Cape Dory 27 Emergency tiller?

[steve poulin]

Hi all. I am the new owner of Fair Winds, a CD 27 out of Branford CT, with a factory Edson wheel. I need an emergency tiller. Does anybody have an idea how to find/build one? Thanks!

[Chrisa006]

Congratulations Steven!!
I looked at Fair Winds late in the summer when the price was higher and wasn't ready to pull the trigger. She looked like a great boat. Where are you going to keep her? I live in Guilford and have my CD25 in Clinton. I think Brewer gives you a great deal for the first year if you bought from them.
This site is a great place to get answers to any questions you may have. Good Luck!

[steve poulin]

Thank you, Chris. Yep, after a trip to see her and a rigorous survey I believe I found the right boat. I plan on keeping her up in East Greenwich RI. I've been looking at CD's for a while now and have been perusing this forum while hemming and hawing. Looking forward to the season.

Steve

[Chrisa006]

I used a local company to pick my CD25 up on the cape and bring it down here. If you want the name let me know, they were great.

[Nebe]

welcome to the Club! You are going to love that boat. If you want my opinion, i would ditch the wheel and go back to a tiller full time. it really frees up the cockpit. Hopefully we cross paths on the bay- I keep my CD27 in newport.

[steve poulin]

I'll keep an eye out for you. Thanks, nebe.

[Catnap]

Hi fellow Narraganset Bay CD family! I had my first season with my new 1982 CD25D Rascal, and I am looking for some help with attaching an emergency tiller as well. The specs are online from this group, but I cannot figure out how to attach the tiller assembly to the rudder head. Is it a blind keyway? Any help appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Deb

[Keith]

Hi Steve,

I have a 30C so not sure if the emergency tiller is the same as a 27. I'm heading over to the boat today to see how it faired in the 93 mile/hr winds that we had on friday night. I'll take some pics and dimensions of the em tiller and the rudder post head. I believe that the rudder post head has a square end and the Em tiller simple slides over it.

Keith

[Paul D.]

Steve,

When we purchased Femme I saw the emergency tiller stowed away. Thankfully I attempted to test it out before the shakedown cruise. It had a completely inverted fitting compared to the top of the rudder shaft and would never have worked.

To correct it, I measured the rudder shaft and the keyway with a caliper (a caliper is a dang useful thing to have aboard!) and drew out a sketch with these dimensions to give to my engineer nephew. He had the shop where he worked weld up a new one using the old steel tubing which we had previously cleaned up. After testing it out to be sure it fit, and steering the boat for a while to get a sense for how it worked, we primed and painted it. Now I stow it up forward with a description where it is under the opening for the rudder shaft in case I ain't around.

As I check the steering system each spring fitting out, and proactively replaced the cable/chain, we've not had to use it yet, (ahem, touch wood.) but I do know it will fit and how different steering will be with it.

If you do the same and bring to a local welding shop or even a car repair shop, I bet it would be very reasonable. I had our auto service place weld up a bomber new exhaust riser for our old Universal for a hundred bucks.

Hope this helps,

[steve poulin]

Thanks Keith and Paul. Keith, I hope you made out okay. Saw a picture of a 42 foot trawler up on the Provincetown breakwater and was glad to have the boat on the hard this weekend.

I'm headed down in a couple weeks to unwrap the CD with the PO and plan on taking my measurements and photos of the ET rudder head then--a caliper is a great idea--I'll see if I can download an app . Already have a welder in mind, but was hoping to luck out and find somebody here using their old ET to prop closed the shed door.

Steve

[Keith]

Hi Steve,

Well I did get to Moon Dance on Sunday and found the cover about 25% off the stern quarter. It had not torn to badly and I was able to secure it for the next storm that hit Tuesday but only had 60 mph winds unlike friday night that had 93 here in Barnstable. anyway hear are the pic. the handle is about 25" long and the shaft 18". You cans see the square end on the rudder post and the square socket on the end of the emergency tiller shaft. Hope this helps. Keith

handle.JPG

shaft.JPG

rudder post mate.JPG

[Keith]

here's the rudder post. the site only allows 3 pics at a time. PS I have sanded the emergency tiller and applied rust inhibitor and will paint it this weekend.

rudder post.JPG

[steve poulin]

Keith,

That's an even more simple rig than I was expecting. Should be a simple fabrication once I confirm my dimensions. The square piece looks to be about a 1"x1" (3/4" x 3/4" ID)?

[Keith]

Hi Steve sorry for the delay in replying. The square tube is 1 1/2" on the outside. At the end it has been swagger down to about 1 3/8". The inside dimension where it was swagger is 7/8". My guess is that they swagger it over a mandrel that is slightly larger than the rudder post end to ensure a tight slip fit when it is slid over the rudder post. I think that you could by a standard square tube with 1 1/2" outside dimension and 1" inside dimension and swage it in a hydraulic press over a 3/4" square rod. Swage one direction then the other and you are good to go. If you are talented enough to make a fixture to swage in both direction at the same time even better.

square tube.JPG

Swaged [attachment=0]Inside Dimension.JPG

Tube.JPG[/attachment]


Hope this helps. Good luck.

Keith

[steve poulin]

Thanks again, Keith. When I was down last weekend I measured my post--yep, 7/8 inch. My local welder has square metal tubing with a 7/8 inside dimension on the rack. Now I just have to calculate the right angle to which to attach the handle. Looks to be about 130 degrees in your pics? Think I'll have him cut the 18" piece, slip it over the post and then sharpie the perfect angle.