Emergency tiller - CD33

[cscheck]

Hello! Back on the site after a few years absence ... the new format scared me, I guess. Checked the emergency tiller in the aft locker last weekend ... talk about rust! The vertical tube is disintegrating .... chunks like tree bark are falling off. I didnt know steel could do that. Anyway, does anyone have a suggestion for a replacement? I checked some old posts. I get the impression that the steel pipe tillers are different size for different boats and they arent available from Robin Hood? Seems like stainless would be better considering what happened to my old one after 25 years. Anybody with experience having one fabbed by a machinist would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Chris Scheck
CD33 #117

[Tom Keevil]

Our boat didn't have an emergency tiller when we bought it, so we had a local stainless shop make up one to these dimensions:

1 ½” inside diameter tubing
key 3/16” deep x 3/8” wide x 2 ½” long,
11.5” long and then joined at a 130 degree angle to a 1 ½” o.d. piece that is 32” long

We store it down below in the back of a hanging locker, rather than in the bottom of a cockpit locker. That way it stays dry and is readily available without digging to the bottom of a locker.

After you've paid for this tiller, be sure to crawl down there and inspect your steering cables and sheaves every year so you never need to use it!

[Joe CD MS 300]

Quest didn't have one when we bought her three years ago. Got an estimate to have one made from the yard where she was kept in Marion MA for $250. They made it out of aluminum stock and did a nice job on it but wanted to charge me $450 for it. I think I wound up paying around $325.

[cscheck]

Thanks to the folks who responded to my question about the emergency tiller. I just spoke with Dave Perry up at Robinhood Marine. He said they don't make them for retail sale and they don't have any diagrams, since every boat apparently uses a slightly different design. He suggested that I just take my old one to a local shop. He added that they make them out of aluminum now, since the steel ones deteriorate so badly.

[Paul D.]

I had my nephews shop make a new emergency tiller just out of stel as we are on the great lakes. The original one did not fit at all and had a male to male connection that would never have worked!

I painted the new one with three coats of epoxy paint and I store it lashed under the forepeak berth just above the bow fresh water tank. Why there? Well, there is unused space there and I want more weight up forward and the old one had rusted in the lazarette location. Also, it doesn't bang around and it is readily available. I put directions on the berth on how to get it out in a hurry. I also wrote on the access port where the location is too just in case.

After seven seasons it is still in fine shape there.

Paul

[mgphl52]

... I still haven't found a decent spot to store my emergency wheel!...

-michael (aka: "foot-loose & free-wheeling" )

[barfwinkle]

Well stated Michael

[Duncan Maio]

Try CAM Machine in Bristol - 401-254-1950.

If they can't help you, I can have my guys take a look at it, but depending on the design and the condition of the original, it sounds like it may need to be fitted to the boat, and you will want someone local (my shop is up near Boston).

If the parts that fit onto the rudder cap are in good enough shape to measure, I can pick up in Bristol (or you can leave in my boat).

Duncan Maio
Mystic Marine
Norwood MA
781-948-1820

[Matt Cawthorne]

Every two or three years I sand blast mine and re-paint it. It weighs quite a bit. As it turns out, last weekend I pulled it out and sailed the boat with it for a while. The tiller is at an angle that brings it very close to the wheel and, in fact interferes with the pulley for the windpilot. I was thinking about making one out of bronze with a fiberglass handle. Anodized aluminum sounds good too. I would make the handle a couple of feet longer to improve the mechanical advantage. Just a thought.

[kaleevala]

could you send a picture to kaleevala@yahoo.com