Little "Made Merry" went into the water for her tenth summer a couple of weeks ago. I spent some time in the fall and this spring sprucing her up a little, including some new paint, and some woodwork, and a little rigging adjustment. I shaved the formerly square mast into an octagon, and re-skinned the hatches, because they were looking pretty beaten-up. I made a new taffrail, which I laminated this time instead of the old kerfed one, replaced the broken spruce tiller with an oak one (let's see this one break!) and generally put some of her old sparkle back into her. The inside of the little cabin has another coat of paint, and a new cushion that matches the outside colour.
I'm pleased with how she turned out, just looks a little brighter than she did last year. Still sails pretty well; after ten years I'm used to her tricks.
So, Keith,
You are the second person I'm aware of who broke his stub tiller. What do you think was the cause, and where did it break? I've been putting some tremendous pressure on mine in the last month, and I don't want that to happen to me.
Al
Hi Al, I broke it while sailing late last year. It was quite windy and to be honest I had heard creaking sounds from down there for a while and hadn't bothered to investigate. It broke right where the tiller goes into the rudder box. I had a cleat on there to tie the rope that holds the rudder down, and I suspect that having two holes drilled through the tiller vertically to mount the cleat right near the two horizontal holes where the tiller bolts to the rudder made it fairly weak in that area, like swiss cheese. That and the wood was pretty old and got a lot of use. This time I made the tiller out of a piece of oak that I ripped in half and then glued together with the grain in one piece turned 180 degrees. Then I shaped the tiller from this block. It's much stronger than the fir one.
I think if you want a stronger tiller then you should use some harder wood than fir, like oak or maple or something. It's a pretty important piece. I rigged an oar as an emergency tiller and that worked to get home, as I was five miles from the dock when it broke. The steering mechanism is nifty but if you use it you should have a plan for if it breaks, because it's not as foolproof as a simple tiller.
thanks Keith,
The other person I know of lost his at the Texas 200. Ouch. Yeah, I did not realize how much abuse those parts had to absorb when I built my weekender. I think I am going to drill the hole that the plans call for in the rudder box to string a line in case of steering malfunction. I am having some difficulty with my steering loosening up after a demanding sail. Have you had to readjust your wheel frequently?
Al
I used to have trouble in high winds with the rope stretching and slipping around the wheel spindle, requiring that I heave-to and tighten the nuts on the U-bolts holding the little blocks inside to tighten it back up again. This time I really tightened it up in there and it hasn't slipped. The whole works is pretty free-turning though, there isn't much friction. You can't really let go of the wheel for long if the boat is moving. I never did build that friction doohickey that is in the plans. If I need to leave the wheel for any reason, I just heave-to by backing the jib and letting the main fly, and the boat just sits there and behaves while I do whatever I need to.
Something I would like to try is a larger headsail. I think this might reduce the force on the steering system in general. The weather-helm the weekender has contributes to the high loading on the rudder when close-hauled. I have noticed that with the main reefed, the steering is better balanced. I imagine increasing the jib size would do the same thing.
She looks very beautiful Keith. Your work is meticulous as always.
She looks great, if I can only coordinate my rotation north with Wilf we can launch Ginny Rae and do some cruising together.
Greg
That would be cool Greg. I miss our little adventures. You know that if you don't have my phone number you can call my work and they will give it to you.
Keith, consider adding some balance to the rudder. Figure about 10% of the existing area, placed on the leading edge, uniformly along it's length, below the keel only. This amount to tacking a strip of 1 by and tacking it on your rudder blade, rounding it over a tad and giving it a try. You'll notice the helm is much lighter, but still has feel. If this isn't enough go to 15%. In fact, if it was me, I'd start with 15% and whittle it down until I liked it, in both very low and moderately high wind strengths (15 - 17 knots). Is your rudder foil shaped? A simple slab sided foil can do wonders as well and is a fraction of the bother of a real NACA foil section too. Lastly, what's the rake on your mast? Can you rake it forward a bit?
Wow: Made Merry looks great! Very nice to see...Are you planning a gathering up your way this Summer?
I agree with Paul: a bit of added area ahead of the rudder pivot will reduce the helm loads and weather-helm-feel. It will also INCREASE the load on the gudgeons/pintles/barrel-bolts, so keep an eye on those parts...You won't feel the added load, though.
I hadn't heard about the stub-tillers breaking. Interesting data: Thanks!
Mike