Anyone else made their own carbon tiller ?

Voodoo 158546

Hard hiking at the end of a 3hr race, killer
I recently snapped a tiller x launching on an unfamiliar slipway ( trying to be the gentleman and moving for a girl ) and jury rigged a quick replacement using an old carbon fishing rod section cut to length and glued in etc, with foam grip n such.
I've been resisting a low profile carbon tiller though for ages but lately I've taken a fancy to having one, but buying one winds me up, I'd rather make it home ...
Anyone got any exp. with this ?
I'm thinking foam core shaped to spec and vacuuming a carbon wrap - 3- 4 mm ?
 
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Thanks Alex/Steve,
I like making use of ( obscure ) items.
In this case though I'm going to make one from scratch, using carbon tubes and cloth.
Might do a pictorial.
 
Voodoo, cool! Keep us informed with pictures. Which cross section and construction do you have in mind? I Just broke my carbon stick yesterday while surf landing ( crashing) on the beach . Will you also try making your stick? Cheers.
 
Yo Gil,
I'll be getting all the bits together v soon, mentally building it before I cut any tube or cloth.
 
So I've been a bit busy elsewhere and haven't got all the tube yet, got the cloth and resin and the stock end fitting.
Meanwhile, you know how much 'they' charge for a carbon extension ? Yeah dollars right !
Well I got a landing net & 6 foot carbon pole (top end brand ) off ebay for £12 ( $20 ) !
Carefully cut to length and here it is with the u.j. being bonded in ( epoxy cloth & west 405 ).
20 mins. work for 1/5 th of the price...
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Oh well, it's began...
Starting out with a little home brew resin infusion to form a universal joint retainer to build into the end rather than having to screw/ rivet a plastic one on
 

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Mate I have that same worktop in my kitchen.....spooky!

Looks good so far, and using lending net handles are nothing new. The RS600, 700 and Cherub boys have been using them for years as a cheap source of carbon pole....
 
Ahh the granite, yeah great solid surface but a bit cold to vacuum on...I've been putting the stack together here then vacuuming directly on top of a radiator - bloody amazin' ....the piece is handle able after an hour !
 
Hey Voodoo,
well done! how does it feel/handle? will you keep working on the tiller? Don't forget sailing.
Cheers
 
Hey Gill,
the xtension is gawjus, 1.2m long, half way has non slip grip, ultra light & very stiff...I put the uj on so it naturally falls forward in the cockpit ( having it wanting to lay back to the transom was murder, both trolleying up n down the slip - and jumping in at launching....always getting tangled in the sheet),

The tiller is taking shape !
Used the top sections of 3 identical carp rods ( ebay for 18 quid ! Luv ebay), two laying one way the third laying the other, cut at the appropriate length to sit inside the stock.
I wanted to get rid of that ugly uphaul cleat and keep things slick, so using the 'thin end ' of the centre tube in between the opposing 'fat ends' of the outer two so it fit inside the stock with the thick plate uprights.
The uphaul itself will go up its usual route in the stock then inside the central tube and almost all the way to the xtension end - 16cm shy of the tiller end- where it reappears from a scalloped groove, the idea is to have a small neat eye splice that hooks over a nipple on the tiller end..discreet.

Here it's getting a layer of twill wrap, another two more to do and let's see how stiff it is.
 

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Nearly done it Gill !
I think I've got rid of the ugly cleat necessity aswell.
 

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