Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Interesting development there Toni!

I am taking the liberty here of sharing some considerations to get to the wholy grail of selfsteering beyond sheet to tiller that I now use.

Hi Antoine, I'd be interested to see what sort of sheet to tiller set-up you are using and how well it's working. 

It is not working very well at all as the force on the sail is so beautifully distributed that there is not much force to work with from the lower battten.

Best results so far are 5 minutes intermissions of not tweaking things.

As a matter of fact just shifting my weight slightly is often more effective than the sheet to tiller set up. 

But when it gets to blow a bit up without too many gusts, I tend to get it going more or less. Only up wind, no reaching or running.

Waves on the Markermeer are so short and steep that they influence the success of the whole setup quite a bit.

Setup is:

= line from lower batten to luv site (is this English??) of the cockpit
= shockcord to lee site of the cockpit
= not too much tension on the sheet
= try not to move around too much or not at all if at all possible

Anonymous wrote:

Sorry to bring back an old topic, but I am doing my best to research this topic and finding little of a concrete nature. I've just read the thread on Zebedee's rudder; like Zebedee, Tapatya often has a fair bit of tiller angle despite my best efforts at balancing sails. I feel that some rudder improvements may help.

I read with interest that increasing the rudder balance is probably the way to go - I don't really want to change the angle of the rudder stock (for want of a better word). I note that Paul says he has some 21% balance on his new rudder. That's significantly more than Tapatya has. Can anyone point me in the direction of finished improved rudder designs for Benford dories, or other relevant info?

Many thanks

Tony

Hi Tony, I'm busy doing an overhaul and refurbishment of Zebedee. She she is getting new sails, more solar and an electric motor.

Next year I'll be rebuilding her rudder, it will have a 15% NACA profile (NACA0015) and 21% balance just as I did for LC (La Chica). LC's rudder was an outstanding success. Alan improved Zebedee's rudder but owing to time and a lack of resources was not able to implement all the changes that I advised him to do.

I plan to spend the first half of next year sailing Zebedee with her new sails, then when I haul to give her a new paint job, I'll attend to any issues with the rudder.

Note: 21% balance is the maxim that you ever want to use. Usually 15 to 20% is used with most being at the lower end. Higher values are mostly used for selfsteering rudders and servo paddles. Since I rely on my selfsteering/autopilot to do 99% of all steering, I set up my rudders to be friendly to those devices.

The 15% NACA is chosen as it work well at low speeds and has a high stall angle.... all good for the environment that a "normal" sail boat operates in.

Interesting development there Toni!

I am taking the liberty here of sharing some considerations to get to the wholy grail of selfsteering beyond sheet to tiller that I now use.

I can well understand you like the Paleagic for the electronic selfsteering. Little wind in the Med at times and you will have grown confident with it. 

Overhere we build the Tinypilot system of Sean Depagnier you can find on Pypilot.org. Will install that some time in the future. I have the 7A motor controller - hope that is enough.

Siskin is a Newbridge Coromandel with the inboard - outboard situation removed and the outboard moved to the stern of the vessel - which then turns into a valuable piece of real estate as the Americans say. A stern as flat as a pancake compared to your situation of course.

Either the engine or the self-steering has to move out of the middle of the stern. If you catch my drift. And I am inclined to feel fairly naked without a sculling oar. And where shall I put the PV - maybe not a permanent mount than.

• The OTG without anything in the water is an option - Arne's way;
• Moving the engine to the side is another option;
• Hydrovane - beautiful but too haeavy for such a small boat.

I ran into the B&B yacht design setup that you could find here:

https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=LhGSfOrobNo 

https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=BmvGynZa7F0

and here on their website:

https://bandbyachtdesigns.com/windvane

Their design is not yet in drawings but that it is coming up I was told. Could be an attachment point for the tinypilot linear actuator as well maybe? (although I will try that with a windshield wiper motor....)

I know totally irrelevant for your pointy stern arrangement. Sorry for the more or less off-topic reflection. 

Best regards,

Antoine

Hi Tony,

Is this rudder situation the reason you are not using your windvane system?

I would like to add that the endplates I put on Siskin's rudder are relatively much larger than what I can see on your (beautiful if I may) boat. 

brgds,

Antoine

Tony, this must be short. Ask Paul Thompson.

Or read my write-up...

"20200628 A new rudder for an Athena 34."

Cheers, Arne