[Public-List] Tiller Head Key

[crufone at comcast.net]

The reason that shafts are made with keyways is so that if you hit 
something with enough force to shear the key, you shear the key 
instead of breaking the shaft. 

Go to a boat show and look at rudder stocks, and I challenge you to 
find one that is through-bolted. Nobody makes them this way and there 
is a reason for that. They always have keys and the reason is so that 
if you hit something you shear the key instead of breaking the shaft. 

John, 
So the key is part of the design as the weak link? Like an outboard propeller shear pin? 
Michael #133 

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