I need a tiller for a 40' fiberglass yawl and would appreciate
recommendations regarding specific instructions on............

1- HOWTO build one, including installation and hardware

and

2-where one can be bought

Thank you.
--
S/V Mutiny
lying Oriental, N. C.
WDB5619

A few years ago a replica of Columbus' ship "Nina" sailed into the local
harbor. The tiller was a tree from Brazil about 12 ft long. What a treat
to see a heavy ocean going wooden vessel from that era. Everything was
HEAVY duty.
Of course building your tiller would be much more difficult than just
using a tree.
The connection of the tiller to the rudder depends on the specific
rudder design particular to your boat..whatever it is..you have not told
us. Often 40 foot yawls have wheels, but not always.
Your boat was probably designed by some "famous" yacht designer
and there are probably specifications for the rudder, hardware,
etc..(length, etc.) I wonder what happened to the old one. Can you
re-use the hardware and build another?
Some of the rudder/tiller assemblies I have seen on some production
boats are so poorly designed, they break easily if someone falls on them.
Essentially, you laminate some White ash or other strong non brittle
wood to the approximate shape and after attacking it with saws, chisels,
draw knives, spoke shaves, carve it to fit your hand so you can hold on
to it.
The rudder end usually has a fitting made specially for the top of that
rudder and are often heavy metal tangs that bolt to the base of the
tiller and fit over the top of the rudder. But your rudder could have
cheek plates, which I doubt since you say it is a fiberglass boat.
Look at other boats in the yard. Copy their tillers when you find a boat
like yours.
Or...just order one from the marine store like West Marine.
Please let us know what you come up with!
SteveJ


Courtney Thomas wrote:
I need a tiller for a 40' fiberglass yawl and would appreciate
recommendations regarding specific instructions on............

1- HOWTO build one, including installation and hardware

and

2-where one can be bought

Thank you.
--
S/V Mutiny
lying Oriental, N. C.
WDB5619

I too was stymied by the lack of 'how to' instructions for building a
tiller. Eventually, I just 'attacked' it: The plans called for a
tiller made from 3" stock, 5' long with a slight overall 'S' curve. I
bought some 6' lengths of four quarter mahogony and white ash, ripped
them to 3" wide, trimmed an inch off one end, and "re-sawed" them on
the table saw (to re-saw is to make a thick piece of stock into two
thinner pieces, in this case to cut the four quarter [about 3/4"]
stock into two thinner pieces [about 3/8"]).

I then built a simple jig to describe the 'S' curve, then laminated
alternating layers of mahogony and ash to get back to the required 3",
held together with thickened epoxy.

Once the epoxy cured, I removed the now 3" x 3" x 5' curved piece from
the jig, and went at it with a belt sander and 60 grit...(!). This
was a bit tedious, but fun in that I was able to 'create' the look and
taper I was after.

Once close, I used the R.O. sander and 150 grit. Then finished with
varnish.

As to attaching the tiller to the rudder, there are many ways to go
about it. See November 'Cruising World' magazine for an article on
tillers by Lyn Pardee for some ideas. The method described in my
plans, and not described in the Pardee piece has the tiller
sandwitched between two 'cheek' pieces, the cheeks being bolted o the
rudder, and the tiller to the cheeks by a through bolt.

Good Luck.

Mike Worrall
Los Angeles