CHECK YOUR EQUIPMENT

[Patrick Stadt]

….before every sail!

I had rigged early last night for our Tuesday night race so I was checking my equipment before shoving off - here’s what I found on my trusty, twice repaired, once extended, custom adorned battle stick that I had just torn up the water with over the weekend:

One more tack or jibe might have resulted in a loss of the stick and a probable swim, with a long sail back to the beach.

I had just completed putting together a new tiller extension to be an extra in my box (brand new carbon tube with new Ronstan universal connector, retainer line inserted, come-home splice tube in place) - luckily, had this in my car and made the swap. 

Pat

USA 79

[John Baker]

Hey Pat,

Didn’t you have a tiller extension made from a piece of bamboo? What ever happened to that?

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 10, 2025, at 9:53 AM, 'Patrick Stadt' via West River Catamaran Racing Association <WR...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

….before every sail!

I had rigged early last night for our Tuesday night race so I was checking my equipment before shoving off - here’s what I found on my trusty, twice repaired, once extended, custom adorned battle stick that I had just torn up the water with over the weekend:

<IMG_2810.jpeg>

One more tack or jibe might have resulted in a loss of the stick and a probable swim, with a long sail back to the beach.

I had just completed putting together a new tiller extension to be an extra in my box (brand new carbon tube with new Ronstan universal connector, retainer line inserted, come-home splice tube in place) - luckily, had this in my car and made the swap. 

Pat

USA 79

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[Patrick Stadt]

I did have one complete bamboo tiller extension that came with my AHPC cat I had back in 2004 - never did sail with it.  

I also created a hybrid, carbon/bamboo extension from an original full carbon tiller that had snapped without a retainer line inserted (so I was left with the bottom half).  I cut down some long bamboo, dried it, spliced about a hour foot section of it with a foot of it into the carbon tube, wrapped the connection with some carbon cloth and resin and covered the rest of the bamboo with a coating of resin (for looks).  It looked pretty good and I figured bamboo makes great fly rods, so this should work well.

I broke a carbon tiller extension in a regatta in Pensacola while heading out to the course when a trap line broke.  Got back to the beach and grabbed my hybrid stick after rigging a new trap line and headed back out to the course.  Made it in time without missing a race, got into the five minute sequence just in time to set up for the start.  At one minute to go, I tried to stop the boat with a quick jam on the rudders and the bamboo joint snapped like a piece of kindling.  It’s probably still floating somewhere near Pensacola.

I should have researched how bamboo fly rods are made….

Pat

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[Chris Ford]

They make bamboo-framed bicycles. They’re pretty high end. One of the guys I used to ride with had one with bamboo wheel rims. They made a nice cook out kind of odor on a long, twisty downhill!

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[Patrick Nelson]

Pat,

That same piece broke on me in the Spring Regatta. It was disappointing because that was the only race I wasn't going to be DQ'd in for not understanding where the start was. Thankfully it was mid tack when it broke and not on the wire, as it was high teens that day. It was a slow ride back sitting astern. Some people had kind advice on getting the kind that has the little rope inside in case the joint breaks. Mine did have a rope inside, it broke too. 

Patrick

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[Patrick Stadt]

They don’t come with the little rope inside - that’s an after market mod you have to do and well worth it.

Pat

On Sep 11, 2025, at 15:10, Patrick Nelson <patrick...@gmail.com> wrote:



Pat,

That same piece broke on me in the Spring Regatta. It was disappointing because that was the only race I wasn't going to be DQ'd in for not understanding where the start was. Thankfully it was mid tack when it broke and not on the wire, as it was high teens that day. It was a slow ride back sitting astern. Some people had kind advice on getting the kind that has the little rope inside in case the joint breaks. Mine did have a rope inside, it broke too. 

Patrick

On Wed, Sep 10, 2025 at 10:42 AM Chris Ford <cford...@gmail.com> wrote:

They make bamboo-framed bicycles. They’re pretty high end. One of the guys I used to ride with had one with bamboo wheel rims. They made a nice cook out kind of odor on a long, twisty downhill!

On Wed, Sep 10, 2025 at 8:53 AM 'Patrick Stadt' via West River Catamaran Racing Association <WR...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

….before every sail!

I had rigged early last night for our Tuesday night race so I was checking my equipment before shoving off - here’s what I found on my trusty, twice repaired, once extended, custom adorned battle stick that I had just torn up the water with over the weekend:

<IMG_2810.jpeg>

One more tack or jibe might have resulted in a loss of the stick and a probable swim, with a long sail back to the beach.

I had just completed putting together a new tiller extension to be an extra in my box (brand new carbon tube with new Ronstan universal connector, retainer line inserted, come-home splice tube in place) - luckily, had this in my car and made the swap. 

Pat

USA 79

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[Patrick Nelson]

I didn’t even think of diy. That’s good to know. I was looking at this:

https://www.landfallnavigation.com/optiparts-te-universal-rope-core.html?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21634208083&gbraid=0AAAAAD_jR8qpeO-30V-BHkovNRjtkZN_q&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5onGBhDeARIsAFK6QJaPFIS8mfbApDjDFok11xSxsA9xeCYl16ygYqjR6rVxrUVHIFsomhwaAqgTEALw_wcB

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[Patrick Stadt]

Crossed wires here…..I’m talking about a retainer line that runs inside the length of the tiller tube and you are taking about a line inside the universal joint.  I hadn’t seen one of those before….

The universals are usually fixed in the end of the tiller tube with a shear pin that penetrates the universal joint stalk - not sure that wouldn’t sever the small line inside the one you sent the picture of, but that added line seems like a good idea otherwise.

Pat

On Sep 11, 2025, at 16:28, Patrick Nelson <patrick...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Sam Carter]

Pat and Patrick,

  Ronstan dealer chiming in here. That universal fitting is one I won’t sell from Ronstan. Yes, it’s functional, but it has two flaws:

1) it can pop off the base on the tiller crossbar relatively easily after the plastic tabbing fails.

2) when the rubber fails, the joint fails. The whole concept of a string core is to keep the tiller and tiller crossbar attached when the rubber fails. It also reinforces the rubber (takes most of the tension loads) and practically eliminates the cracking. At least in my experience…

Hence, I have a bag full of these in the truck/shop I supply with replacement tillers: https://nautos-usa.com/products/hpn-473-universal-flexible-tiller-joint-with-rope-core-1?srsltid=AfmBOooEwb362ERrbS304Ci0b0SXBThwwteu56sUYRh-dZi6o3u1EhkG

If you need one let me know-I’ll match the Nautos price (which is half what I paid for these, shipping from AUS was expensive!), and save you the shipping hassle. Should be back on Tuesday for racing!

[Patrick Stadt]

Thanks Sam, I’m all set for now.

Pat

On Sep 13, 2025, at 16:24, Sam Carter <samc...@gmail.com> wrote:

Pat and Patrick,

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[Patrick Nelson]

I’ll take one. 

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