Arwen's meanderings

Hi everyone and welcome to my dinghy cruising blog about my John Welsford designed 'navigator' named Arwen. Built over three years, Arwen was launched in August 2007. She is a standing lug yawl 14' 6" in length. This blog records our dinghy cruising voyages together around the coastal waters of SW England.
Arwen has an associated YouTube channel so visit www.YouTube.com/c/plymouthwelshboy to find our most recent cruises and click subscribe.
On this blog you will find posts about dinghy cruising locations, accounts of our voyages, maintenance tips and 'How to's' ranging from rigging standing lug sails and building galley boxes to using 'anchor buddies' and creating 'pilotage notes'. I hope you find something that inspires you to get out on the water in your boat. Drop us a comment and happy sailing.
Steve and Arwen

Saturday 4 December 2010

a nifty idea

Whilst catching up with what is happening out there I came across this really nifty idea for a tiller tamer which I will now do over the winter on Arwen - I found it at Jon's site which you can access here
http://jonspathfinder.blogspot.com/

It really is quite simple and clever. I, like Jon, have found that using the mizzen to actually lie head to wind hasn't been easy and as soon as I move around the boat the balance shifts and so the main sheet doesn't lie along the centre line. Maybe I've been doing it wrong but securing the tiller in this way is certainly a step in the right direction - nice one Jon - thank you!

Steve

3 comments:

Jon said...

Steve, glad this may be useful. I found the idea on Duckworks several years ago but wasn't able to find the article recently so can't give credit where it is due.

I will post an update soon on how it performs and will hopefully have a few pictures of a more elegant way to secure the lines.

Jon

steve said...

hi Jon - actually I quite like the way you have it now

i have a similar arrangement which isn't as effective - because i have vertical side panels whihc form back rests and coamings - my access to each side bit of transom is limited slightly but i like what ytou've done and with some minor modifications I can do it on Arwen. thanks for teh tip and a Merry Christmas to you and your lovely family
steve

Joel said...

I found an even easier way of doing this and all you need is a bit of rope. Google "cajun tiller tamer" for info, or look here:
http://www.blumhorst.com/potterpages/Photopoint/0005/cajun-tiller-tamer.htm