My New Tiller Extension...

marvin-miller

Arrrr...
Hi Folks;

About 15 years ago I was sailing in a good stiff wind and promptly broke my stock Laser tiller extension (the aluminum one with the plastic knob on the end). That caused me to flip and it ended up in the water where it sank before I could get to it :mad:

At the time ordering a new one wasn't a viable option so I lived without it for a few years until a buddy made me one out of 3/4" square tube stainless steel ! It worked, but believe me, you didn't want to get hit by that thing :eek:

Anyway, the whole tiller extension thing really pissed me off and so I tended to ignore it as much as possible. It ended up being one of those 'sore spots' that nag you every season when you remember it's missing but it's too late because you're rigging the boat...

As it so happens, I live on a cliff above the water and so a buddy dropped off a ratty old driver one day with the idea that I could use it to practice my golf swing by hitting rocks with it :)

Needless to say, after seeing some posts on the Internet about tiller extensions and golf clubs, I finally fixed my problem once and for all - and upgraded to carbon graphite with a nice rubber grip :D

Here's some pics of the original stainless 'monster'. It was handy when you have someone with you on the boat and they're getting out of line :D I lived with that thing for many years....

I realize for most of you this stuff is old hat but this fixed a big issue for me....the only thing left now is to address that mast step leak and I'm back in business!
 

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That looks great except for what should be a rubber universal joint. It looks like it would be hard to get one on though. However if you can get your joint to work then stick with it.
 
nice... that's the old school universal joint... I prefer that one to the newer rubber one because the tiller and extension fold together nicely.

I bet the length of the golf club is pretty nice too...
 
Hi Folks ~ thanks for the kind comments :)

The extension ended up being exactly 42" once installed - I can't remember how long the original aluminum one was but I think it was shorter...

That is the original univeral - I didn't know they had changed! :confused: I've only been going by how the original one worked and it was able to swivel in any direction and even be flipped completely over. This one worked out the same - the extension can be moved in any direction.

The end of the shaft where it joins the universal has an aluminum collar with a hole drilled though both the collar and the graphite shaft. It doesn't look that strong but I've been looking/thinking about how it operates and I doubt I'll have any issues with it.

Ocne I fix my mast step leak I will be able to test it out with my first sail in more then 10 years !!! (the boat has been sidetracked with the tiller extension issue, the sail needed to be replaced and the mast step leak).

Thanks to Intensity sails I was able to get a brand new sail for little $$ Thanks to the game of golf I was able to get a graphite extension for nothing and thanks to this site I think I have enough knowledge to go after the last issue - the mast step leak :)

I'm getting excited!!!
 
Looks like our boats are the same colour Marvin, not surprising I guess when they came from the same factory and are likely less than 1 year apart.

I was fortunate enough to buy mine early 2008 from a guy who had barely used it over the course of 25+ years and it came with a brand new unused 3.8 class legal sail. Its in cherry condition and with very few scratches + a dry stiff hull has been a surprisingly competitive boat..... Once I upgraded all the antiquated controls ;)

It also came with a brand new unused aluminum tiller and tiller extension with the old SS uj (still have the varnished wooden one). I've purchased a rubber uj but haven't bothered to fit it yet as the SS one is like new and hasn't caused any problems, yet.
 
Sounds like a good score! Maybe I'm biased but I think those were good years from a good manufacturer :)

I got mine when I was 12 and sailed most summers full time for several years. As I got older my friends got into wind surfing (I was the only person with a boat - and still am) and so I ended up sailing in some pretty cookin' places with them. I used to sail it at a place called Nitinat - there'd be hundreds of wind surfers out there doing the same back & forth tack over and over and then I'd barge in with my boat and try to run them over :D:)

My boat's seen a LOT of use. Still, it's in pretty good shape. The last time I was out in it was about 10 years ago in a 40 knot wind (true). It was pretty wild (and quite dangerous) and promptly wrecked my original sail (which was well overdue for replacement) and also caused my mast step to leak. That wind also highlighted many deficiencies in my rigging (and my plastic cleats). Believe it or not, that day actually put some fear into me and I had no urge to sail again for a couple of years!

Because I've always sailed the boat with the same original sail it should be pretty neat to see how tight it is with a new one and more proper rigging. I got at least 15 years out of that sail - routinely in +20 knots winds. The last time I was out with it I heard and saw the thing stretch right in front of my eyes!

I was going so fast that water was shooting up the rudder like a rooster tail and the whine from the hull actually stopped (I actually sailed past it!). That was also the first time I ever put the boat totally under water while sailing. What a trip! After 15 years of sailing there were many firsts that day.

Anyway, I hope to try that again once I get it all straightened out. I learned something on that last sail - it can be dangerous and I almost bit the big one out there - literally. This time around the boat will be completely solid before I attempt that again. :cool:
 
to get the joint on the shaft, you might consider drilling a small hole in the rubber of the joint, coating the shaft end, and the inside of the hole with epoxy and stuffing it all together. i did this when i was sailing the byte and it held up very well, without any problems!
 
Hi clouser_minnow;

That's pretty much what I did. The end of the club was fitted with an aluminum collar and so I drilled a hole through both the shaft and the collar that was almost the exact size of the stock retaining pin. Once I was satisified with the result I then epoxied the collar to the shaft.

It's looking pretty solid - I took a close up of the universal and you can see the collar in the post above :)
 
In Oz you can get a 'Cyclone' brand aluminium handled (Aluminum for you US folks) plasic blade garden leaf rake for around $20 AUD. The handle is almost identical in diameter and wall thickness to the standard Laser tiller and long enough for a competitive extension.

This is not as light as carbon but is way stiff enough and if you use tape or leather binding for grip is really nice to use (like a fatso Jnr but round)

Pretty simple to fit a Ronstan (or other brand ) rubber universal and nylon bush insert at the joint end (because they fit without packing tape) - and it comes with an end cap (pitty its yellow)

An alternative joint can be a urethane 'tendon' pinned in the end of the tiller and end of the extension (used an old HiFly mast tendon as a replacement on a friend's boat 3 years ago and it appears to be still going strong.

Bonus is you can fit an old broom handle to the leaf rake end that is left and still tidy up the yard.
 

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