Makeshift tiller

thepartydog · Post by **thepartydog** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 11:01 am

Hello All,

I need a little help here. "Ya never know" has been vandalized. I haven't been down to see her yet. My friend that has seen her says they took everything of value that was easy to remove. He didn't know everything I had on board, but he is sure that the tiller, and anchor that she was hanging from are gone. She is now hard aground, which I can possibly fix.

Once she is floating again, I'll need to steer her to a boat ramp to finish her trip home. I was thinking of making a temporary tiller out of a 2x4 with a hole cut for the rudder post and maybe a "slice" from the end to allow it to squeeze the rudder post. Anyone have any opinions or other ideas?

Darin

ronc98 · Post by **ronc98** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 11:11 am

that sounds like it might work.

sorry for the theft. I hope you can find the guys and take them swimming while tied to your anchor.

I would watch ebay perhaps your parts may show up there.

EmergencyExit · Post by **EmergencyExit** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 11:48 am

Sorry to hear that -

Go to a good hardward store and ask for a railroad adze handle. It has a bit of a curve in it (like a tiller), will be made of a hard wood, and the head end is just about right to fit in the tiller brackets, might need an 1/8" shim. costs about $10. I think I bought door frame shims when I had to have an emergency tiller.

Here's a link to to a pic
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-FOOT-%2F-RAILRO ... 0884a11362

For a permament solution, IdaSailor.com has a nice one I bought for EE at $99.

Geez, Good Luck, hope not much else is missing.

thepartydog · Post by **thepartydog** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 12:19 pm

EE,

Thanks for the tip. I haven't seen her yet, so I don't know if the rudder head is still there. The tiller wasn't in good shape, as in not pretty, but still steered the boat. Who in their right mind would snatch that sad tiller without the rudder head? What am I saying? At work someone stole a cable modem out of a comm room while it was in use. The office called me when their internet went down, and when I instructed them to reboot the cable modem, the manager said "what cable modem, all is see is the wires where one was connected." I had to drive out and look at that one myself. Some people will steal anything.

I'm expecting the worst, just because it's a 7 hour drive to get to the boat. So I am looking for ideas if the rudder head assembly isn't there either. Worst case, I'll have to use the dingy to tow her to the ramp.

Darin

EmergencyExit · Post by **EmergencyExit** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 12:30 pm

<LOL> I had a PC disappear from a conference room once in the middle of the day. And it had to pass by a lot of people to make it out the door, too !

If it is any consolation, I had a terrible time getting the tiller bracket off EE - it was on tight and it took a mallet to drive it off, so maybe it is still there.

In case it isn't, take a large monkey wrench (jaws big enough to wrap around the post) and a 36" piece of pipe that will fit over the wrench end as an extension.

Let me know if you need any measurements, etc.

ronc98 · Post by **ronc98** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 2:40 pm

I had the same issue getting my tiller head off.

My company had a minor flood and while we were cleaning it up we had the door open. Two guys from off the street came in stole two laptops and left.

I really wished I would have caught them. It would have been fun.

Guillaume C. · Post by **Guillaume C.** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 3:14 pm

Damn thats a bad news! hope the hull is not damaged

as for the rudder,I would bring a portable drill and screw the replacement wood tiller trough the rudder shaft.

keysskipper · Post by **keysskipper** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 4:20 pm

That really sucks, I agree that the tiller head will still be in place, took some time to get RagTimes off, in fact it was the hardest job when we put on the IdaSailor, good luck PartyDog let us know what you find, now you REALLY need parts.KS

thepartydog · Post by **thepartydog** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 4:36 pm

The rudder head assembly on mine was easy to take off. It had a crack in it and I was already looking for a new one. The price on a new one had me thinking "jb weld will hold the old one for a season or two." If they took the tiller with out taking the rudder head assembly, then they probably did it for the autotiller fitting that was on it.

Darin

EmergencyExit · Post by **EmergencyExit** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 6:02 am

You know, your original idea of the wooden emergency tiller with a hole for the rudder post and a slot for tightening (in case your tiller head is gone, etc) makes for a great idea for an emergency tiller.

I have a adze handle I use as a backup for a broken tiller, but what if that old metal tiller bracket broke in half while underway ? Wouldn't help then.

One like you mentioned would be great in that instance, and one could even just have C-Clamps onboard to do the emergency clamping !

