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I really liked Arlyn's design for a Rudder/Tiller steering system. When I tried to apply it to my boat, the position of my motor mount and narrower stern, did not give me enough of an angle with the right bungee cord to apply enough pressure to turn the motor. I had to find a different solution.
Therefore, I tried a solid rod between the rudder and the motor. As you can see above, it turned out pretty well. I can steer straight, port or starboard and the motor moves in the same direction as the rudder.
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I first lined up the rudder and the motor both pointing straight. With the motor mount in the down position, I then measured from the center of the rudder to the left rear corner of the motor housing and subtracted 3 inches to allow for the two snap hooks. Then I cut a piece of PVC pipe to this length (18 and ½ inches).
Next I used a band saw to cut a channel into each end of the pipe. Each channel is approximately 1 inch long. I slid the snap hooks into the channels on each end and drilled a hole in the pipe perpendicular to the channels. I then put a bolt through the hole and tightened with a nut to fix the snap hooks in place.
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Once I assembled the steering rod, I made sure that the two snap hooks did not move around in the channels. The completed rod is 21 and ½ inches long.
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Next I screwed an eye hook into the back of the rudder at the same height as lower corner of the engine cowling. As you can see in the picture on the left, the top eye hook was too large and when I turned the rudder to starboard, the snap hook popped open. Therefore, I mounted a smaller eye hook below it. I used an eye hook bolt on the engine cowling and tightened with a rubber washer both inside and outside of the cowling.
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Although the motor mount has too much play and needs to be tightened, this steering method works pretty well on dry land. Now to try it in the lake on tight water ways.
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