Thoughts on Tiller Pilots...
And Slab Reefing.
John Williams
I have a relatively simple ‘tiller Pilot’ made by ‘Navico’ over 25 years
ago, now made by ‘Simrad’. These can be reliable and powerful, indeed
without one I would not have been able to do my round UK trip so easily.
Buy the one for the next larger vessel though, as they all do seem underpowered!
Mine now is an old Navico 5000 made for a 32ft boat and replaced a similar
one, the 5500 I used for 99% of my round UK trip, died as I was entering Howth!
I carried another, a later, Simrad model, but it was a smaller less powerful
one, which was fine when motoring but slightly underpowered when sailing, I
really needed the next size up! OK on a 24 and possibly a 26, but
Fiddler's Green stretched to 27... with assocciated increases in sail area
and ballast etc. Was lucky to find a near unused Navico 5000
on my return and the smaller Simrad will be sold one day, good for a boat up to
24ft I guess, not my boat at a stretched 27ft!
Any decent chandlery will sell you one, but do buy the next size up from your
boat recommendation! Go for the recirculating ball rather than simple
screw operation. The time, lock to lock is important so look for a fast
operating one and the power to push or pull a good weight, mine is 140lb push or
pull! Copes well with the lesser forces normally involved in steering an
Eventide!
Mine attaches to a s/s pin set into the top of my tiller with epoxy, the tiller
pilot pivots in a bronze socket, I fixed the socket in a block of teak and
fastened that, with small s/s brackets, to
the stern rail of the boat. Some fit the socket into a block fastened on
deck, wherever it goes, it must be really strongly mounted! They can be
fitted port or stbd, depending on whatever else may be in the way. They
can be fitted beneath tillers on a bracket with a pin mount fastened beneath the
tiller. They are easy to fit. Power needs to be delivered to a
waterproof plug and socket nearby.
As they have motors and magnets in them the distance from the boat’s compass has
to also be considered!
Seems all tiller pilots are given pet names, they are reliable extra crew
members, if you read Joshua Slocum’s round the world trip, his was a manual sail
powered system for trade winds sailing, but did the same and he named his ‘Pinta’,
(after the reputed pilot for Columbus…) we have been doing it ever since. I have
a ‘Sykie’! Why Sykie?
Well if you are old enough and remember the comedy radio program ‘Life of
Bliss’ you will know ‘Sykie’, was the the dog, yaps just like that dog...
Re the mainsail and reefing.
Do not go to a roller boom, they are not good! Back in the 60’s and 70’s
they were the ‘new’ idea. But they proved to be impractical.
Tried several of these myself and either the sail sags because it rolls it all
wrong and you lose the kicking strap, as it either has to have a rather special
roller claw to work and these can damage the sail, or you have to take it off.
This leads to saggy, baggy sails the last thing you need when reefing! I
have had what was called a ‘Turner Gear’ a fixed bronze handle operating a
ratchet at the gooseneck, (wooden boom). The sail slides used to get
jammed and the boom sagged so much it as a danger to crew. The classic way
to deal with sag was to throw old sail bags and clothing into and onto the sail
at the back end of the boom, not something to be done easily when reefing….
The ones with natty crank handles fitted to Ali masts and booms often suffered
another fate, you lost the darned handles overboard!
No, go to slab reef. Have 3 sets of reef eyes (cringles), fitted at luff and
leach. The sail is heavily reinforced to take the strain. I also
have had reefing lines from half a dozen points between the luff and leach, but
in practice these are never used. Years ago we would have tied the sail
down with these ‘points’ along the boom, nowadays it is simpler not to, and the
sail just lies in a flap along the boom!
The luff cringles are pull down by hand to either a set of hooks either side of
the gooseneck fitting, as I have, or they are simply tied down by a line passing
through the eye and back to the boom. I have 2 hooks and the first two
reefs go into the hooks, and I have had snap eyes welded to the hooks so they
cannot jump out, the last reef is tied, a line from the tack fitting on the boom
up through the eye and back to the boom. Simple and reliable.
For the leech I have 3 eyes fitted to the port side of the boom, and then
turning blocks on the boom stbd side, and lines go up from the boom, through the
leech eye cringles and back to the block on the other side of the boom, (by
tradition stbd side) and then forward to a triple jammer on the boom, stbd side.
As you will probably be hove-to on stbd to reef this is the ‘up side’ of the
mast and the safe position to work the mainsail from. If the mast is set
up properly, the main halyard and the toppling lift will also be on the stbd
side of the mast within easy reach!
(The port side of the mast reserved for staysail and genoa halyards, maybe even
cruising chute halyard.)
You can buy slab reef set ups from decent chandlers and sail makers. Darn
site better and cheaper than any roller booms! And quicker and safer to use too!
Whilst you are at it get a set of lazy jacks too. I fitted a set before my
round UK trip and wonder why the heck I had never fitted them before! I
had been sailing Fiddler’s Green for 25 years without and always had all manner
of problems with the helmsman losing visibility with acres of sail blocking
their view. With lazy jacks the mainsail be dropped rapidly and comes down
between the thin control lines to sit neatly atop the boom, leaving the view
forward unimpeded. Now a sailmaker can even make up a sail cover that
fixes to the boom and has lazy jacks attached, as you drop the sail the sail
drops into the cover and then can simply be zipped up, magic!
John Williams.
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