Remote Steering

[skylark]

Here is my low tech / no tech remote steering position under the dodger:



Note the companionway seat.  Just pull the tan rope back and forth to steer.  It has enough friction to stay where you leave it.







I don't have motor controls led up here, I have to jump in an emergency.  But usually motoring is pretty slow and "situations" are predictable. 

I do have an idea on how to extend the throttle and shifter up front, but have not tried it yet.  The throttle control is that piece of pvc pipe sticking up just above the transom.  It is an extension of the outboard tiller throttle. 

I'm not sure its worth it to extend the controls up to the companionway seat, I would rather control the boat from the tiller in any questionable situation.  But I like to experiment, so someday I will fit a flex hose on the pvc and use an additional piece of pvc to extend the throttle control.  I will probably find a big piece of hose that fits inside the pvc and through bolt it to the pvc at a couple of places.

I still need to extend the shifter by bolting a piece of aluminum conduit with the end flattened to the shifter of the outboard.  That is a bigger priority because right now I have to get down and grab the shifter which is way down there.

[maxiSwede]

Wonderful!  simple, yet genious. Isn´t it amazing how difficult it is at times, to find those KISS solutions.

grog to you..  ;D

[Zen]

Very Cool!!

[AdriftAtSea]

Sometimes, the simplest things work better than the complicated ones.  Been looking at Letcher's book on self-steering.  I think I'm going to try and make my own windvane. :D

[skylark]

Have you seen Walt's page on how to build your own windvane self steering?

http://www.mindspring.com/~waltmur/Self-Steering/index.htm

Other stuff here:

http://cruisenews.net/db/pagetemplate.php?cat_id=18

[CharlieJ]

What plans are you going to use? I'm planning one from Belcher's book. I have spare ply so it'll be a test model. Really interested in seeing how it works. Tehani is SO easy to steer that it should work fine.

[AdriftAtSea]

CharlieJ-

I'm not familiar with Belcher's book.  Is it a trim tab design you're making? 

The design I'm going to be playing with is a horizontal dual-axis vane that does not use a pendulum or trimtab of any sort.  I'm trying to avoid having to have a servo pendulum or trimtab rudder due to the design of the outboard rudder the Telstar, which is a kick up design. Being a kick up design makes designing trim tab for it rather more complicated, so I'd like to avoid that if I can.

[CharlieJ]

nothing in the water. Just a horizontal vane with control lines to the tiller. It'll mount on a post on the stern and nothing will be in the water. I'll get you the full title to the book later today- can't get to it right this minute.

[AdriftAtSea]

Thanks charlie... I'd be interested in seeing that.  Why re-invent the wheel if I don't have to.

[CharlieJ]

The book is titled "Wind Vane Self Steering", subtitled "How to plan and make your own" , by Bill Belcher.

It was published by Imternational Marine.

I'm gonna try his OGT Mk 2 setup.