John,
Thanks for looking. Do you remember where you bought yours? I've sent emails to several used gear/consignment stores on both coasts with no luck yet.
Tom,
Well the emergency tiller that was in my boat when I bought it is a joke. I am assuming it is factory. It is a 12-14 inch long aluminum pipe with a slot cut to go over the radial drive bolt. On top it has a wooden hadle about 12 inches long. It wouldn't go all the way in because it measures 1.5 inches o.d. and the ruuder shaft is 1.5 inches i.d. A little corrosion and its not going in. I tried it later to straighten the rudder while being towed back to my slip and there's not even close to enough leverage.
Luckily we were running down wind when it happened and got the engine started and the sails down. The boat tracked beautifully and we were only about a mile (very straight course) from my marina. Since only one idler broke the cables were still attached and we could keep the rudder from going to to one stop or the other, we just couldn't turn very well. once we got to the marina a little "tugboat" help from a friend in a Whaler got used tied up to an outside dock.
As soon as we got sails down I took the
windlass handle forward and got the
anchor ready to deploy but didn't need to. One thing I noticed once we got back and took the cover down to see what was wrong, was that the cables were pretty kinked from the lock to lock turns we were doing when we were trying to figure out what was going on. They're gonna need to be replaced too. So as soon as I get this fixed my priority is going to be to make an emergency tiller that really works and to order a spare chain and cable set before taking off on anything more than a daysail.
Adam
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