On a particularly spectacular and nearly windless day on Timothy Lake I was able to balance
the helm and snooze on the foredeck basking in the sunshine and enjoying the view of Mt Hood
while my little potter self-steered for several miles. I felt like I was on a yacht with a wind vane!
On days with more wind I have also been able to balance the helm, but I stay in the cockpit
ready to grab the tiller. The bungee is also nice for giving the helm more of a dampening effect.
I can counter balance any "helm" (weather or lee) but still steer. Letting go of the tiller on my
p-15 is a dicey affair without the "tamer" in place!
Derek Jensen
P-15 #694 "El Nino"
Portland, OR
GSTahoe@aol.com wrote:
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> West Wight Potter Website at URL
> http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> In a message dated 12/29/98 6:40:04 PM Pacific Standard Time, Magico1@aol.com
> writes:
>
> > By the way I don't like tiller tamers, so I came up with my own cajun
> > Tiller Tamer. Simply take your stern line that is already on the transom
> > cleat, and give it three wraps around the tiller about 3/4 up from the
> rear.
> > Then cleat off the other end to the other transom cleat.If you pull the
> > wraps
> > forewards it will lock the tiller in place. And you can correct course
> > simply
> > by turning the wraps a little. But the best part is when you don't need it
> > simply slide the wraps aft and you have the feel of a free tiller again.
> Try
> > It! Jerry Barrilleaux HMS 18 (Ssunshine)
>
> Jerry, et al:
>
> I do happen to like my tiller tamer, but before I installed it I used a system
> similar to yours. The only difference was that on one side I used one of
> those heavy black bungees from the tiller to the stern cleat and on the other
> I just tied a line from the other stern cleat to the tiller. Having the give
> of the bungee, I was able to tie off the tiller pretty tightly and not have to
> keep readjusting it. Also, when I got creative, I could make kind of a hokey
> self steering by keeping the bungee attached between the tiller and the stern
> cleat on the leeward side and running the main sheet through a block on the
> windward side and then tying it to the tiller. When a gust would hit, it
> would pressure the sail which in turn would cause the tiller to be pulled
> steering the boat more into the wind. When the wind would fall off, the
> bungee would put a little more pressure on the tiller causeing the boat to
> fall off a bit. It worked fine and allowed me to eat lunch or do other things
> in the cockpit without having to have my hands on the tiller at all times.
> Ideally the wind would be off the beam or close to it.
>
> The biggest drawback is that with this arrangement, you can't worry about
> where you're going. The boat will sail with the wind, which does not
> guarantee that you will go in the direction you originally started in. Since
> I never seem to know where I'm going, and in many cases where I'm coming from,
> I never saw this as a big problem. It is fun to kick back and eat with both
> hands and have the boat sailing right along. Oh, yeah, you also don't want to
> fall overboard with this arrangement. You'll be swimming home. The boat will
> go where it wants. Without you. That could put a little damper on an
> otherwise leasurely lunch!
>
> Geoff
> P-15 Lollipop
> No. Lake Tahoe, NV