tillermate any good?

[Jerzreb]

I was looking at the TillerMate until I came across this thread. I see you have the Tiller-Hand on eBay. Might just pick up a Tiller-Hand instead, it is less expensive. I have a 19' shoal draft boat and only looking for some device to let me let go of the tiller from time to time.

 

[Neddie_Seagoon]

I echo VicS, a cleat either side and a bit of cord will do the trick very nicely as long as your sails are reasonably balanced.

 

[nigcha]

As the guy who makes Tillermate, may I just make a couple of points. Tillermate is made of stainless steel, brass or Acetal plastic and the price range reflect the material used. Stainless is very expensive and controls the price but it will last as long as the boat does. Remember, you get what you pay for.

Secondly, of course you can use a piece of cord to hold the tiller - you could make your sails out of old sheets and the anchor out of a tyre filled with concrete, but you don't, you use a properly engineered product, so why not with the tiller lock?

Finally,if you must use a cord, bungy or otherwise, be careful as we had a customer who wanted to buy in a hurry as he had only just survived a very serious incident when he couldn't free the tiller cord quickly enough.

Obviously, I would prefer everyone with a tiller to use a CNC machined Tillermate, but whether it is that or Salty John's products, don't take unnecessary risks and use something designed for the job. Home page

 

[Superflid]

[ QUOTE ]


For going below to cook or whatever I usualy put a bit of shock cord on the leeward side of the tiller and a light line up to windward led outside the guard rails then into a cleat next to the companionway. This allows me to adjust the helm from inside the cabin.i have a small compass in the cabin so I can see we are roughly on course.

[/ QUOTE ]



That's a nice idea - which you might see on my boat soon..... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[joe17]

I have the one that saltyjohn sells.

As described by other posters then it works well in some conditions, but not others. Sailing to windward, with the sails reasonably balanced and not too heavy seas then it can hold the course for a long time. As the waves build or the wind becomes gusty then of course it doesnt help as you need to play the tiller to keep the course. Off the wind it doesnt help much. When motoring - and typically then moving around the boat more then it works to a limited extent, but you typically need to come back to the tiller to give it a kick or push to correct it.

I have been building up to buying a tiller pilot for a few years now and think this year I will finally do it. Having something that will hold a course, rather than just hold the tiller seems to be just so much more useful.

 

[VicS]

[ QUOTE ]
I have been building up to buying a tiller pilot for a few years now and think this year I will finally do it

[/ QUOTE ] Strongly recommend a tiller pilot. I have one of the very old, pre-digital era, Autohelms. I would not be without it but would welcome the excuse to replace it with a modern one!

Some means of lashing the tiller quickly is useful and I always have the where-with-all to do that handy but Tillermate and Tiller hand are expensive ways of doing it IMHO.