, OK. I knew that but not by any particular name. So A guy could move the line port or starboard as to the turn he wished to impose.

I use a three pound coffee can hung on a line with the line knotted threw the can's rim 180 deg apart and tied to another line in the middle of this bridle. Toss it over the side tied to a cleat for a 'shock absorber' when at anchor, or rolling at the dock. Also good for a pee can and for bring up water to wash off the soapy deck after a good scrubbing.
skip.

[newt]

Yeah, see you were doing it all along. I am thinking about a trailer tire to do the same thing your can is doing. In emergencies I could use it as an extra bumper. Or maybe a soft bucket. Anyway good ideas  for next year (sigh)