Tiller bar, she broke!

[rat of vengence 10]

Hi fellas,

I've managed to snap the aluminum tiller bar at the point it enters the casting for the rudder swivel. I swung my cat around stern-to the shore, but a bit of a swell picked it up and landed it on the rudders. My bad 😕

 

Anyway, are spare parts for this a thing, or will I need to source the appropriate tubing and fabricate a replacement?

 

Thanks in advance for any help

 

Dave 

[Jish 1]

I've got a few spare rudder castings with aluminum insert. I'm up in Lismore NSW. Otherwise I reckon Darcy on here would have some central coast area further south. 

[rat of vengence 10]

9 hours ago, Jish said:

I've got a few spare rudder castings with aluminum insert. I'm up in Lismore NSW. Otherwise I reckon Darcy on here would have some central coast area further south. 

Thanks Jish, the casting is fine, it's the aluminium tube itself. Is that generally a replacement part or a fabrication to fix?

 

Dave

[Jish 1]

I don't know if it's possible to buy a new replacement. Bris Cat centre might have them. The spare alum tubes I have are still attached to the rudder castings but i could drill out the rivets & just send the tubes if you're stuck for a replacement. I have a pic but it's too large to attach to this forum. I could FB message it or text it if you're interested.

Regards 

Jish

[billygoat 4]

The tiller Al tubing is an oddball size.

I sourced the closest possible I could find at my local specialist Al shop. It was slightly too big for the castings, so I had to machine the castings out enough to get it in.

I only did one initially (the broken one, naturally). It has held up well so far.

The other one let go a few years later, when I was about 2km off the coast of Torquay, out in Bass Strait. That could have been a bit exciting, except that it was my upwind rudder on a ~15km reach along the coastline, so I didn't really need it that day anyway 😄 .

Incidentally, if you ever get the chance to sail Torquay SC's Aus Day regatta, definitely do it. Torquay to Anglesea and back (if your boat holds together) in small cats. I plan to be there again next year.

I asked the Al shop to bend the tubing too but they didn't think it would bend without kinking. So I did my own bends too, using a long timber beam with the tiller tubing levered through a hole. About a dozen extremely slight kinks and the angle was perfect. Has held up well, as I said.