[Public-List] Tiller Head Key-now rudder allloys

[Michael]

> ok, up till now i have not worried at all about mine, but ricks
> question brings up the next--at least to me. what's there has lasted
> 43 years so it wasn't all bad, but with the age is their fatigue that
> comes into play? as of right now , i am not worried, but should i
> begin to be--like if i ever get to sail rascal on a regular basis?



Interesting observation. I suppose if one wants to worry about things 
breaking, worrying about loss of steering is a good place to start.

Exactly where are the forces that require a "shear pin" in the tiller 
head? I know boats have broken tillers (Catalina 27 parts in West 
Catalog take care of that), but I am just not getting a picture of where 
weak points in the system is a good idea. I have never thought of 
keyways as being a deliberate weak point. They are a solution to an 
engineering problem.

Fix the problem at hand and go sailing. FWIW when the set bolt on mine 
egged out I used PC 7 smeared everywhere inside. That works pretty good 
too, in my estimation ( I have removed it and reinstalled the same way). 
The hard part is getting the tiller lined up midships. I was off a few 
degrees.

MichaelGrosh
#220

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