I built a new tiller out of single piece of white oak, using the old cracked tiller as a pattern. Made a few slight modifications.....a little bigger and a bit longer, and changed the angle of the dangle. I also put a slight taper from the rudder end all the way forward, with only a slight knob on the end to hold a turk’s head knot from sliding off.  Building it was not hard...but I used my father’s wood shop to do it. Primarily the band saw. It took maybe an hour or two to go from a stick of wood off the pile to finished product ready to sand.  The hard part was the 7 coats of varnish!

I seem to recall reading in a Larry Pardee book that a tiller does not have to be laminated. They only do that to get the complex curves in it, and for looks. A one piece tiller out of stout wood is just as good if not better. Larry wanted one he could jump on without breaking it, and mine has passed that test.  

Howard
M17, #278