DIY tiller tamer fails (‘68 Javelin)

[Philly2DC2LBI]

What is it about the wrapped rope that doesn't work?

I always used a newish 3/8" nylon line so that had a good deal of stretch. I would then go across the cockpit with the three turns and stretch it tight and cleat it. On one of my boats, the cleats were not in the right place, so I went from the cleat, forward around the front stanchion of the pushpit and across to the same point on the other side. The line needs to be in a straight line across the cockpit with no deflection at the tiller or it will slide forward or back and loosen the tension that you use for friction.

You might give it another try and post a photo of your setup.
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Oh - in addition to the not holding the course for more than a beat or two, the other thing about the wrapping seems to be that if I get the boat on a line and only have the lightest of touch on the tiller, there's something about the wrapping and cleating off itself that makes the tiller shift off the course. We're talking about a 15 foot dinghy here, not a lot of weight, and pretty sensitive. I'm also sailing on a bay that's pretty shallow and has a lot of houses on the shore that play havoc with the wind direction as I'm coming back in, which is exactly when I want to be able to lash the tiller to drop the main - so I think I'm on a line and then bang, the wind direction shifts, and now I'm not set.

 

[Hayden Watson]

Interesting, Hayden - I had tried straight across, but the boat still either moved away from the wind or round up into it. With a rope wrapped around the tiller, everything I found online said to have the line run from the transom on either side up to the tiller and wrapped, something like a 45 degree angle, making a 90 degree angle at the tiller. The point was supposed to be that you could slide the wrap up and down a bit to try to find the right balance point. Maybe I will try straight across again.

I'll give it another shot and post a picture when I'm on the water over the weekend! Thanks for the advice!

The thing about the system I used was the stretchiness of the nylon line (I just used a newish dock line) and the three full wraps around the tiller provide friction. Once I got it set up, I could rig and set the spinnaker on my C25.
I would need to keep an eye on the course and make adjustments as needed because it just goes where you point it with no correction. When on the bow, I would use my weight to steer by moving from side to side.
It is not an autopilot but it was the best method of holding the tiller I found. I even used it while hand steering because it would take the normal weather-helm load and still allow me to make fine adjustments.

 

[Ajay73]

Take a look at this youtube video. "How to make a tiller lock". By the Boat Rambler. I'm going to try this on my '78 Javelin.