Sheet to Tiller Self-Steering

[LloydB]

"Assuming this is correct, why would not setting the direction of travel and then lashing the tiller not achieve the same result?"
Why not?Because you would not be setting the direction of travel but setting the point of direction of the boat relative to the set of the sails at that wind speed in those waves.
The tiller self-steering system however points the boat towards the same point of wind only.{generally}
my 2¢

 

[Joe]

Thank you to all for the replies.

I now intend to start selling my tiller lock system and will include in my marketing strategy that the majority of member's on this forum strongly endorse the product as being 100% effective, which I think is a fair assessment of the responses to my original posting.

I am including a photo of this which is being sold for $ 129.95 and it comes with a complete set of installation instructions so there should be no problems with the setup.

For anyone wishing to avail themselves of this revolutionary breakthrough, please post a request here. Bulk pricing offered.

Hardy, har har......... you're killing me, breezy. For 129.95 I want stainless, suede and leather accents.....

 

[anchorclanker]

Thank you to all for the replies.

I now intend to start selling my tiller lock system and will include in my marketing strategy that the majority of member's on this forum strongly endorse the product as being 100% effective, which I think is a fair assessment of the responses to my original posting.

Is this guy for real?

 

[justsomeguy]

I think it's the "silent, subtle, ever-present peril of" humor. Actually, I'm sure of it!

 

[philwsailz]

Thank you to all for the replies.

I now intend to start selling my tiller lock system and will include in my marketing strategy that the majority of member's on this forum strongly endorse the product as being 100% effective, which I think is a fair assessment of the responses to my original posting.

I am including a photo of this which is being sold for $ 129.95 and it comes with a complete set of installation instructions so there should be no problems with the setup.

For anyone wishing to avail themselves of this revolutionary breakthrough, please post a request here. Bulk pricing offered.

String, a length of chain, and installation instructions for $129.95? Wow, what a deal....

I also have my vintage weather stations for sale for the low-low price of $99.00. It is less money than your device because I don't need the chain. Otherwise they are quite similar...

Here is a brief excerpt from MY instruction sheet:

Hang string. Observe it:​

If it is hanging straight down, winds are calm.
If it is streaming sidways, it is windy................
If is it wet, it is raining.......................................
If you can't see the string, it is night-time.........​

Let me know if you want to work out a reciprocal distribution deal.........

Wait, all I gotta do is add chain... Oh, and a nail... Add note to instructions: Pound nail into tiller....

 

[anchorclanker]

"that the majority of member's on this forum strongly endorse the product as being 100% effective, which I think is a fair assessment of the responses to my original posting".

You should go into politics. Or used car sales.

 

[BreezyCricket]

"that the majority of member's on this forum strongly endorse the product as being 100% effective, which I think is a fair assessment of the responses to my original posting".

You should go into politics. Or used car sales.

Actually I considered both those professions before finishing high school but decided that it was a toss-up as to which of these were the most crooked, so I became a Lawyer instead, and this enables me to detect opinions others may not be aware of.

 

[philwsailz]

I have a tiller-lock design that I perfected several years ago that I will detail here free if anyone chooses to use it. Save your money!

* Mill a slot in the bottom of your tiller slightly deeper and wider than the head diameter of a stainless eye-bolt.
* Cross drill a thru-hole through the slot whereby a line can be passed through the thru-hole AND the head of the eyebolt leaving enough clearance above the thru-hole for the eye-bolt's material diameter/thickness.
* Pass a line through the hole, slot and eye-bolt assembly, fixturing both bitter ends to cleats well outboard.
*Install a knurled threaded knob onto threads of eyebolt, tightening it against the bottom of the tiller.

Tightening the knob pulls the eyebolt down in the slot, putting the rope in a bind, thereby locking the tiller at any position desired. This is a truly analog design, as opposed to the less functional "digital" design shown on the previous page, where the angular adjustment is fixed and limited by the size of the chain links....

The added benefit is that by varying the tightness of the "clutch" in this design, one can input minor course correction by easing the tiller and allowing the line to slide through under lower tension/friction. This allows you to more-or-less leave the system "on" even while hand-tilling.

 

[anchorclanker]

I became a Lawyer instead, and this enables me to detect opinions others may not be aware of.

That pretty much sums it up.

 

[Joe11688]

This sheet to tiller steering is a lot of fun to experiment with. I started experimenting with it back around the mid 1980s when I first learned about it in a popular boating magazine back then called "Small Boat Journal." This magazine was chuck full of articles on boat modifications. Some of them were pretty good, and some not too good. I tried one of them that involved using the Gennie sheet tied to the tiller with a surgical tube to counter act it. I mounted a cheek block on each of my combings for the sheet to pass through. Looking back now, I wish I had bought a couple of snatch blocks and tied them to my rails rather than bolt hardware to my deck that I would later remove.
It was the same way with the bungee cord sail tie system that they had in one of their articles which involved mounting small metal eye straps and metal hooks to the sides of my boom. I abandoned that idea and today I'm left with the holes in my boom to remind me of it.
In short I just want to say that these are fun ideas that someone came up with but they may not work out best on your boat. I recommend that when you try them out, don't add hardware to your boat that you may have to remove later on.

