Article by CDR John R. Butler USCG (Ret)
PREJUDICES
Steering wheels on small sailboats always seemed like “yachty affectations.” Give me the solid, responsive, warm and friendly feel of a beautifully laminated, gracefully curved and finely finished wooden tiller any ol’ day. Yes, I know it is a prejudicial attitude.
PROBLEM
My 18-foot Cape Cod Catboat gave me good reasons to change my prejudicial attitude. First and foremost was the amount of muscle required to control that big barn door rudder in a stout gust. My advancing age, arthritis and weakening of a repaired shoulder demanded more power.
And my personal preference, when single-handing as I usually did, was to recline way aft on the starboard seat, the broad boom gallows support for my back. That just made my problem worse, trying to steer with just the short of the tiller where it came through the transom. If I needed more power, I had to sit up, end my day-dreaming, and grab the end of the long tiller for the best leverage.
SOLUTION
My study of old photos of working catboats gave me the impetus needed. Some of those working skippers/commercial fisherman, ever-practical about their source of income, had steering wheels! And they were hardly yachts, although in the summertime, cleaned up and freshly painted, they did yachty work, carrying vacationers for a day on the water. Succumbing to practicality, I decided to give a wheel a fair try. But a cautious try. Would it eliminate my problems? Is it really practical?
PLANNING
I had no preconceived ideas, and was wondering how I would do it when I came across a diagram of how my hero, Joshua Slocum, designed a practical means for converting the rotary motion of the steering wheel to the back and forth movement of the tiller. Joshua’s design was like him, simple, practical, well thought out. How could I improve on it? Only in the implementation. So into the planning stages. I broke my project into specific categories, to focus my thinking if nothing else.
Experiences with other “improvements” to my various sailboats taught me the value of making one or more prototypes. So first came the prototype of a steering wheel installation. Of necessity, I needed a short tiller to move with the line wrapped around the hub of a prototype steering wheel, and a strong shaft to support it.
THE PROTOTYPE TILLER
From salvaged full-dimensioned 2 by 4 oak I laminated a stubby tiller, just 16 inches long from the pivot point to the hole for the tiller rope, and curved downward instead of up as with the normal tiller. A horizontal 5/16" hole through the forward end accommodates the 1/4" Dacron “fuzzy” line, and a vertical 1" hole drilled from the underside to intersect the 5/16" hole allows for the figure-of eight knots in the rope’s ends to be concealed from sight. In use, the rope appears neat and endless. This prototype filled the bill so well that I used it for the final assembly, too. I just planed the rough edges, sanded it to a satin finish, stained and gave it many coats of varnish.
THE PROTOTYPE HUB
The hub is the most important part of the entire setup for it must convert the rotation of the wheel to a pull on line going to the stub tiller. Given the power of the barn door rudder in a stout gust, it must be very strong. That was the second part of the prototype pieces that was designed for the ultimate rig, and the shaft with a means for locking was the third. I made the hub from more of that salvaged oak turned on a friend’s lathe to give it the proper shape for the steering line, and the half-inch center hole for the shaft. See the diagram for dimensions. Simple mathematics determined the minimum diameter of the oak hub where the line passes around it. Dave Gerr, in his fine book The Nature of Boats, recommends two turns lock to lock for a steering wheel in sailboats 16' to 30' LOA. Given a cat’s hard-nosed reputation, I opted for over two turns, and like it just fine. This prototype filled the bill in tests as well, so I just gave it the beautifying treatment I gave the stub tiller, of course leaving the portion where the line contacted it rough and unfinished to increase the friction.
THE PROTOTYPE SHAFT
The shaft for the prototype wheel had to be just as strong, so I had one fabricated by a local machine shop, a one-half inch stainless steel bolt with a large s/s disc welded under the head of the bolt. Pre-drilled holes in the disc allowed the shaft to be screwed to the temporary backing board of oak. I had read accounts by other catboat sailors writing that no brake was sufficient to tame the tiller! I wanted my brake to apply a gentle friction for normal sailing, yet to lock so tightly that I could not turn the wheel. Joshua solved the wheel locking with a line over one of the spokes secured to either side of the cockpit, but I wanted a finer adjustment that would allow going from full lock to a minimum of drag to none at all. I solved the wheel lock by means of a groove in the threaded end, deep enough to allow a large s/s washer, this one with a tab protruding into the one-half-inch hole. In practice, the nut on the end of the shaft is turned tight enough to create friction between the aft end of the hub and the backing board (mounting block), thereby slowing, or stopping, the wheel from turning. And the tab prevents the washer from turning with the nut, and keeping the rotating wheel from turning the nut.
THE PROTOTYPE WHEEL
This was a rough affair, an oak block with 5/8" doweling for eight spokes. The spokes were cut to make a 20-inch diameter wheel, but after a few trial sails, I found that was larger than needed. So I cut every other one an inch, allowing me to evaluate 18" vs. 20" diameter wheel. I liked the 18", and fortunately that was the diameter of the available and eventual wheel. The prototype hub was fastened securely to the back of the wheel, of course. The means converting the rotation of the wheel to a straight pull is the province of pulleys, and I opted for Joshua Slocum’s simple arrangement for his Spray as seen in Stephen Doherty’s The Boats They Sailed In. I didn’t feel the need for additional mechanical advantage, so didn’t add the extra “gun tackle purchase” that Joshua used to double the power of his wheel, and I added two stout compression springs to keep a constant tension on the wheel. The two pulleys are fastened at the level of the stub tiller to blocks of wood that are hinged at the bottom. Unseen in the photo are chains that go back to screw eyes in the frames, and there are compression springs and turnbuckles in the chains.
