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Thread: Wheel to tiller conversion and electrification

  1. #11
    pogen's Avatar
    pogen is offline Sailing canoe "Kūʻaupaʻa"
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    [QUOTE=mike cunningham;26017]
    Quote Originally Posted by pogen View Post
    My old boat was a wheel to tiller conversion, the shaft tube top was barely above the waterline. The lower bearing is flooded. The solution was to make a sock out of neoprene that sealed at the shaft tube/bearing housing and up to the rudder stock itself (it was tapered) and to seal it with large hose clamps at each end. The whole thing twisted as the tiller was turned. I think this was a creative solution by the boatyard that did the original conversion, because when it came time to replace it (at Svend's) no one had any idea what it was or how to replace it, so I had to find a lady in Monterrey that did wetsuit repair to fabricate a new one for me.[/QUOT


    So there was no bearing or flange at the deck other than the neoprene boot? Boy, something like that would be pretty simple. Basically the emergency tiller on steroids in my case. I am not sure it would be wise for me to have a 36 inch unsupported shaft from the top of the existing stock to the aperture on the transom though.
    No the upper bearing was up at the deck, set in just below where the base of the tiller was attached. So the upper and lower bearings (Jeffa roller bearings I think) were pretty far apart, which is good.

    I did have an issue where the new rudder I put on was carbon fiber , and was pretty buoyant, and so tended to push up against the lower bearing, and even nearly pushed it half out, so I had to get an additional Delrin spacer/stop made up and installed to prevent this.

    [MORE] My boat was 34' and 10500 lbs and I loved having a tiller, even more so for shorthanding. From my cold, dead hands etc.
    Last edited by pogen; 04-12-2020 at 07:41 PM.

  2. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by mike cunningham View Post
    Berkley Marine Center's non stinky diesel? What's the deal with that? Sounds very interesting.
    In the Hawkfarm with a one cylinder diesel, I tried various percentages of biodiesel, and while smelling better than diesel, clogged Racor filters like no tomorrow.
    Finally, I just gave up.
    Then the Beneteau with a 2GM shows up and I try Cree's Nexdiesel, or RD99, which he sells there at the fuel dock. My engine runs great and there is very little smoke. I pay about a dollar more than at the street, but I've been using it almost exclusively for 4 years or so. Last summer going to Monterey Bay, we left with a full tank, and another 17 gallons in jugs.
    The stuff is brewed in Martinez. Cree told me not to use biocide in it, so I don't. Mixing it with conventional is not a problem, and if I don't go very far above 50/50% ratio, it still smells better downwind, then pure dinosaur.
    http://www.berkeleymarine.com/news/b...newable-diesel
    Last edited by Intermission; 04-13-2020 at 09:53 AM. Reason: Added link
    The Sea is my Church; the Boat is my Pew.

  3. #13
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    Not sure how many pictures per post so I will break this up. Lightspeed's rudder stock terminated in the cockpit sole and I wanted a longer stock for below deck autohelm. We added a half tube at the end of the cockpit for upper bearing and a lower bearing in a tube.
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  4. #14
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    Lower bearing tube Name:  IMG_2774.JPG
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  5. #15
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    Upper bearing and new tiller. This was all done by Tom Wylie. The long tiller worked very well as I could reach everything AND was great leverage when Lightspeed tried to round up.. Name:  IMG_2932.JPG
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    Last edited by Lightspeed; 04-13-2020 at 05:11 PM.

  6. #16
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    The End Results..(I could not end with dirty construction pictures) Name:  Start3.jpg
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Size:  3.96 MB

  7. #17
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    Really nice work Rick. Thanks for posting.

  8. #18
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    Yes Rick, that really looks great. I didn't realize you had retrofitted. In my boat the stock is a bit further aft under the transom deck so I could avoid the additional glass work in the after bulkhead of the cockpit. But my installation would look a lot like yours at the deck level.

    My helm us mounted on a slight bulge in the cockpit floor. Looks like yours was flat. I think I would probably leave the bulge and just glass in the hole. I would wind upo wit what would look like an upside down saucer on the cockpit floor abot 3/4 the way back.

    Did Tom supply the bearings?

  9. #19
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    Jefa Bearings, I think Tom uses these on his Wyliecats.
    https://jefa.com/rudder.htm

  10. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lightspeed View Post
    The End Results..(I could not end with dirty construction pictures) Name:  Start3.jpg
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Size:  3.96 MB
    That's just outstanding!! Sweet job!
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