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.
Gary, that must’ve been quite a story. Were you somewhere sailing out in the full fury of the storm or was your boat just sitting on its mooring thrashing in the wind?
How badly did it break? Because they’re laminated you might be able to repair it given enough epoxy.
It was in the slip. Snapped it off where it comes out of the mounting hardware.
I keep my tiller tied off to keep the rudder from swinging back and forth and putting wear and tear on the pintles (I leave a little slack but not much). I didn’t even think about when the storm was coming.
The wind should have been coming from the South which would mean there wasn’t hardly any fetch as the waves would have been coming down a short slough and the cross dock should have blocked some of the waves but apparently it was worse than it should have been. The marina staff told me several people stayed on their boats and swore they would never do it again. Scared them pretty bad.
I’ll get with Ruddercraft and get one ordered. Is varnished good enough or should I go with the varnish and epoxy. I’m going to sell the boat soon if that makes a difference.
Gary, yes - glad you weren’t on board. Even a small patch of water can become a washing machine in hurricane-force winds. IMO, the varnish and epoxy finish is designed to last several seasons without having to refinish. But, if you’re planning to sell soon, plain varnish should work fine for most of a season.
Trying to imagine the dynamics... It seems a boat heeling violently back and forth (from wind on the mast as well as washing-machine waves) would be trying to break either the tiller or the rudder blade--you got the less expensive outcome of the two! In the slip on a protected river, I used to tie my tiller up to the backstay, but in an approaching major storm, I removed the rudder.
The Ruddercraft deal looks better than what I paid somebody (maybe CD) around 16 years ago when someone lost their balance and sat on my tiller.
Dave Bristle Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired), Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge
Dave, that tiller is still going strong these many years later. I remove the tiller and rudder from the boat each winter to make sure they’re both intact for the following year. Last year I traced the tiller onto a piece of 5/4 oak board just in case. I glued the two thicknesses together to get the right size. It weighs a ton, but it’s a fine back up.
Gary - Surprised the tiller broke just being dockside. Something for me to think about when an impending storm is approaching.
I was surprised too. Normally when a storm is approaching I move the boat to another marina that’s totally protected but this storm just didn’t seem that big of a deal and based on its track I knew the winds would be blowing from the South and blowing from the near shore so didn’t worry about it much.
Unfortunately I forgot about the rudder being tied up. Thinking about it just now, I really didn’t take a close look at the rudder to see if it might have been damaged as well. Better get down there this weekend and check it out.
Someone had a post about an emergency tiller made out of a wheel barrow handle. When refinishing my tiller, ( a project that took way to long on my part) I used one for a temp tiller as the boat was at a marina at the time. Have to say it worked quite well.
There is a place in Quincy MA called Marineparts Salvage (they are on-line) have every imaginable item including a trailer filled with tillers. Reasonable prices -- I have bought spares there -- might want to check them out. They do ship all over the world.
Peter Bigelow C-25 TR/FK #2092 Limerick Rowayton, Ct Port Captain: Rowayton/Norwalk/Darien CT
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.