Made a new tiller

[steffenme1]

The tiller that came with my Sunfish was covered in duct tape and (for some reason) was 4 inches short, so I whipped up a new one. After learning in this thread: http://sailingforums.com/threads/tiller-material.29272/ That anything made by me was illegal I figured I should at least make a nice one.

The old one, and a mahogany cut-off I had laying around:



I wasn't sure how the extension was 'supposed' to mount to the tiller, so I used 2 threaded stainless inserts:





The piece was actually a bit of a pain to cut because I left the cheeks on the tiller where the extension mounts, but it finished up fine, here is is drying/dried:





And finally stuck on the boat:



Had a chance to take it out a few times since then and it works just fine, not that a tapered stick is a very difficult piece of hardware to fashion.

 

[signal charlie]

Nice, can you whip up about 300,000 more?

Kent

 

[minifish2]

The tiller that came with my Sunfish was covered in duct tape and (for some reason) was 4 inches short, so I whipped up a new one. After learning in this thread: http://sailingforums.com/threads/tiller-material.29272/ That anything made by me was illegal I figured I should at least make a nice one.d

Nice shop!

Looking at that last picture, if you want to avoid etching a new arch on the stern deck four inches beyond the existing one, you might pad the bottom of the tiller end. Here's the curious thing though. The existing arch looked to be about where I would expect it to be. How long was that original tiller? (the factory stock wooden tillers are 44 inches, before adding the aluminum straps)

 

[sailcraftri]

If you were to build another I would suggest that instead of squaring off the end with the extension, that you taper the wood instead. The squared off portion becomes a high stress area right where it meets the narrowed portion.

 

[steffenme1]

Looking at that last picture, if you want to avoid etching a new arch on the stern deck four inches beyond the existing one, you might pad the bottom of the tiller end. Here's the curious thing though. The existing arch looked to be about where I would expect it to be. How long was that original tiller? (the factory stock wooden tillers are 44 inches, before adding the aluminum straps)

Yeah, I added a piece of 3M clear bra plastic under the tiller and while it keeps it from scratching it makes a tremendous HONKING noise when moving across the deck so I'll replace it with a soft piece of velcro or something similar.

With regards to the length it's too damned long, when I looked at the drawing in the class rules:



I mistakenly interpreted it mean that the tiller was 48", and mine being 44" must have been cut previously. However after looking again and re-reading comments here and in my previous thread it's clear I'm quite wrong and will have to whack 4" off the end. Live and learn I suppose.

 

[minifish2]

Yeah, I added a piece of 3M clear bra plastic under the tiller and while it keeps it from scratching it makes a tremendous HONKING noise when moving across the deck so I'll replace it with a soft piece of velcro or something similar.

With regards to the length it's too damned long, when I looked at the drawing in the class rules:



I mistakenly interpreted it mean that the tiller was 48", and mine being 44" must have been cut previously. However after looking again and re-reading comments here and in my previous thread it's clear I'm quite wrong and will have to whack 4" off the end. Live and learn I suppose.

For sure you wouldn't be the first to interpret it like that. That illustration in the rules could be better. My high school mechanical drawing teacher would not have been impressed.