An extra hand at the helm for Christmas

If your skipper has ever wanted to leave the helm to go below, and he's on his own, what does he do? Well he could rig a line to the tiller from a couple of cleats, but it takes time to fix and even more to undo, plus it is not exactly secure. How about this for an alternative? I've come across a simple unobstrusive product called Tillermate that can be fitted easily and is available to hand at all times. It can hold the rudder steady in even heavy weather. If you need to trim the sails you can go forward in safety knowing that your boat will hold her course.

The longer the boat, the bigger the rudder and the heavier the tiller, so if the tiller can be controlled with a 6 mm lashing line then this system is suitable. You can make course corrections by slightly easing the adjustable knob to a partly tight position. The tiller can then be moved by the helmsman but is not loose enough to be affected by wave forces acting on the rudder.

To put it to use, you feed the 6mm rope through one bullseye guide and lock one end to a cleat. You then tighten the rope, so that it is taut round the Pulley before feeding through the other bullseye guide and locking in to a second cleat. The device can stay with the rope in it all the time (but you may want to take the rope out for extended voyages on electronic pilot.

The system can work in 3 ways:

1. Free

Unscrew the knob so that the Pulley runs freely and use the tiller in the normal way. If the tiller is restricted in its movement by the rope becoming too tight, then re-examine the geometry of the fixings and adjust. 1.5 to 2 turns to let the pulley run freely.
2. Part Tight

Screw the knob down so that the device lightly clamps the rope and holds the tiller in position, but allows you to make small tiller movements when required. Part tightening is quite sensitive and takes practice and with heavy rudder loads the tiller can still move.
3. Clamped

Screw the knob down further so that it clamps firmly onto the rope and the tiller cannot be moved without unscrewing the knob. There are only about 1.5 to 2 turns of the knob (depending on the rope used) to alter the setting from 'free' to 'clamped'.

1. The Pulley could be 'binding' on the underside of the knob, in which case, add a replacement drop of 'Loctite 243' on the thread, leave for 24 hours and then 'break' the set.
2. It may be that the rope is feeding into the Pulley at an angle (see 'X' in Figure 5) and not at right angles to the axis of the TILLERMATE ('Y') and is rubbing on the Pulley. In which case readjust your angles to stop this.

Maintenance

The clamp is made from 316 stainless steel or CZ121 brass and needs no maintenance other than a clean and a smear of grease on the outer face of the inner boss in the centre of the Clamp. You should also, renew the Loctite on the screw at intervals.

Safety

1. Remember that the system is meant to hold the tiller for short periods only. It is not a navigation aid nor will it hold a course, it simply holds the tiller where you clamp it.
2. The recommended cleats are those which can be freed very quickly in an emergency - 'cam' cleats are an example.
3. Use only in open waters it must be accepted that the only way that the tiller can be freed from the clamped position is by unscrewing the knob and this takes a short time. Always allow for that when calculating manoeuvring distances and times.