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From day one I've been worried about the steering wheel and the somewhat flimsy way it attaches to the shaft. I've been sure that someone (probably me) would fall on it and break it off. At one point I took it apart by force and put some longer screws in and put a fillet of glue in the edge. Apparently thats not enough

The day started out innocent enough. We put in at an inconspicuous boat ramp in the Merritt Island reserve on the west side of mosquito lagoon. The winds were light and we fished the clinker trough for a while before sailing upwind towards haulover canal. Because the wind was against us it took us a while to get there. It was a fairly relaxing ride..



When we got to haulover the wind had really picked up. We had some trouble setting the anchor for fishing near the rocks. I didn’t want to be drifting onto the rocks. So we started to head back. Chance had a lot of trouble working the steering. When the boat didnt respond he would keep turning the wheel till we were heading in the wrong direction then he would oversteer in the opposite direction and we were just flailing about. This was going on while I was trying to get the jib set up. The clip I Have on it is not going to work.. On a strong wind with the jib luffing it comes unclipped.

We ran aground once and had a bunch of trouble pushing it off with chance at the wheel. Eventually we worked this out and got to sailing back. We made it almost all the way running with the wind. Sailing downwind with the waves moving faster than us was causing huge problems with steering. Each time a wave passed the steering would go flat and stop responding when the steering "came back" we would often be pushed onto a new tack. So it was a chore trying to feel the tension on the wheel and correct for the way the waves were moving us. I had Chance on the lookout for an accidental gybe but when it happened neither of us were prepared for it. The boom came flying across. We got under it but fell into the cockpit landing on the wheel and snapping it off. Luckily no one was hurt. At one point I thought the boat was going over but it sailed on downwind on it's edge without flipping over. Yay ballast batteries.

With steering lost, we tried using the motor to steer and took a big bite out of the rudder. Eventually I had to drop the mainsail and limp back the last mile with just the jib using the motor to steer. This worked quite well actually. This week i’m going to have a new steering shaft made with the mounting plate welded on. I'll have it made from aluminum or stainless steel.

There ya go.... as the old saying goes, " Don't leave it to Chance".... how about a nice tiller, you will love it.

Hey Angie, Good to see ya... Haven't heard much from you lately. Have you been away?

On this trip I left a little more to chance than chance could handle

Also, I think maybe I should have made it more clear that Chance is my girl's 14 year old son. He's a big boy... holy cow thats an understatement, he's got 50lbs on me and I'm a big boy. His mother wanted him to get out of the house away from video games for a day. I'll give him credit in that he didn't complain at all.... Even when I was shouting orders.

PULL THE JIB SHEET.... NO! THATS THE PEAK HALYARD! THE BLUE ONE PULL THE BLUE ONE!

When we got back his mom asked how the trip was. He said "Red yells about EVERYTHING"

David:

For my wheel, I used an assortment of galvanized pipe with a floor flange to attach the wheel. It looks rather sturdy but I haven't launched yet so can't say for sure.

One of the things I did with it as well was to drill a hole through all the joints and put a pin in to keep things together. Where the floor flange attaches I used a cotter pin to allow me to remove the wheel relatively easily.

Very cool setup. I'm sure it'll be much stronger than the plans wooden shaft You've got a nice open area to work in too! I'm jealous!

I'll post a photo of what my solution was in the builders forum in a moment

I removed my wheel and installed a tiller. I just couldn't get used to the wheel and the ropes kept slipping. The tiller works great, but at the cost of a lot of 'coolness.'

Your setup looks very good, I hope it works for you.
Andrew