JD1366 0 Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 Had every intention to restore my tiller that was looking a little worse for wear. Removed the varnish and sanded down only to find that the entire aft section was de-laminating and had been previously repaired and failed. Can practically pry it apart with light pressure on the metal rudder fittings. It's shot. Anyway, wondering what others' are using for tillers, what options are out there now, or do I need to bite the bullet and get a Karl's? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gouvernail 3,931 Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 Karl’s are the greatest. He told me many years ago,” I lose money on every one of them but they are so nice it’s worth it just to see the happy smiles.” 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WCB 775 Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 Agreed, Karl's are the best out there. That said, I've made a bunch of my own in the same style as Karl's. I made a jig on a board using small wood blocks to make the shape and then clamped mahogany and ash in alternating thin layers with epoxy and adhesive filler. Cut and sand to shape. Epoxy to seal shut, follow with varnish. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gouvernail 3,931 Posted November 30, 2021 Share Posted November 30, 2021 I have a bunch of nice jigs and make lots of tiller with them. This one is great for j-22, j-24, Catalina 25 and I forget what else but Karl’s has those wood cheeks that surround the stainless plates. I simply am not that interested in making an ultimate tiller. and He thought of it and I never would have thought of it 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WCB 775 Posted November 30, 2021 Share Posted November 30, 2021 1 hour ago, Gouvernail said: I have a bunch of nice jigs and make lots of tiller with them. This one is great for j-22, j-24, Catalina 25 and I forget what else but Karl’s has those wood cheeks that surround the stainless plates. I simply am not that interested in making an ultimate tiller. and He thought of it and I never would have thought of it When I worked for US Watercraft and they started building J24s, it was easier to spec Karl's tillers on new boats so they did. They were competitors (Karl's Boat Shop vs. Waterline Systems/US Watercraft) but they worked together on that. I got the Lindsay 505 molds from Karl one day a few years later. They'd been storing his hockey equipment in the barn. Too far gone to use. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Schnappi 126 Posted November 30, 2021 Share Posted November 30, 2021 The hockey equipment or the molds? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WCB 775 Posted November 30, 2021 Share Posted November 30, 2021 10 hours ago, Schnappi said: The hockey equipment or the molds? The molds were in the barn, the hockey equipment was in the molds. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WCB 775 Posted December 1, 2021 Share Posted December 1, 2021 On 11/28/2021 at 1:48 PM, JD1366 said: Had every intention to restore my tiller that was looking a little worse for wear. Removed the varnish and sanded down only to find that the entire aft section was de-laminating and had been previously repaired and failed. Can practically pry it apart with light pressure on the metal rudder fittings. It's shot. Anyway, wondering what others' are using for tillers, what options are out there now, or do I need to bite the bullet and get a Karl's? By the way...I've done exactly what you're mentioning, to older J22 tillers. We have five in our program and I just bought one. As a matter of fact, I sanded my tiller back to wood this evening because the previous owner had done a lazy job of varnishing so there were bad drips all over it and the tiller straps were glued to the wood with varnish. It also had a bunch of black in the wood from rot. It's sanded all back and looking pretty good. I also picked up two J22 rudders and tillers from the Midwest recently as spares. They were essentially in a swamp I'm told. One of them was delaminating like you mention yours is. I sanded the whole outside of one of them down, and I pried the delaming layers apart, sanded in there the best that I could, filled it with epoxy mixed with adhesive filler and clamped it back together. So far so good, it seems quite strong. Then I coated the outside with penetrating epoxy. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WCB 775 Posted December 2, 2021 Share Posted December 2, 2021 or you could just guy one from Rudder Craft https://store.ruddercraft.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=181_40&product_id=661 $304 kitted out with a cover and a tiller extension Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crash 1,007 Posted December 3, 2021 Share Posted December 3, 2021 There are lots of approaches that will "do the job." Hell for a while, while awaiting the arrival of my replacement tiller, I used a wooden baseball bat, with the sides of the barrel shaved down to fit between the cheek plates (gotta make sure the grain is aligned horizontally - just like when batting). It really comes down to how much style, vs. looks, vs weight, vs feel matters to you. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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