THE PROTOTYPE MOUNT
There was only one logical place to mount the wheel on my boat: the forward side of the cockpit coaming. Although plenty stout for its intended purpose, the 3/4" mahogany plank wasn’t nearly stout enough to take the strain of a shaft bolted to it. Solution: Fasten a piece of that salvaged oak very securely to the coaming. The prototype showed one modification was needed: The tail of the mainsheet must be kept away from the wheel’s spokes or it will get caught up in them. Solution: The outboard ends of the mounting board are cut away from the coaming, providing an “ear” at each end to catch the slack line. After it proved itself worthy, I planed, sanded, stained and varnished it and it blends well with the coaming.
RIGGING
With the turnbuckles fully extended, the 1/4" Dacron line is simply strung from the tiller, through a pulley, around the hub three times, down through the other pulley and back to the tiller, starting and ending with the concealed figure-of-eight knots in the tiller stub. The knots are adjusted to make the line snug, then the turnbuckles are tightened until the compression springs are nearly closed, making the required tension around the hub to prevent slipping. The “fuzzy” line I used increased the friction on the hub, too. When sailing in any significant waves, it is interesting to watch, when locked tight, the rudder and stub tiller respond with slight movements back and forth, working against the springs’ tension. But with sufficient spring tension at each pulley, there is absolutely no slop in the system. The rope never slips on the rough and unvarnished working portion of the hub, and the helm is responsive to the slightest turn of the wheel.
THE WHEEL
My sailmaker/boatbuilder friend said it would be very expensive for him to make a proper ship’s wheel, and suggested that I look at a decorative wheel on display at a local discount store. Just a nautical gimmick, I thought, but I looked. It was actually better than I expected, but too big. The 36-inch wheel was quite impressive, and a bargain at $93 compared to those shown in nautical and gift catalogs for $135 to $150.
I showed the store manager one of the catalogs listing an 18" wheel, and yes, he could special order one, probably running about $50, comparing well with the catalog price for $80 plus handling and shipping. In a few weeks it came in, and the total price with tax was about $48. It was made in India, accounting for the brass hub. While the workmanship won’t stand up to real close and picky scrutiny, it was really very nicely made and finished. Of course, I bronze-wooled it and added many coats of varnish as a part of its modifications. As purchased, the wheel had a 3/4" hole in the hub. A pair of bronze bushings from my hardware store reduced that to the 1/2" shaft.
With a tiller, you know when your rudder is amidships. Not so with a wheel, so I made a Turk’s Head knot and secured it to one spoke. This identifies one spoke as the “king spoke,” also called the “midship spoke.” When the line around the hub is properly adjusted, the king spoke is at the 12 o’clock position. While traditional on large sailing vessels, on my boat The Old Cat, it is convenient and comforting to feel the fancy knot and know just where the rudder is located. My cheap and decorative wheel had a fairly thin-walled brass hub, so I used a belt and suspenders approach to ensure that the oak hub and the wheel’s brass hub became as one. Long brass screws through the combination seemed secure, but I am a worrywart, and wanted it really secure. I worried that the strain of a strong gust of wind, and the compensating turn of the wheel, could tear the thin walls of the wheel’s brass hub. So I filled the hub with epoxy. Then, just to be sure, I drilled angled holes from the oak hub and into the hardened epoxy, then drove bronze welding rod into the holes. I think a spoke would break before the two hubs twisted apart.
The stainless nut on the end of the shaft for tension control needed a handle for it, not a wrench to put on it to change the friction. A circle-cut scrap of mahogany with a small piece of oak glued to it and finished bright became the outward appearance. The back side had a hole drilled in it, and the nut was epoxied into the hole.
THE VERDICT
So, (and very modestly,) I must proclaim the conversion to wheel steering is a rousing success. I had to admit the wheel was very practical. It was indeed the solution to keeping this ancient mariner sailing a little longer.
To answer the question some readers have already formed in their minds: Yes, the old (and very handsome) tiller is kept aboard just in case the wheel system fails. One brass bolt holds either the stub or original tiller to the rudder.
A Look Back at Steering Systems by Paul Esterle
Steering systems like this were once standard on many boats, especially home-built ones. Manufacturers like Atwood and Perko supplied everything from cable drums to steering pulleys, to tensioning springs, right down to coated wire tiller cable.
Of course, that was back when almost every issue of Popular Mechanics, Popular Science and Mechanix Illustrated contained plans to build your own boat in your basement or garage. Most of those items went away with the advent of fiberglass boats and Teleflex steering systems.
One famous plans supplier, Glen-L Marine, does still offer a complete exposed-drum steering kit. It comes with tiller cable (30 feet), sheave boxes, swivel pulleys, cable clamps, tension springs, and eye straps. The steering wheel is 12" diameter with bright metal spokes and black cushioned, easy-grip rim. It comes with mounting bolts, 4" aluminum drum which is mounted on the dash, with cables exposed.•SCA•
First appeared in issue #69
Had the same problem with my 18' cat. I followed a different path. A couple of eyebolts on either side of the cockpit to which I could hitch a tackle and a grommet with an eye that went over the tiller. I think it was a simple 2x1 tackle. Worked real well as there was never a need to push on the tiller, only to pull. In light air I could sit on the stem and steer the boat. Back in the day they called those relieving tackles.
The effort required on the tiller is related to the pivot point of the rudder blade. The more aft the blade is to the pivot point the harder it is to control the tiller. There is an ideal forward position of the pivot point where the water pressure on the leading edge of the rudder helps with steering the rudder. On my Potter 19's wooden rudder, I filed away at the rotating joint stop to allow the bottom end of the blade to be forward of the pivot point (about 2 inches) , which made a quantum change for easier steering. I later changed to the slender Ida Rudder for superior sailing experience on the ocean between Catalina Island and Los Angeles, Calif.