My electronic servo activated Raymarine Tiller Pilot has never been able to keep this centerboard boat on course for long. Sometimes I get lucky, but mostly, at the worst possible time, the boat seems to head straight for the closest obstruction. And when you notice she's going off course and you calmly go to detach the pilot from the tiller, IT STICKS! and cannot be removed with foulest of epithets. I became motivated to find the best tiller holder/brake/clutch/lock thingy design and implement it.
I searched the internet and surveyed the various devices available and made mental notes of the features that I might find useful. It should be quick and easy to turn on and off, require only the tiller hand to operate, it should hold the tiller at any angle desired, it should allow the user to overcome the holding action and just grab the tiller and change coarse, it should be as close as possible to free.
Of the dozens of devices I considered I was most impressed with the Tiller Clutch, just a box with a lever sticking out and rope going through, and though I can't see the mechanism inside the box, I can figuer out how I would design that mechanism.
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I use the lever to apply a cam action to a block, and a spring puts constant tension on the block. With the block captured inside and the lever pressing on the block you drill a 7/32 hole (for 3/16" line) through the walls and block. Then reeve the line through, it should run freely. When you release the lever the spring will push the block out of line with the wall holes and grab the control line. The holding power depends on the spring strength. My prototypes where all done in oak and brass, but I expect one day moisture will get past the epoxy and varnish and gum up the innards and I'll re-do in aluminum.
BTW, I was feeling a bit leary of my skinny little 40+ year old tiller so I wrapped spirals of uni-directional carbon fiber tape around the after appendages and another spiral up to half way up the tiller, where I ran out of tape. Now I feel much better! Do you think I should put any epoxy on it?:roll: