Silly season

[ReadyAbout]

I think maybe more than a year ago I was on this site inquiring if anyone had had experience sailing their Hunter 37 cutter with the emergency tiller.

At the time I was considering buying a Hunter cutter and converting from wheel to tiller. My post was meet with a fair amount of skepticism and I think i was accused insulting "the master" John Cherubini with such a notion and teased that arms would get stretched out or something.

In the end I bought a larger boat which I have since converted to tiller and couldnt be happier about. Despite its longer length and greater weight than the Hunter 37, the boat handles well and is a pleasure to drive for all the reasons in my original posting.

To this day I find myself wondering, did any of you pull out your emergency tiller last season and actually mount them on your boat and sail with it? Even as a safety preparedness drill? Or do you still just assume it will be there and work the way it is supposed to when you need it?

Cheers

 

[Erieau]

Funny timing for your post. Just last night I was reading the Pardeys' Cost Conscious Cruiser, in which they clearly favour tiller over wheel steering for many reasons. It got me to re-thinking my wheel-envy, and after sleeping on it I'm looking forward to trying out their ideas for maximizing the tiller's advantages.

 

[Steve Dion]

Joe: Just remember that they are minimalists. As I remember they don't even have an engine on their boat!

....but yes there are chains, gear, cables, hardware etc. when you have wheel steering. For many sailors they like the feel of a tiller vs a wheel. The down side of a tiller for many is the amount of cockpit space it takes up. On smaller boats it may be the only practical option (tiller) because of the space that a wheel takes up in the cockpit and below deck.

Besides you have a tiller and you really should make the best of it 'cause that is what you have for now.

 

[Erieau]

Besides you have a tiller and you really should make the best of it 'cause that is what you have for now.

Quite so.
I've no desire to fully emulate the Pardeys, believe me. However, there is beauty in simplicity, especially in the crowded under-cockpit area of my small boat, as you say.

 

[Stu Jackson]

On our C22, we put wing nuts on the two tiller/rudder bolts. Easy to remove if we wanted to.

 

[DianaOfBurlington]

I say go with the tiller.

My post was meet with a fair amount of skepticism and I think I was accused insulting "the master" John Cherubini with such a notion and teased that arms would get stretched out or something.

Not sure where or how this came about; but it's not my tendency to bend anyone out of shape. I do, however, ardently attempt to educate people whose knowledge base is slightly behind the eight-ball, so to speak. I offer my time here as a resource, not a critic.

That said, I don't have anything against tiller steering. My dad's original intention for the C44 was that it would have tiller steering. Several early C44s were built that way. A moderate fin-keeled boat does remarkably well with a tiller, even through a 37-footer or even more boat than that.

The other benefits of having no wheel are in simplicity, safety, cost savings and ease of steering. If you've ever had a cable jump the quadrant at precisely the wrong time (and when is the right time?), you'd be glad to have a tiller from the start. (And, of course, once that cable jumps the quadrant and becomes jammed in it, merely attaching an 'emergency' tiller won't get you out of it till you've cleared the cable jam first.)

I like Stu's idea for a readily-removable tiller; but one should be cautious the wing nuts can't work loose. (That is, they will work loose, but one hopes they won't more often than maybe once every few hours' watch time.)

I wholeheartedly support Readyabout's suggestion that anyone with cable-driven wheel steering should regularly take out the backup tiller and rig its steering gear to be used to the way it may have to be in an emergent occasion. Such 'drills', like those at MOB operations, anchoring, reefing, and changing sail, are vital to any prudent skipper's sense of readiness.

 

[Blaise]

I have sailed Midnight Sun with the emercency tiller. The loads are pretty heavy while under sail and untenable under power. I had to run a line from one winch, around the tiller and to the other winch. Just to stay in a straight line.

 

[ggrizzard]

Been using my redesigned/manufactured "emergency" tiller off and on for years. I fabricated a triangle tiller that attaches to the rudder post extension. It works with the wheel in place and it's easier to set up for self steering than the wheel ever was.