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Tiller Pivots


zed280

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Now you can have the $300 solution or the $20 solution......

You can but a full set of Ackerman self centering rudders arms for $300 plus - they are very nice - ideal for top level racing boats.

An alternative is to direct bolt the joint.

First drill out the rivets of the old rubber joints, buy a 1 metre length of aluminium tubing which is a size smaller than the rudder cross bar, so it can neatly slide inside the cross bar, cut  two  300mm lengths of tube and slide into each end of the rudder cross bar, don’t fix it just let it slide, align the ends of the cross bar and rudder arms with th cross bar on top and drill right through the cross arm and rudder arm, put an appropriate sized bolt through with plastic washers/spacers then put the nut on the bottom, align your rudders by sliding the sleeve in and out then rivet in place — done.

A very slightly more expensive but neater option is to buy tube ends from BCF - the sort that join canopy cover frames - still using the sleeve inserts to get the alignment correct.

 

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In times gone by I would have used the appropriate sized Nylex clear "plastic" tube.  Cheap and readily available - Bunnies have it.  This was a popular way of doing the tiller hinges and won plenty of Nationals.  Having said that I now use a more sophisticated system, but I am not sure it is a better system .

maricat12.JPG

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Another tuppence worth: Google "ackerman steering formula" and it shows what Ackerman really is.  I think the tiller setup on new Maricats has nothing to do with Ackerman since the tillers are straight just a marketing ploy to make you pay more than your boat cost you just for a rudder setup!

One of the reasons that the old format tillers are bent is so that an Ackerman geometry setup can be achieved.  Google search will eventually find the right setup for cats.  Can't remember how it worked but I think you take a line from say the shrouds to line up the rudder when they're hard over.

In Whitworths: https://www.whitworths.com.au/riley-stainless-steel-transom-gudgeon-1-4  are the rudder pintles that we use to hang the rudders but I have a couple bolted to the tiller to attach the cross bar to.  $7.80 each compared to $14.95 for the bungy joint version https://www.whitworths.com.au/riley-tiller-extension-universal-joint  I think this is a good one though, no play but you'd need to keep them out of the sun because they just snap off when they've been out a few years.

My understanding of aligning rudders is you do the ackerman effect by bending the tiller in on both sides.  To line the blade up take a line from the bow back to the stern (middle) and line the blades (sticking straight out).  Make sure they are both straight.  I just bent them in (ie twisted the tillers so they curve inwards) and then rivet them to the rudder case.  Can't remember whether you should rivet from the side or the top - side I think - less movement that causes the rivet to break.

Mine seems to be right now - I can actually tack most of the time!

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The clear plastic tubing that connected my tillers to my crossbar (over the top of the broken flex links) went yellow and stiff, then split.

Now I have new clear plastic tubing. The closest size Bunnings had was a bit loose, but nothing a couple of stainless hose clamps couldn't fix. Good for toe-in adjustments, I'm sure.

I like the look of Pete's solution above. What are those ball joints meant to be from?

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Similar to Petes' solution, I just use ronstan pintles (similar to what is bolted to the transom) with 1" space, riveted to tiller inside face, then Rods idea for crossbar adjustment. The ends have to be rounded so they don't bind. Fit hem to the crossbar first, to get best alignment with tillers.

 

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Similar to Petes' solution, I just use ronstan pintles (similar to what is bolted to the transom) with 1" space, riveted to tiller inside face, then Rods idea for crossbar adjustment. The crossbar ends have to be rounded so they don't bind. Fit hem to the crossbar first, to get best alignment with tillers.

 

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