S&S34 tiller attachment: help needed

**TILLER NEEDED TO BORROW OR SWAP**

Hello Seabreeze,

I've come here for some advice and help regarding the acquisition of a tiller for an S&S 34. My partner and I are wanting to remove our current steering and put a tiller in place to get ready for an offshore passage this January, pandemic restrictions permitting.

There are two scenarios that would really help us.

1. If you own an S&S 34 or know of an S&S 34 that we could borrow the tiller from to get a copy fabricated, as the rudder stock is a very particular kind of taper.?
2. Or, is there anyone out there with an S&S 34 that would consider a swap of all the gear they'd need to convert their S&S 34 into wheel steering?

We'd love to avoid the wheel vs tiller conversation if possible, but we'd welcome any and all advice about our approach! We wish to have a tiller as there is less (almost zero) to go wrong when things get nasty, it's a better direct drive for auto helm and our wind vane. It's the best for us, but we're in need of assistance off you sailors out there to make it happen!

Regards,
Katia

Have a chat with the s&s 34 club online.

www.andylamont.com.au/blog/archives/05-2016This bog entry at 14/5/16 shows me converting to tiller steering. Swarbrick's in Perth should still have the cast bronze (?) fitting which fits on top of the square taper on top of the rudder stock. I was very grateful to Jolene on this forum who helped me out with this.
Good luck with it!

The original Mk1 Bronze rudder post fitting
Best bet would be to make a wooden pattern of the rudder post fitting and take it to a foundry and have them cast one for you.
I don't think Swarbricks are really that interested in the old boats.
Swarbricks didn't have the fitting that Andy required although they had a pattern for one. They did however have a couple of the updated spade rudder versions of these so I took one of the newer versions. Unfortunately the square tapered hole that fits the rudder post is different in the later versions. The angle of the taper for the old mk 1 rudder is 7 deg and the new one is 10 deg,,, so I had to re cut the angle in the block to 7 deg to suit Andy's rudder,, and it's not the simplest of things to set up for.


Squaring up casting


Taper re cut to 7 deg to suit MK1 post


Stainless steel Tiller hinge made to suit

I had a similar problem with a brand new Mk1 rudder.. The rudder I was supplied had the 10 deg latter version taper cut on it instead of the 7 deg (which they were given as a sample) so it wouldn"t fit the tiller hardware. I had to re cut the taper on the brand new rudder post.


The whole rudder needed to be set up and supported and indexed four times.

I never thought of it being a mission Andy, at the time it was a project I could easily help with and all for a good cause of course.

Thanks for your comments Shaggy