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wheel steering

In the plans of Tiki 31 it is suggested that the steering would be arranged with a "whipstaff" or a sort of tiller bar replica, connected to tiller bars with system of cables. I wanted to use a steering wheel. I figured it should work with the same sort of cable-and-block system described in the plans. Well, it did not. When turning the wheel clockwise the cable pulls the starboard tiller bar the way it should. But because the tiller bars are curved, the port tiller turns somewhat less, and soon the cable to the port tiller is goes slack.

How have you arranged the wheel steering? Are the cables coming from the wheel attached to one tiller bar only, having the connecting rod turn the other tiller. Have you added some sort of a segment? Or have you connected the cables coming from the wheel to both tiller bars? In that case how have you been able to keep both cables taut even when one tiller turns more than the other?

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Permalink Reply by Olli Väänänen on October 15, 2018 at 1:34am

Ok. Thanks, I found Your previous post quite useful! I know now how I will arrange it.

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Permalink Reply by Forrest Nichols on October 26, 2018 at 3:05am

I had the same issue on my 40 foot Tangaroa. The previous owner had "solved" the problem of the slack cable by putting a section of elastic on each cable to take the slack out during turns. I didn't like this solution, so I fabricated a pair of quadrants out of plywood, and installed them on the rudders. now my cables maintain the same tension for all rudder angles!