Making Carbon Tiller

Typrix

New Member
I've read from certain sites that it is possible to home-make carbon tillers but I hope that I can get some advice before actually trying it out as the commercial carbon tillers are too expensive for me. What thickness of carbon fiber rod is actually appropriate and what kind should I use? Any help from anyone with experience in this is appreciated.
 
all the carbon tillers ive seen dont use carbon rod

the carbon cloth is liad out in a mould just like building boats
 
We made a tiller extension with a golf club for our Hunter 27. Our old tiller extension broke, we took the connector off and my husband put it on an old golf club. It works for the Hunter but we did not consider using one for the Laser.

One thing we did to our old aluminum tiller extension whose foam grip started falling off is to take it to a golf pro shop and have a golf grip put on. It cost $5 at the time and worked well and was used for about a year. This tiller extension is now my backup since I have upgraded to a longer carbon fiber tiller extension along with a new carbon fiber tiller.
 
rock steady said:
http://grotr4.tripod.com/ "Things to do for a Laser" is a great site. The tiller extension made from a Golf Club is a brilliant idea. Has anyone tried it?

I've made a few for various boats - the shorter the extension, the easier it is, as you movr up the shaft gets larger in dia and you can fit the universal inside the shaft. (Opti's are dead simple :) ) Laser's, with their long extension usually require a short length of tubing (PVC pipe will work) to go over the universal and over the end of the shaft to couple them together.

If you go the broken golf club route, bring a universal with you, you may get lucky and find a long enough club that is also big enough in diameter to slip the uni inside the shaft w/o having to do any mods.
 
Howdy Y'all oops I'm mean yawl,
I have made two extensions a 45" and a 51" from golf club shafts. I bought one graphite driver shaft and it is the 45" extension. The 51" shaft is from a long putter shaft and it is made out of aluminium. I turned them around and fitting the universal into the handle end. With a little bit of shaving them, they fit great and then used a 3/16" roll pin cut to the shaft diameter to hold the universal in place. I finished it off with shrink wrap tubing over the roll pin hole and it looks factory good.
The only problem with them is the skinny grip end with the shaft reversed. I think I am going to use some cork circles that are used to make fishing rod grips and bulk up the end with them.
If anyone is interested in how it comes out let me know.
Regards,
Fishingmickey
150087/181157

P.S. The graphite shaft cost $15.00 and the universal was $8.00.
 
Tiller extension


Instead of golf shafts, I use a ski pole shaft. Stick to a high end ski pole such as a racing ski pole.

Advantages over a golf club:

The aluminum is very stiff and strong, usually 7075 alloy.

This will be the lightest extension even challenging the graphite ones

The pole is tapered so it allows a universal to be easily fitted.

the thickness is very comfortable to grip, I use foam grips normally made for 10sp bicycles
 
Great idea Steven!
Ski poles are hard to come by down here in Texas... I'll have to do a search on them to see if I can find a source on line.
Regards,
Fishingmickey
181157/150087
 
My advise, go to a golf course, then to the pro shop, and ask for a broken club (the longest driver they have...) they'll probably give it to you for free. Try golf shops too.
 
To change back the topic to tillers (instead of extensions):
Making a carbon tiller is extremely difficult. I think it would make more sense to make an aluminum low-profile tiller. I am experimenting with it. I have created an extremely flat alu tiller (2/8" or 7 mm), but it bends too much to my liking. I will try to make it stiffer at the aft end. Does anyone have done anything like this succesfully?

Gerard
 
I'm a ski racer aswell, so I've always used my old ski poles. Their great, and I'm testing a new styrofoam/duct tape grip, so I'm sort of making the ultimate "ghetto tiller extension"

Duct tape and old ski poles.. what more do you need in life :)


I'd stray away from working with carbon, from my experience, it's pretty annoying. If you do decide to do something with it though, good luck ;)
 
you need a steel tube (make it whatever diameter you want) you also need something (such as mylar laminate material & make sure its glossy) to cover the steel tube (it has to be a tight fit & be longer than the length of the tiller extension) & stop it from getting resin on the steel tube. carbon, don't ask me the layup cause i don't know. epoxy, not west system something good, such as ATL or FGI, clear sticky tape. something to stick down in between the cover of the steel tube & the tiller. wet your covered bit of steel up, then lay your carbon over it, you have push the carbon on whilst wetting it out, this might make it very hard to do, depending on the stiffness of the carbon, once you have finished wetting it out & laying the carbon on, get your stick tape out & wrap it tightly around the carbon all the way up, but don't put it sticky side down, the sticky side goes out. put your fully made tube out in the sun/or something to keep it heated to make it cure. then pull the sticky tape off, this is hard, use a knife blade. then you can use a pole, (such as a broom handle) to push whatever you used to cover the steel off the carbon.








this will take a while to do. by the time you have it all worked out, it woulda been a hell of a lot cheaper to buy a carbon stick
 
haha i was just out practicing with some of my coachs and one of the dads had made a tiller out of an old hockey stick! he cut it to length and made a wood end that goes in the tiller.. put 2 long screws and some epoxy and attached the extention. it was pretty flimsy but it was pretty low to the deck. probibly not totaly legal but it was pretty cool!
 

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