I later wound up buying two used sailboat snatch blocks at a pretty good price in a marine consignment store and I use them whenever the occasion calls for them. I only wish I had bought them before I mounted those cheek blocks on my combing years ago.
I had a lot of fun experimenting with the sheet to tiller steering back in those years but with all that said and done, I'll take an electronic autopilot any day over any of those systems.

 

[centerline]

This sheet to tiller steering is a lot of fun to experiment with. I wish I had bought a couple of snatch blocks and tied them to my rails rather than bolt hardware to my deck that I would later remove.
I abandoned that idea and today I'm left with the holes in my boom to remind me of it.
I recommend that when you try them out, don't add hardware to your boat that you may have to remove later on..

this is good advise,... think of the options and consequences before before drilling! but no matter what you have to remove from the deck, boom, mast or any other part of your boat, always put the screws back into the holes. (use pan head if the hole isnt countersunk) it just looks cleaner and more finished.... and in some cases, just like its supposed to be that way.

 

[BreezyCricket]

I guess this really will have to be my last word on this matter because I find it necessary to devote an increasing amount of time to manufacturing my tiller-lock product which, at the cut-rate price I am offering them, are flying off the shelf.

However, for anyone who erroneously may feel that my product is overpriced and would like to try something on their own, I would like to offer some advice.

Don't drill holes in your boat if you don't have to, and rather than try bungee cords or surgical tubing, as have been mentioned in some postings, visit your local service station or tire dealer and offer to take an old damaged car tube off their hands, which can be cut into a very wide variety of strips, allowing for almost unlimited trial-and-error troubleshooting.

The following pictures show my setup and I think it may be possible to adapt something similar to other units.

 

[Stu Jackson]

That's very clever. We sure hope it won't be the last we hear from you on this, 'cuz it's been so delightful, entertaining and informational.

I'll bet if you painted the board a nice gloss white it would look even better. From what you have it looks workable.

Good luck and please report back in on how it works and what you could do to improve. My first guess would be reverting to surgical tubing, but that's only based on experience.

All the best, and thanks again.

Fair winds,

Stu

 

[centerline]

I guess this really will have to be my last word on this matter because I find it necessary to devote an increasing amount of time to manufacturing my tiller-lock product which, at the cut-rate price I am offering them, are flying off the shelf.

However, for anyone who erroneously may feel that my product is overpriced and would like to try something on their own, I would like to offer some advice.

Don't drill holes in your boat if you don't have to, and rather than try bungee cords or surgical tubing, as have been mentioned in some postings, visit your local service station or tire dealer and offer to take an old damaged car tube off their hands, which can be cut into a very wide variety of strips, allowing for almost unlimited trial-and-error troubleshooting.

The following pictures show my setup and I think it may be possible to adapt something similar to other units.

HEY... another boat with knotty pine trim, I just saw someone else's post with some of that installed. y'all are gonna start a new fad if ya keep showin' your handywork that way, but for your project there on the taffrail, you should have used sawed off broom handles cuz the rounded look goes better with the design of the boat.... and the inner tube thing, thats just downright unique.... im surprised the rest of the world hasnt picked up on that concept years ago. it just boggles the mind to think where technology would be today if you would have been around to come up with this stuff a few hundred years ago.... I bet we would be doing time travel in spaceboats using solar wind and traveling to all sorts of exotic destinations outside of the universe.... and as far as the lawyering thing goes, im sure you missed your calling somewhere, somehow in your younger days... its a cryin' shame is what it is....

 

[anchorclanker]

Im checking my calendar to see if its April 1. Maybe he did shift time and nobody noticed, because that deal would have looked pretty trick, in 1492

 

[Scribe]

Can someone explain something regarding this to an amateur.

I have viewed this youtube video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQNBlrg0VyI

mentioned in one of the replies, in which the self-steering control line is attached to the boom and then connected to the tiller via a pulley.

How can this line apply any pressure to the tiller, because doesn't the mainsail control line prevent the boom from moving outward, which it would have to do to re-direct the rudder?

 

[Stu Jackson]

What happens is that as the mainsheet gets tighter by the wind against the sail, it pulls on the line to the tiller. It is only a slight movement, but enough to overcome the (slight) pressure form the surgical tubing. It is a DELICATE balance.

If you have more technical questions, you should read the offered links and resources for those details, which include vector diagrams and very good explanations. Some of those details take pages and pages in Letcher's book, for example.

IIRC, Cruising World did a writeup on this, too, and it may be on their website. However, they got one of the important diagrams wrong, and had to print a correction in the next issue (which may NOT be on the website, offering nothing but further confusion).

 

[saculmot]

Here's a simple illustration regarding why you need the elastic correction: get in your car and tie the steering wheel off and head down the road. Without corrections to keep you on the road, where do you expect to end up?