Tiller cover

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  Last spring I took my first attempt at making a tiller cover for my Typhoon, but it ended up being to tight.  Then our basement flooded ruining this prototype.  My spring attempt was basically a giant tube sock.  It was a massive pain pulling the end back through on itself.  "Sunbrella is stiff stuff"   and when it didn't fit.  I had a few choice words.    So I just blew it off for the season and went sailing.  

Well the summer sun is harsh and I want my varnish to last a bit longer so I decided to give it another go.  This time I plan to take the guess work out of it and make a tiller cover that is adjustable.  Similar to the one I had on my last boat Shenanigans.   Making it adjustable will solve many of the challenges one faces with a Typhoon tiller.  The first challenge the arc.  These tillers have quite a bend in them as they come up from the sole of the cockpit floor. This arc makes it more difficult to get the fabric to lay and look correct. and ultimately was why my spring attempt failed.  The second major challenge on my tiller is the hand wrapped line I braided on sometime last year.  This makes the tiller thicker at top and bottom and narrower in the middle.  Instead of sewing a sock this time I laid out the fabric as a long rectangle.  On each long end I sewed on Velcro strips.  I created a small pocket for the tip of the tiller to slide into.  I had to sew this shut by hand.  I have to admit this is a bit rough as I intended on doing it with a quick zip on the sewing machine but the bunched up fabric turned out the be a bit much for my machine.  I'm calling it a pirate stitch.  Lots of funny looking x's.  Just to be fancy I chalked a straight line on the cover and ran a fancy star pattern down the dorsal of the cover.  The result are not perfect but for a piece of material that will spend its time down in the cabin with the sail cover it should last for years and protect the tiller from the sun on those hot summer days. 

Project start

Here you can see the basic lay out of the finished project. 



fitting the tip in.






Close up the bottom by matching the
Velcro and here are the result. 

  
Dorsal Pattern
Tiller ready to re-install this spring



Comments

  1. Bill le SkeepNovember 18, 2013 at 3:32 AM

    Well done Chris! I purchased one from a CDSOA member, the result of a combination deal of mainsail cover and tiller cover. Your product is ingenious!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chris November 21, 2013 at 9:16 PM

    Thanks, @William McCoy It's not my genius just copying a masters work.

    ReplyDelete

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