Association Forum - SL has a new PowerTiller

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

SL has a new PowerTiller

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

Member Avatar

USA
4479 Posts

Initially Posted - 06/08/2008 : 22:30:10

With the new engine mounted further back, and lower down, I decided to look for something to make it easier to control remotely. I found an ad in either Sail or Cruising World for a [url="http://www.powertiller.net/"]PowerTiller[/url], which sounded like just the ticket. The folks at the site were extremely helpful, and even used to belong to this forum. The short film on how it's used was [url="http://www.powertiller.net/Demonstration.htm"]filmed on a C-25[/url] with his daughter as the demonstrator.

I wasn't quite sure how I was going to mount it, so I decided to mount it on a 3/4" box aluminum piece I had left over from another project.

The only surprise in the install was having to re-route the battery cable from it's grommet into the grommet that houses the morse cables. The battery grommet hole is reused as the housing for the choke grommet because the choke connector has to be rerouted around where the morse cables run.

I mounted the start switch part of the way underneath the [url="http://www.tinytach.com/tinytach/index.php"]TinyTach[/url] that I also got to go with it.

You can see the tach in the middle of this shot. The engine's running at idle at 440 RPM.

I mounted the start button part way underneath the tach to make it harder to reach. I figured that being able to kill the engine in a hurry was more important than being able to start it. The kill button is the black thing in between the tubes, where it's easy to hit in a hurry if necessary. The green start button is behind the tach and can't be seen in the picture.

Here's a shot straight down on the whole assembly.

The rig is mounted with a couple of zip ties for the time being just to see where I want to mount it. I thought I was going to mount it on the side of the tiller, but the side I wanted to mount it on interfered with the autopilot, so I tried it out on top of the tiller. We'll see how that works out.

The only thing that can't be remotely operated is the choke. The remote control parts is the OEM Tohatsu kit. All the little bits & pieces were fairly daunting to look at, but in reality not too difficult to put together. Once I started putting the various parts together, it became pretty obvious where everything was supposed to go. I figured out that you don't want to connect the retaining pins until you've got the the pivot connectors dialed in to where you want to go. That was about the only "big" problem installing all those bits.

I'm looking forward to seeing how it works.

David
C-250 Mainsheet Editor

Sirius Lepak
1997 C-250 WK TR #271 --Seattle area Port Captain --

Edited by - delliottg on 06/08/2008 22:49:14

Nautiduck
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
3704 Posts

Response Posted - 06/08/2008 : 23:29:33

Nice install David!

Edited by - on

Even Chance
Captain

Members Avatar

USA
393 Posts

Response Posted - 06/09/2008 : 06:07:51

I rented a power tiller from Home Depot this spring for my garden. . .

Edited by - Even Chance on 06/09/2008 06:09:13

andy
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
228 Posts

Response Posted - 06/10/2008 : 10:00:01

I'm sorry, but I have to ask why would you need something like that?

Edited by - on

Ed Cassidy
Captain

Members Avatar

USA
365 Posts

Response Posted - 06/10/2008 : 10:23:31

I found a remote tiller kit for my Yamaha 9.9 (I think it was around $100 with shipping) to do exactly the same thing. It removes the tiller arm with the throttle and shifter from the engine and allows it to be relocated up to six feet away. I'm reluctant to mount it on the rudder tiller becasue I remove the rudder to mount the mast crutch but there doesn't seem to be any better place for it. After all, the idea was to make the throttle and shifter more accessable.
Ed

Edited by - on

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 06/10/2008 : 10:46:58

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Ed Cassidy
 After all, the idea was to make the throttle and shifter more accessable.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

That is what Mercury has been doing for some time now..."The multifunction tiller handle design provides one-hand operation of shifting, stopping, throttle control, tilting and steering."

Edited by - on

piseas
Former Treasurer

Members Avatar

USA
2017 Posts

Response Posted - 06/10/2008 : 12:06:06

David, with the outboard that low and back, I can certainly understand need for power tiller. I just wish they could include power tilt! Fine job.
Steve A

Edited by - on

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

Members Avatar

USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 06/10/2008 : 13:43:09

Thanks Steve, couldn't have said it much better myself.

Right now to operate any of the controls directly, you nearly have to stand on your head to get to them. The PowerTiller takes care of most of them, but not all. I'm thinking about rigging some way of accessing the choke and will definitely need to find some way of getting to the tilt lever, as it's even lower than the rest of the controls. The choke isn't too bad to reach, and since it's only needed when you start it's no big deal. The tilt lever though, that'd be a trick that my approaching-fifty body is not likely to perform, or at best would regret it later, and I doubt that Rita could even reach it from the safety of the cockpit.

Edited by - on

piseas
Former Treasurer

Members Avatar

USA
2017 Posts

Response Posted - 06/11/2008 : 12:01:22

David, another question: how do you flush? Looks like using muffs would be a pain. Its definitely a stretch for a mid 50's guy like me. Fortunately my Honda has a top flush.

Steve A

Edited by - on

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

Members Avatar

USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 06/11/2008 : 13:25:35

Hah, that's a good question I haven't answered yet. My dock is usually on the starboard side, so it'll be somewhat easier to reach, but to be honest, I'm not sure yet. We should be splashing the boat in the next week or two, and I'll just have to figure it out.

I'm thinking some sort of aluminum gadget attached to the boat hook that allows me to slip the ears on somehow. Not sure.

If nothing else, until I figure it out, I can try to make sure to flush on an outgoing tide, so I'll just be getting SuperFund "fresh" river water up into the engine. It'll still be brackish, but better than nothing.

Edited by - on

Navy1
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
126 Posts

Response Posted - 07/30/2008 : 10:02:24

My 2004 Honda 9.9 has an automatic choke, so I don't have to worry about that. I'll have to contact Honda and see what they have to offer. I was hoping somebody with a tiller and my model boat could tell/show me how they mounted and routed their remote controls. Thanks - Roger

Edited by - on

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.