I gotta say that this is one of the better discussions I have read on this group
in a long, long time. I am enjoying this immensely. Steve, you have a neat boat,
and I hope you can do some decent traveling in her. Glen, you have a great
head..good to have you around.

Cheers,

Larry DeMers


Glenn Ashmore wrote:

oh,oh,oh, I forgot you have an outboard rudder. 15 seconds is probably
a pretty good rate. That ol' girl should keep her head pretty well with
no help and probably will not want to turn any faster than that anyway.

Don't ask me about the control box. The electronic side of my brain
overheated on that remote control light switch and blew out completely
after figuring out the automatic flush/backwash circuit for the
watermaker. :-)

Steve wrote:

Thanks again Glenn.. Makes sense, however (as always), as you can see in
this picture http://hood.hctc.com/~esteve/launch15.jpg
the rudder pintle line extends up and behind the head of the rudder. So this
would require a tiller arm of at least 20" and even that is awkward due to
the rudder angle of 37.5 degrees. The cylinder could be rail mounted and
reach over the tiller head but that wouldn't be very elegant.

Looking at this problem and the picture, I am thinking of a cylinder mount
on the boomkin and a tiller arm lower down and perpendicular to the rudder.

I could resolve this by installing the tiller arm though the stern post into
the lazarette, but I really hate to give up all that storage. And then there
is the engage/disengage problem and sealing up the opening for the tiller
arm

Just about anything that is behind the stern rail would require a method to
remotely engage, disengage from the helm position.

Strange how a serious cruiser would call it a problem while DIYer will see
this as a mental challenge.

The (mental) wheels are turning. I'll start a new topic in
Rec.boats.cruising when I get some ideas.

Oh Yah! before we abandon this Elex topic, I still need a 12vdc controller
design. Haven't actually found anything here that I could get my head
around.

Thanks again.

Steve
s/v Good Intentions



--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com