best wood for tiller

[Renata]

I'm gonna make a new tiller extension handle for a club's sailboat. What's the best (and cost effective) wood to use? White oak? I'm thinking teak might be too $$.

Thanx Renata

[fredfighter]

If you can protect it from water damage hickory or ash would be good.

Otherwise, aside from teak and white oak, you might consider black locust, or osage orange, if you can find it.

[Frank Boettcher]

Should be laminated for strength. Most are made from Ash or Ash and Mahongony alternating layers of laminate.

Frank

[DIYGUY]

Well, you left out a lot of details that might make a diff. For example, what kind of boat? Classic wooden? Racing dinghy? Oldie but goodie clorox bottle? Not that you will lose sleep over the decision but form follows function, right? An extension is not a tiller but is used when holding onto the tiller itself is either awkward of disadvantageous to performance when racing. If you are making an extension I suggest you scratch the idea and invest in an after-market one instead. Among the benefits of these are a wide array of lengths and materials (carbon-fiber, alloy, fiber-glass) as well as design (think telescoping). My tiller extension folds back nicely on the tiller and is held out of the way with a clever grip.

Now if you are not discussing an extension, but an actual tiller, then my suggestion is that you try to mimic the original design. Most naval architects take pains to work out even the smallest of details, including the tiller. As for material, heck you aren't making an heirloom here. I would not worry too much about laminating something as it is not going too buy you a whole heck of a lot. A stout piece of white oak with a good varnish (I like Captain's, YMMV) on it should serve you well. And when the varnish fails and the oak turns black it just adds character. Sand off the varnish and redo for the pleasure of adding more "character" to your tiller. And last but not least. remember that the tiller must attach to the rudder somehow, and where it does is your most likely source of failure so pay particular attention to reinforcing this area. I used 1/4" SS angle iron - it worked great for 10 years and for all I know may still be working now, 15 years down the road.

Have fun and good luck ...

Renata wrote:

[Lew Hodgett]

Renata wrote: > I'm gonna make a new tiller extension handle for a club's sailboat. > What's the best (and cost effective) wood to use? White oak? I'm > thinking teak might be too $$.

Sounds like a sailor.

Just because the wind is free, dosen't mean everything else is to, as the old saying goes.

If you are going to laminate it, as someone else suggested, ash and Hondouras mahogany will make a nice combination.

Not a good place for teak IMHO.

Lew

[W. Wells]

[Renata]

Tiller. Not extension.

26' Windrose. A speedy, nimble craft (not!).

Thanx for the wealth of info.

I intend to copy the form of the original. It's oak I think (I don't have it at the moment). White oak is what I was thinking, but wasn't sure if there was a better choice. And for this boat, my plethora of other projects, the $ (gratis), etc., I'm gonna stay away from laminating.

The rest o the story is that the boat had a run in with some rocks after getting cut off but a tourist boat stopping to take 'pitchers' (yes, I know,...). Turning to port ran you head on into the wind, and starboard was the lighthouse - with the notso-nice rocks. The helmsman did what he could but still "brushed" the rocks. No, I wasn't sailing it, but I belong to the club which owns it and offer my services to make the replacement.

BTW, the tiller cracked at approximately at the half way point, lengthwise. Don't know if it runs the whole length, but from the pic I saw, it runs for a good bit of it. I'm presuming we'll reuse the hardware, etc. from the broken tiller (including the extension). ANy reason not to?

Renata

[Ron Magen]

To continue on Lew's suggestion . . .

Laminating up your own tiller isn't hard . . . just time consuming to do it RIGHT.

I was planning on doing one for a 15ft 'micro-cruiser' {the 'original' looked like it was simply a painted piece of cut down '2x4'}. I had recently gotten several current 'Marine Supply' catalogs and browsing through them noted that SEVERAL had beautifully, professionally laminated, tillers for $50 or less. . . . In various curves & styles, as well.

