Hi,
I'm considering converting from wheel steering to a tiller (I had been considering that even before my steering system broke ) on my 1996 Catalina 250WB. One problem I'm anticipating is that the rudder seems to be designed to be locked in place by the steering system's tiller. Once the steering system is gone, the rudder stays in place just by the force of gravity - it's very easy to take out (together with the whole bracket and the tiller). I'm concerned that perhaps a big wave may pop it out, especially when it's in the kicked up position (which I sometimes may need to use, to be ready for low tides where it's moored currently). There is no hole to put a pin or anything like that to lock it, that I can see...
Has anyone here done such a conversion? Have you changed or modified the rudder as well, or kept it as-is?
I would have asked this as a follow-up question in the following thread:
Association Forum - Catalina 250 Wheel Steering To Tiller Conversion (catalina-capri-25s.org)
...but the association forum doesn't let me in... :-| does anyone know if that association's web site and forum are still active?
I'm considering converting from wheel steering to a tiller (I had been considering that even before my steering system broke ) on my 1996 Catalina 250WB. One problem I'm anticipating is that the rudder seems to be designed to be locked in place by the steering system's tiller. Once the steering system is gone, the rudder stays in place just by the force of gravity - it's very easy to take out (together with the whole bracket and the tiller). I'm concerned that perhaps a big wave may pop it out, especially when it's in the kicked up position (which I sometimes may need to use, to be ready for low tides where it's moored currently). There is no hole to put a pin or anything like that to lock it, that I can see...
Has anyone here done such a conversion? Have you changed or modified the rudder as well, or kept it as-is?
I would have asked this as a follow-up question in the following thread:
Association Forum - Catalina 250 Wheel Steering To Tiller Conversion (catalina-capri-25s.org)
...but the association forum doesn't let me in... :-| does anyone know if that association's web site and forum are still active?