Sounds like a great little setup. A great description also. Unfortunately I have no ability to visualize this stuff. Is there anyway to get a pic of this setup and others like it? Thanks Doug --- chbenneck@juno.com wrote:

Hi Rick,

I installed two small jam cleats on the P / S sides of the cockpit, about 6 - 8" back from the forward end of the tiller.

My self steering lash-up is as simple as it gets.

Part No. 1 is a piece of bungee cord (probably about 1/4" diameter x 3' long: finished length). Make a loop in the end that you can slide over the tiller (make it a fairly loose fit ).

Part No. 2 is a piece of 1/4" line that goes through a toggle ( a small rectangle of wood with two holes drilled through it - about 2 inches apart) and after making a bight, put the end back through the toggle and tie a figure eight knot. Leave a lot of slack in the eye. The toggle allows you to adjust the length of the line.

Depending on the tack you are on, the eye of the bungee cord is slipped over the tiller and the other end is put in the jam cleat.

The eye in the line now goes over the end of the tiller and the loose end is put in the opposite jam cleat.

Now you have to play with the adjustment:

Tighten (or loosen) the toggle to get the tiller about where it wants to be when on course.

Now stretch the bungee cord and adjust it's tension; and adjust the toggle so that the tiller is held where it needs to be to hold course.

With bungee cord tension properly balanced, this systems will hold course nicely.

Cost?

A piece of scrap 1/4" line about 4' long. A scrap piece of wood about 1" wide x 4" long x 3/8" thick for the toggle. A piece of bungee cord Two small jam cleats about $3 each

...........and nothing added to the tiller.

Connie

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