Steve, Sheet to tiller steering works very fine, provided ........ you have wind! No wind: no steering!
>From close hauled to a close reach I used my jib / genoa sheet as the signal source. It's a lot easier to show you this with "talking paper and a pencil" but let me try words alone. I hung a block from my railing near my tiller. The jib / genoa sheet went through a foot block at the toe rail, up to the railing block and then back down to a cleat. Next I took a light line and tied it to the sheet with a sheetbend on the portion of the sheet between the railing block and the cleat. You now pull a "Vee" in the sheet with the line and tie the line off to the tiller. The tiller is held in position with a piece of bungee cord attached to the opposite coaming. Any changes in wind pressure in the sails will either straighten out the "Vee" - pulling the tiller in one direction: or allow a greater "Vee" to be pulled by the bungee cord. So tiller gets it's signal on how to correct the course. Course adjustment is made by using a toggle in the bungee cord to change the tension in the bungee cord. In simple terms: you are balancing the pull of the bungee cord against the pull of the jib/genoa sheet. By playing with the bungee cord tension you set your course, that the system will hold very nicely - provided the wind direction doesn't change! Remember, the selfsteering system follows the wind, not the compass! I have set mine up leaving Watch Hill, RI for a course to Block Island, and didn't touch it again until I was off the entrance to Block Island Harbor - a distance of about 24 NM. It works! Connie ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/. _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