My suggestion is to look at the Hendersen Marine, Jamestown Distributors, and Annapolis Performance Sailing web-sites before building your own. {ALTHOUGH . . the trouble to build a jig is worth while if you are going to make MULTIPLE tillers}

Regards & Good Luck, R> > I'm gonna make a new tiller extension handle for a club's sailboat.

[Ron Magen]

PHILISTINE !!!!

[J T]

Tue, Jul 11, 2006, 11:13am (EDT+4) [e-mail] (W.=A0Wells) doth burbleth: I use a treated piece of 2/4 ( for 2/6 if you want to shape it).on mine. It is very cheap and fits into the holder perfectly.

It would make make me extremely uneasy to knowingly use a piece of treated wood in such a manner. Not because of woory it would break, but because of the potential health hazard from constant skin contact with treated wood.

You want cheap, use pallet wood.

JOAT Politician \Pol`i*ti"cian\, n. Latin for career criminal

[DIYGUY]

[John McCoy]

Renata wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Oak can be difficult to glue, using epoxy (which is what you'd want to use for anything marine, of course). So if you need to assemble anything to it (cheeks or whatever), you'll probably find mahogany to be easier to deal with.

OTOH, if it's just a case of pulling out a spokeshave and shaping a single piece of wood, I don't see why oak would not be a suitable choice.

John

[CW]

[Lew Hodgett]

CW wrote: > Sounds like someone with a camprehension problem.

Obviously not a rag bagger.

Lew

[Mark Witczak]

What kind of boat is it? I've got a tiller (with cover) sitting in my shed for a Catalina27. I used it one season and then Isabella sank it. I guess Davy Jones wasn't happy about me changing the name.

Email me if your interested. It would be a whole lot cheaper than building/buying a new one.

Mark

DIYGUY wrote:

[Renata]

Thanx for the offer.

It's a 27' (I think) Windrose. Looks like the tiller's just a tapered hunk of wood (I haven't been out yet this year, so I'm going by the partial picture provided).

Where are you and how much (if it would work)?

Thanx Renata

[Renata]

Cost effective example.

Ebony $65/bd ft. Nice and hard, but not sure how it holds up to salt spray.

Rosewood $15/bd ft. Beutiful and elegant but not sure how structurally appropriate it would be.

White oak $5/bd ft. Durable, appropriate, cheap (relatively).

Not sure where you got "free".

Renata

[Renata]

Time consuming is what I can't afford at the moment. I'm willing to do this for 'em/us but have only so much time. Plus, the boat's not such an elegant creature as to warrant a hand crafted work of art, so to speak.

Ah, thanx, will look into these sources. A quick internet perusal yielded prices starting at $125, ranging to $230 plus.

$50 would be worth buying since the wood and varnish will run close to that $.

THanx Renata

[Renata]

THanx again.

I don't think the tiller's salvageable as the crack runs it's length and I wouldn't trust a salvage job in that state. Easy enouhg to replace. I think they're gonna glue it as a temporary measure til the new one's done.

It's sorta a labor of love, but when one poster mentioned $50 for a replacement, well, the love sorta diminished... ;-)

Thanx Renata

-snip-

[J T]

Wed, Jul 12, 2006, 11:21am [e-mail] (Renata) Cost effective example. Not sure where you got "free".

Cost effectives:

Rough trim plywood, laminate, final shape. Titebond II should work fine as it won't be immersed in water. If it's "scrap" plywood, cost is nil. Even if you buy some it won't cost much. I frequently laminate plywood for different projects - jigs, etc. Sometime you can even get free "scraps".

Pallet wood. I mentioned this before. Usually no telling what type of wood, but you can get it free. If yer worried about it not lasting, rough out a couple more. Personally, I think it'll probably last as long as anything else. I used some for my banjo neck, only problem is it's so hard a rasp will hardly touch it, so it's taking a LOT of work to final shape. But now I've got a hand power planer. Hehehe

There's more examples, but I'd have to think, and I don't feel like thinking.

There is no such thing as "scrap" plywood, just smaller and smaller pieces. If you can't figure out any other use for it you can always use it for a backer piece in drilling holes.

JOAT Politician \Pol`i*ti"cian\, n. Latin for career criminal