Tiller issue on old Sunfish

asagin

New Member
I just bought an old Sunfish sailboat with an old style rudder attachment. When I move the tiller it rubs against the bolt/wingnut in the spring plate. For some reason the tiller is not clearing this bolt when the tiller is moved. I'm curious if anyone has any advice.
 
Thank you! That is helpful. I'm trying to figure out exactly where the shim would go. Here is a photo of the rudder where the tiller attaches. You can see where the bottom of the tiller has a groove from scraping against the wingnut on the spring plate. Do you have a photo of an apparatus with a shim so I understand how I would go about it? Thanks again.
 

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Your rudder blade is not stock, reference the extra holes. The old style rudder had a notch on the forward edge of the blade.

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Sometimes a little rubber bumper can be added. You might experiment with adding a small piece of wood to act as a wedge between the tiller and the rudder blade.

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thank you! This is very helpful.
<snip>
Sometimes a little rubber bumper can be added. You might experiment with adding a small piece of wood to act as a wedge between the tiller and the rudder blade.

Your suggestion, Signal Charlie, reminded me that my Dad would save old bicycle tubes that had gone flat. He'd snip off a piece for me and my brother to make a slingshot, or a strip for insulation on a circuit board.... I recently cut off a piece of inner tube that I'd been saving and glued it to the inside of my 'new style' aluminum rudder cheeks to give the rudder something soft to bounce against when lifting the rudder.
 

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