Tiller rubs the traveler cleat when two-blocked?!

[JuanCH]

HI there, I´ve been noticing that whenever I sail upwind two blocked my carbon tiller rubs a bit the traveler cleat, whenver I ease the vang that disappears, has anyone experienced that? How can I resolve the problem? We are talking legal stuff(cleat-tiller) here. Thanks!

 

[jeffers]

HI there, I´ve been noticing that whenever I sail upwind two blocked my carbon tiller rubs a bit the traveler cleat, whenver I ease the vang that disappears, has anyone experienced that? How can I resolve the problem? We are talking legal stuff(cleat-tiller) here. Thanks!

Sounds like your rudder pintels are worn causing the stock to drop. I had this on my first boat. The fix is easy either:

1) Buy a new set on pintels and put them on

2) Turn the top pintel over

This generally sorts out any issues. If this does not fix it then check the head of the stock where the tiller goes in. if it is not a good fit then the tiller may have some play in it and you might need to tweak it slightly.

 

[uid100]

I think he means gudgeon, not pintle. If the gudgeons are worn, the rudder will sag which may be the cause of your problem, but you'd also likely see the tiller rubbing on the back of the deck. The quick fix for a sagging rudder is to grab a couple of washers and slip them over the pintles to lift the rudder back up. If this fixes the problem, then consider either flipping or replacing the gudgeons. If the tiller is hitting the cleat, but not rubbing on the back deck, I'd look more at the head on the back of the tiller to see that it's not moving in the rudder head when the traveler is pressing down on it.

I'm not questioning your description of the details, but I'm having trouble working this out. Sailing two-blocked with little or much vang shouldn't change the angle of the traveler blocks that much. In fact, if anything, I would have expected the opposite, more vang = less sheet tension = less traveler tension (maybe) = more downward pressure on the tiller. Unless your traveler is just not tight enough to notice it all the time, so you are only starting to see it while two-blocked.

Anyone?

 

[Sailorchick]

Check you tiller carefully. I had to replace mine recently as when tying the rudder down after launching noticed a nice crack the whole way accross the tiller a inch or so away from the rudder stock. It had been a bit flexible for a while but hadn't actually noticed the crack before hand!

 

[AlanD]

It can also be caused by wear of the tiller stock / rudder head. This was common with the aluminium tillers, I'd assume the carbon ones do the same.

 

[laserxd]

I don't think the vang would cause that to happen. Its probably time to replace the gudgeons, you can flip them over easily and see if that helps. It could happen if your tiller isn't all the way in on the rudder head, or the rudder head is damaged/bent/worn-out.