Penobscot 14 ST. JACQUES 21 Sep 18 Tiller Trials, Day Sail Outfitting

21 Sep 18:

Skipper said I better have a blog post for Webb to read with his evening libation so I thought, how about Sea Trials for the new tiller? The new tiller sits at just the right height, and can be raised to duck under during a tack.

Oarlocks and sockets getting some nice patina, and varnish is holding up well.

We put a little cove and bead detail along the edge of the seat like BARBASHELA had, it tricks the eye to make the seat look a little thinner.

Mast thwart detail, the bolts have wingnuts so it is removable.

Fun clouds today, wind 3-4 knots, high tide with a little river current running out.

When Skipper wants to sheet in a bit more on a broad reach, she throws the sheet over the belaying pin to give it more of an aft angle. This helps keep the foot of the sail flat.

Mess About Mode, we carry a few towels to keep bilge wiped down, a couple of seat cushions and a picnic bag with sailing knives of course.

Dynamic Dolly for beach launch and recovery.

She's getting a little grimy, time for a TILEX wipedown before the Sunbrella cover goes back on.

First coat of varnish on ST. JACQUES' tiller! We used TotalBoat Gleam Marine Varnish Satin, thinned just a bit for better penetration, brushed on with a chip brush. #totalboat

Miles rowed .25/Total 10.25 Thanks a lot Skipper for sailing us all over the place, maybe next time I get to row more. :)

Log of ST. JACQUES.

Penobscot 14 ST. JACQUES 15 Aug 18 Tiller Replacement

15 Aug 18:

Tiller v1.0 on ST. JACQUES has broken several times where it necks down to fit inside the yoke. I chose to make it out of solid cypress vs laminate it or pick a harder wood. The cypress I selected was also pretty grainy on the business end. We tried grafting in a teak end and the teak held up, but the cypress fractured the next time just ahead of the teak splice.

So we regrouped and decided to make the end of the tiller as wide as the yoke, and we will use Sunfish tiller straps to attach it. We will also laminate a strip of marine grade oak plywood between outer layers of cypress.

Skipper wants the tiller to be a little straighter up forward and sit a little higher, but the original tiller still gives us the basic shape.

Fastened the boards with TotalBoat THIXO, brushed onto both faces.

Clamped the boards, light clamping just until the epoxy started to squeeze out.

Sorry for the fuzzy photo, but we are shooting for a tiller along the lines of Culler's 16 foot Biloxi catboat, designed for Hagan.

Mock up to get the angles off of the tiller yoke and set the tiller height above the seat, Skipper wants it about 16 inches off of the deck.

Used the old tiller for a few of the lines then straightened out the forward end.

Cut out the tiller with a jigsaw, then ripped off the sides on a table saw to get it to the proper width.

Rounded the edges with a 3/4 inch roundover bit on a compact trim router, then did some shaping with the Stanley #51 spokeshave, belt sander and random orbital sander.

Shaped the tiller some more, decided against the goose egg knob.

Attached tiller with Sunfish tiller straps, machine screws, washers and nylon stop nuts. We will be looking for some bronze hardware long term, if this v3.0 works.

Set the tiller to 16 inches above the aft deck.

A little camouflage until we find bronze hardware.

Log of ST. JACQUES.

24 Aug 18:

Tape is off, ready for Sea Trials!

Stay tuned.

Penobscot 14 ST. JACQUES 18 Dec 17 Tiller Repair and Shoal Rudder Blade

18 Dec 17:

We sail in a lot of shallow water and I had too many rudder control lines rigged up for the Skipper to mess with, so why not design a fixed blade shoal rudder for ST. JACQUES? We tried out the Dabber rudder and it worked great, so we cut out a new blade with a little extra added to the trailing edge.

New blade comparison

New blade compared to Dabber blade.

Dabber rudder and new shoal blade comparison. I don't think the Dabber blade is exactly stock.

Sealed the new blade with TotalBoat Wood Sealer Varnish Primer.

All the shoal rudder bits.

The tiller end kept snapping due to some soft grain, so I grafted in a piece of cumaru (Peruvian teak). Cut the old piece out with a Japanese pull saw. Fastened the new piece with Pettit Flexpoxy.

Log of ST. JACQUES.