Tiller Shape

[Albatross]

That's what I mean, a reverse C is surley just a C from the other side of the boat so why say reverse C?

It depends which way the boat is pointing.

 

C__________________________/

# S!_______________________/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The # being the rudder and the S being the prop

Edited October 3, 2009 by Albatross

[ditchcrawler]

Irrespective of leverage, isn't it the case that the Z shape counterbalances its own weight to some extent, putting less stress on the bottom weld and on the stock bearing ? whereas with an L or C shape virtually all the weight is effectively hanging off the side of the stock boss ?

Does that take into account the weight I put on it when I lean on the tiller to have a chat

 

I snipped this bit

 

The potential problem with an inverted 'L'

is the attachment point for the top of the rudder axis - this has to carry quite large

forces and it is easier to get a strong enough weld onto the side of a substantial boss

which is then attached to the top of the rudder axis - often with a square fitting.

 

cheers

 

springy

The boat on show at the IWA National that was painted like a leopard had the tiller connected to the stock by 4 5mm stainless screws

[system 4-50]

OK, it is time to come clean. What I am after is a bank of 4 x 13Kg propane bottles across the stern of my (ordered) square cruiser stern-ed boat, with an automatic change-over valve, in a locker that I can sit on. Two tanks to be on stream at any time and will automatically switch to the other two as necessary.

 

I was hoping to find out as much as possible about the issues involved without revealing this, in case it is a really daft idea. So now the experienced boaters can maybe have a good laugh. (I can't find a suitable smiley. Banging hand against head might be right)

 

The issues as I see them:

 

1. Access to the engine well. Would it be significantly obstructed?

2. Interference to the tiller movement (hence the original post).

3. Corners possibly outside the boat profile. I don't have enough measurement to check this yet.

4. Impeding the driver (what do you call these?)

5. Preventing the locker drain(s) from leaking gas into the engine well. 2 x 3" pipes to the stern perhaps?

6. Routing the gas supply back to the cabin

7. Positioning the ACO valve high enough (does it have to be higher than the bottles?)

8. Security. The bottles need to be not too obvious, and locked in.

9. Ease of access for changing the bottles.

10. Uselessness ? of seating in such a position.

 

I have a (recent) picture of a boat on the Regent's canal that has two tanks right at the back which I could upload, but I don't know the etiquette of displaying pictures of boats without their owners explicit permission.

 

This picture appears to show one possible use of the bottom knee of the Z tiller - to limit the maximum deflection to either side by means of two pegs in the deck that obstruct it.

 

Right. Hard hat and safety gear donned in readiness for the response.

[Guest User]

Apologies in advance if you're already fully aware, but have you thumbed through the boat safety guide ? (LPG chapter CLICKY)

[system 4-50]

Apologies in advance if you're already fully aware, but have you thumbed through the boat safety guide ? (LPG chapter CLICKY)

 

No I hadn't, so thank you for that. My direct experience with multi-bottled gas has been in a cottage.

 

It doesn't seem to identify any show-stoppers for the four bottle scheme and does give more precision about what has to be done. When I get my hands on the boat I'll construct some cardboard mockups and test the practicability of the setup and the degree to which it satisfies those nicely detailed regulations.

[Keeping Up]

In positioning and connecting the gas bottles, you may need to use some ingenuity to comply with the 1 metre length limit for the flexible pigtails. When this limit was initially introduced, I had problems because my two gas bottles are positoned with one on each side of the rear door (it's a cruiser stern). This means that they are almost 2 metres apart, so even if they could have been connected by two 1 metre pigtails, the changeover valve would have had to be half way betwen them - which would place it in the centre of the engine compartment. BW's suggested solutions were either to convert the cruiser stern to a semitrad, or to forget about the concept of having two gas bottles!

 

Ultimately the solution was to note that the limit applies only to flexible pigtails. The regulations were satisfied by installing a length of fixed copper pipe from the changeover valve to an additional wallblock in the gas locker on the other side of the boat.

 

Your setup may be nothing like mine, but I'm including this story to illustrate that if your setup is unusual, you may need to think of unusual solutions. Then I suggest that you do as I did, which was to get a formal statement from the BSS Office (who are very helpful these days) that the solution was in accordance with the requirements of the BSS, because then you have something to show to any subsequent BSS examiner who thinks that just because he hasn't seen that solution before, then it cannot be admissable.

[alan_fincher]

Two tanks to be on stream at any time and will automatically switch to the other two as necessary.

Out of curiosity, is the "two tanks on stream at the same time" because....

 

1) You want longest possible period without intervention

 

or

 

2) You need gas delivered faster than one cylinder is theoretically capable of.

 

The issue with the way I think you have described it is that although your 4 cylinders might last for ages, (assuming you don't rely solely on gas Central heating), you could actually exhaust 4 cylinders, and not necessarily be aware that this had been imminent.

 

Few narrow-boats have more than two 13KG cylinders actually connected in my experience, although some may carry additional one or more not connected.

[denboy]

why 4 bottles? i have 2 and as a live aboard works fine gas usually lasts 3/4 months per bottle

[matty40s]

The best solution would be to start a new thread as this one is about tillers, C, Z and girls

[Top cat]

I find the Z shape gives somewhere fro the acess hatch over the weed hatch something to lean against

 

Other than that I don't see why it needs to be that shape

 

TC

[AlanH]

I find the Z shape gives somewhere fro the acess hatch over the weed hatch something to lean against

 

Other than that I don't see why it needs to be that shape

 

TC

When the tiller is removed on my boat the end of the remaining spigot is more or less in line with the bearing thus giving me more deck space when the tiller bar is removed than it would if the tiller spindle were vertical because the spigot for fitting the bar would stick out over the deck. Not by much but it does save a bit of space.

There is definitely no leverage advantage.