Tillers | Retainer Pins & Varnishing

The tillers (one main, one spare) had been sitting in the workshop rafters for a very long while while more mission critical work took place, but between tasks I decided to start work on finishing them, ready for installation.

After all, the rudder was being repainted and looking good, and would soon be finished itself.

I had occasionally given a passing thought about how to retain the tiller in the rudder stock, but never actually made a decision.

Then recently while searching for other fittings I came across fast pins.

Fast pins have a split ring at one end and a spring-loaded ball bearing at the other, allowing them to be quickly slid through a hole to secure it in place. Kind of like a self-fixing clevis pin, I guess.

I immediately thought they would be good for retaining the tiller, and bought some.

Here they are.

I selected 8mm diameter pins. They are 38mm in length.

Here is one in close up. You can see the ball bearing which will hold it in place on the other side of the aperture.

I thought they were worth a try at least. It would mean making a hole in the end of each tiller to take a pin, so I set about doing that.

First came a test, before committing the tillers to the drill.

I wanted to drill a 14mm or 12mm hole through a test piece and fill it with epoxy resin, and then drill an 8mm hole for the fast pin.

I found that I only possessed a 13mm drill bit, so that had to suffice.

Here are the two test holes filled with thickened resin in a piece of scrap MDF.

I drilled an 8mm hole through the resin, and tested the pin.

Here is the pin in one side of the hole.

And here is the other, with the ball bearing holding it in place.

It slides in easily, but also pulls out quite easily too. That might not be a great idea for holding a tiller firmly in place.

I had made up my mind anyway that I would have some means of securing the tiller and if a fast pin was not good enough, then something else would be. Like a clevis pin, say.

So I went ahead and drilled a 13mm hole in the end of each tiller, like this.

As with the test piece, these holes were filled with thickened epoxy resin, and then an 8mm hole drilled in the centre of each plug. Like this.

Here is the finished product, on both tillers.

It merely remained to revarnish the tillers to await deployment.

I didn't bother to strip the old Coo Var varnish - I just wet sanded it with a P400 grit and applied several maintenance coats of Epifanes varnish.

Here are the tillers after their fourth coat, curing on the bench.

Two or three more coats, and they will be finished.