I'm sure I'm way late on this and the light bulb is going off in my head way after a lot of people have already done this on various boats.......

Gus · Post by **Gus** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 9:59 am

Man that stinks, sorry to heard about your boat behin vandalized! A friend of mine uses a wheel barrow handle in his Precision 21.

thepartydog · Post by **thepartydog** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 7:37 pm

Hey all,

Here's an update. I'm in Tarpon Springs right now. There's not much left on the boat. She was striped clean by professional pirates. They snatched her from her anchorage, put her ashore in a nice private cove, and went to work.

All the sails except for the mainsail and boom are gone. They only left the mainsail because it was fully ripped parralel to the boom right below the reef point.

Both batteries, auto tiller, depth sounder, and powered cooler...gone. The winch handle, all the fenders, the dock lines, the brand new anchor, plus the other two anchors. The entire water system (they did leave the sink). The chart light. They even took the accessory socket (like a car lighter socket). The bus bars, and even some of the wiring. All the sailing tackle, sheets, block and tackle. The navagation lights. The bimini and sail cover. A portable air horn. My emergency pack (flares etc...). They even took the clam cleats mounted to the deck. My solar planel. The A/C unit. Probably more stuff that I won't know is missing until later.

Some peoples children. I bet they thought that Christmas came a little later this year.

Darin

thepartydog · Post by **thepartydog** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 7:38 pm

And, oh, yeah. They did take the rudder head assembly.

Darin

thepartydog · Post by **thepartydog** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 10:28 pm

EE,

Would IdaSailor.com be a good source for that rudder head assembly? I might need dimensions if they have to make one.

Darin

ronc98 · Post by **ronc98** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 4:45 am

That is terrible.

I redid my wiring on mine I will donate my old fuse panels and buss bar if you want them. One bank is a 6 switch and the other is a 3 switch with battery test and Lighter adapter. I also have a Autohelm Depth ST30 i can donate. I was going to ebay this stuff but it is yours if you want them.

I have a ton of other stuff you might need including sails for the C-26

ronc@columbus.rr.com

EmergencyExit · Post by **EmergencyExit** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 5:18 am

It just ain't right. Basically they left you a hul, but at least they didn't scuttle her.

Lets all watch for C26 stuff on Ebay.

Idasailor doesn't show brackets on the web site but you might call anyway.

Jeff (Windward) switched from wheel to tiller steering during his upgrade, might ask if he had a source for the bracket or already had one.

Mine is off right now so I'll take some pics, and get measurements put up on EE's site.

Let us know what we can do to help, if anything

mga1951 · Post by **mga1951** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 5:34 am

Partydog,
Reading your story, I just shake my head in disbelief!! :(

Best of luck, we will all help you look for parts and get you back on the water!!

Gus · Post by **Gus** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 1:49 pm

man that sucks!! Do you have insurance in the boat? Also check the second hand stores around the area, if some of your stuff appears, call the cops immediately!

Good luck!

Gus

askme233 · Post by **askme233** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 12:58 pm

Check Craigslist as well. I have been looking to outfit our new c26 and have seen a number of sketchy things appear (including a guy that 'found' an anchor and people 'parting out' their boats).

I had a bunch of stuff stolen one time and ended up buying it all back from the thief (or probably the fence). It felt horrible, but he had exzctly what I needed, and cheap.

ASK

thepartydog · Post by **thepartydog** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 10:42 pm

It appears that the center of the table is a safe place. All of the stuff that we had there was completely undisturbed. I guess they didn't know it was there, because the went through everything else.

Darin

thepartydog · Post by **thepartydog** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 1:54 pm

"Ya Never Know" is off the mangroves, and using a rented trailer from sail-trailers.com, she is now here in FWB. Although the Tow Boat US captain was a little dubious about getting us out of the mangroves, he slid us PDQ on the first pull. Man those 4 stroke honda motors produce some pull. We motored back to the boat ramp under our own power. I didn't have time to make the 2x4 tiller, so I used the pipe wrench suggested by EE. It worked well, except for coming loose a few times.

So now the replacement job begins. I'll be searching the board for sizes and specs, and if I don't find it, I'll be asking questions.

Darin

EmergencyExit · Post by **EmergencyExit** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 5:39 pm

Ask away as you need to, glad you got her home

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Makeshift tiller

Makeshift tiller

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