INVESTIGATOR 563

great guys thanks lots !! !! so much to try out !!

Been lucky this week. Had two sails, one solo on monday and yesterday my wife and I sailed over to Rathmines and had lunch and a nap at Styles Point and rode the rollicking NEerly back home. Some great fun and enjoyment. Relative to this thread I took a pic of my steering setup as referenced above.

As I mentioned before this idea has been used by an old keeler owning friend for decades, just bungee over the tiller handle. They hold the tiller true but allow the helmsman to make minor adjustments just by leaning against the pressure then it recentralizes automatically. It is a cheap alternative you may like.

as above

A good exercise is to set it up with the rudder dead ahead and then adjust your trim till the boat tracks true. In theory you are perfectly trimmed (direction wise in regard to weather helm) for those wind conditions. Then try sitting forward and hang onto your main sheet , you can steer the boat just by playing the main sheet. This is just how I steered my old wind surfer 30 years ago

On Monday while single handing I sailed down to the Swansea Channel markers set a rough course for Wangi and looped my bungee. As the lengths are not exact I sometimes put an extra loop around the end of the tiller over itself to get the rudder dead amidships. Once set I trimmed the sails till I had no weather helm and It was hands off for the whole trip. Of course this only steers a straight line, it does not follow a course like an an auto pilot but it does work. Its also fun to steer with the sheets if you get bored. If you get wind changes try not touching the tiller just adjust your sails.

And yes Emrys I had music ..embarrasing to say, as I know you like your sound system but here's mine, much in the vein of my cheap tiller pilot, ten bucks at office works

Inside the zipup rear case is my ipod nano mark1 still working long after being superseded 10 times (I was never big on updating technology). These zip up speaker cases work on 2 AA bateries and surprisingly last a long time. I like sound tracks and have transferred lots of nice bits from my CDS onto the ipod. Plus a few podcasts like 'Late Night Live" Usually have it on quietly so I can still hear the splash of the water and the humming of the rig. Needless to say my haulout plans are on hold. The bottom is dirty but she is still sailing well. Maybe we'll get some bad weather next week and I will pull her off the mooring for a cleanup.

Well thought out tiller system Ozzie .
As for the rest..........
Well I guess its whatever works for you.
Me I"m trying to figure out a way of connecting a turntable to my soundsystem...,,,,maybe on gimbals
Then theres the problem of storing vinyl records on the boat.
Before the engineering police attack me I"m only joking

Ozzie

Interesting observations. Thanks.

I had a great sail Thursday here in the bay constant SE winds 10-14kts and under such conditions I have found I can set the tiller when on course using my tiller clutch and the boat sails itself for for ages without any alteration unless the wind changes or swell kicks me around.

Of course I have my other self steering gear and auto-helm but I just love it on days like this when she sails without my touch most of the day.

Never on a run though.

Must try your bungee cord one day to add to my list of tools.

I note the Chiles Webb (intrepid solo sailor of note) who recently sailed san diego-hawaii-samoa-tonga -nz in his Moore 24 went through I think 4 or 5 auto helms over about 6000 NM. (Ray-marine 1000) and has ben known to resort to a rope on the tiller in lieu.

Anyway thanks for sharing the info. The sailing season has hit the bay and I expect a lot of water time over the next 6-7 months.

best

Mark