Can't get pin in Tiller on Rudder Head

L

LarsenCanvas

Guest
Has anyone else had the problem that they can shove the tiller into the rudder head far enough to get the pin to go in? If so I'm wondering what options some have used to fixt the problem. I'm thinking about either sanding the fitting on the end of the tiller down just a little, or drilling the hole a little bigger. I'm a little concerned about drilling the hole bigger because it might cause some other issues.

Greg

Larsen Canvas.
 
what type tiller do you have???

if you have carbon fiber or a timber tiller, then yeah sand it down to create a nice snugg fit, but don't sand too much of the carbon fibre tiller,


have you tried lubricating it??
before i put the tiller in the stock i dip the end of the tiller in the water and that makes it slide in the stock a lit better
Hope this helps.

--------
Bring on the sailing season
 
I usually have trouble also and I end up having to slam it in with a lot of wiggling. It helps to make sure there is no sand or anything else on any connecting parts... getting it wet helps. Generally the pins aren't straight, they have a bend in them. By angling the pin bach and forth you may be able to slide it in better.
 
I normally can get it in if I wiggle it. Problem is my son can't get it in. I'm thinking of sanding it down. Oh by the way my in an aluminum tiller with a plastic fitting that goes into the the rudder head. Would there be any problems if I sand it down a fraction of an inch to small? I'm just wondering if it is jamming up on the small right angle surface on each side of the tiller. I think that is where it is and sanding the little 1/8 inch surface can't be and easy task. Maybe a file would be the best tool. What do you think?
 
You might want to search the threads here, a lot of us don't use the pin at all. The downhaul serves the same purpose and the pin does a nice job of catching the mainsheet on jibes
 
Lightly sanding down the plastic wedge to make it fit better is okay. Use some Mclube for that extra little bit. The nice thing about using the pin is when you are ramp launching and retriving you can uncleat your rudder downhaul to kick up your rudder and not pull out the tiller..
 
I consider get rid of the pin, but my son says he has had the tiller come out. I'm guessing this is because he doesn't tie the rudder down all the good to the tiller. So I'll do a little sanding and consider using water or McLube to make is slide in a little better.
 
contradicting what everyone has just said, i always put the pin in, i can only ever recall the mainsheet catching on the pin once and that was because i didn't push it all the way in.
 
I can't get the tiller line to stay cleated, so without the pin I end up pulling the tller out. My mainsheet doesn't get caught on the pin. It gets caught on the transom before it has a chance to do that!

Merrily
 
You want to have that line cleated Merilly! Otherwise the rudder will come up and that is not fast!
I just jam in the tiller and it is really hard to get it out, so no need for a pin!
GWF
 
Georg W.F. said:
You want to have that line cleated Merilly! GWF

I have it cleated. I'm saying that sometimes it comes uncleated, so it's a good idea, at least for me, to have that pin in.
 
I have the same problem, and I talked to my coach about it. He said that the pin doesnt matter. So i sailed all summer with out it and i didnt have any problems with it.
 
The pin doesnt matter, as long as you have the downhaul. If you really really want the pin though, bend it at the end so the mainsheet doesnt get caught. Even if you think the mainsheet won't get hooked on it. It happens at the worst times.
 
Merrily said:
I have it cleated. I'm saying that sometimes it comes uncleated, so it's a good idea, at least for me, to have that pin in.

Maybe you can replace the downhaul with a line that NEVER uncleats. :)

GWF
 
Well, I'm not getting rid of my pin for nuttin' and no one, but it would be nice to have a line that doesn't uncleat. What line do you suggest? And why do you call it a downhaul? I thought that was another name for cunningham.

Merrily

Georg W.F. said:
Maybe you can replace the downhaul with a line that NEVER uncleats. :)

GWF
 
Merrily said:
Well, I'm not getting rid of my pin for nuttin' and no one, but it would be nice to have a line that doesn't uncleat. What line do you suggest? And why do you call it a downhaul? I thought that was another name for cunningham.
Merrily

Well, it is called a "rudder downhaul" since it hauls the rudder down :D

In any case, use a pre-stretched line, thickness 5/32. APS recommends Marlow Super pre-stretch, but others should work as well.
Once you have the right line you might become less religious about your pin.

GWF
 
There are a couple of things you can do as far as the cleat/line - FWIW, I like the cleat placement on the ACME tiller (on top, behind the trav) - as long as the trav is on reasonably tight, it prevents the tiller from coming all the way out, even with no pin and no downhaul on.... I also prefer to have to really bang my tiller into the rudder head to get in on and bang it out to take it off. It's all about reducing play - not that important in light air, but pretty comforting when the breeze is on and you are making quick stabs downwind to prevent a deathroll...

As far as cleats go, the little clam cleat on the ACME or a regular clam cleat or even the button that the Rooster tiller has, all work - the piece of plastic posing as a cleat on the Vanguard alum tiller circa 2002 is a useless unless you use it as a button ala the Rooster and tie it off somewhere else.

The cleat should be correctly sized for the line and the line size is somewhat dictated by the hole in the rudder stock - IIRC I'm using 5/32", I think you may run into problems with getting knot to sit flush in the hole when using 3/16" I'm using 12strand spectra for the downhaul, never had it move in the cleat.

I set the rudder bolt with enough tension that I have to push the blade down by hand, and I also use a 3/1 purchase in the downhaul line - both of these serve to decrease load on the line in the cleat..


Rudders can have downhauls and uphauls - pretty universal name for any line that moves something up/down - Can't use downf#$%^er, that term is already taken for spin/sprit pole downhauls :)
 

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