The tiller
clutch is predicated on the idea that with a single grip you release the clutch as you move the tiller. That works well as long as you have your hand on the tiller. It would not work as well using a tiller extension or if sailing downwind solo with both hands gripping spinnaker sheets. (With my bungee "tamer" I just nudge the tiller and it resets to the new position - we'll have to learn from @tipster whether the tiller
tamer can be set to the correct friction level to achieve the same).
I would be interested to learn whether anyone using either tiller
clutch or
tamer has sailed their boat upwind unattended. 90% of the time, I use my bungee "tamer" just to have a free hand for a short period (except soloing downwind under spinnaker). However, on cross-lake cruises, I have managed to set up sails and bungee to have the boat sail unattended upwind in moderate airs. I did observe that the boat, once balanced, would luff up a bit in a gust and fall off again in lulls, and that the bungee allowed the tiller to swing back and forth a little bit.
What I haven't done is observe whether these oscillations increased or decreased the oscillations in heading of the boat. Were they helpful or the opposite, or can the same be achieved as easily or perhaps more so with a system that doesn't have any give? Would love to learn of observations by anyone who's tried this. Perhaps we can also try to reason it out.
My thinking is that with the boat balanced w/ slight weather helm, that weather helm would tend to increase in a gust. W/ fixed tiller, the effect should be that the boat luffs up. W/ bungee tiller, increased pressure on the rudder would tend to make the tiller come inboard, which would increase the luff response. So, it looks like adding stretch into the tiller tamer has the effect of adding some positive feedback for gust response. Enough to make a difference?
(PS: off-topic on the motor: there are some discussions /
reviews on the EP-Carry here on the forum. There are other, more powerful electric motors, like the Torqeedo, for example, which has been on the market for quite some time now. The EP Carry is rather minimalist, but I like its low weight and the convenience - I used a trolling motor before, which got me 85% of the speed, but was much heavier - not even counting the lead acid batteries - and took two hands to raise/lower. Also, the battery fits in the motor well making it a good fit for a DS1 of that vintage. The low weight means there's little penalty from carrying it on the transom.
The Spirit-1 consumes 1KW compared to 9Ax24V or 225W for the EP Carry. At full power, you'd need > 4x the battery capacity, but it claims it's comparable to a 3HP outboard. That's about all the outboard you'd need on the DS. The weight is about double that for an EP Carry, and the price compares at 2 1/2 times. But looks like a nice package if you want something that performs like a "real" outboard. Btw: the two companies share initials, but are unrelated.)