Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Better Progress with ‘Minnow’






Apart from inserting a bronze socket into the forward support for the Autohelm, and varnishing both supports, they are finished.

I am still trying to devise a more effective linking mechanism than I had aboard ‘Faith’, i.e., cords tied to the steering line - one forward and another astern, each attached with rolling hitches.

 Ideally, the physical act of linking the Autohelm to the steering line should be easy and quick, and there should be no play between the two.

2 comments:

micah719 said...

G'day Bill,

Great blog, thanks for the effort and the regular updates! An idea for the autohelm...splice an eye thimble into a three strand line, and attach a pin to the autohelm actuating rod, with a quick release pin (itself on a small retaining chain) to hold the eye on the pin until you want it disconnected. Hitch this eye-spliced bridle onto the steering line as before. A piece of strong shock cord or a tent guy spring with a yield higher than the normal helm forces would take out any backlash, in theory anyway. Best regards, landlocked Stefan in Teutonia.

William Serjeant said...

Hi Micah,

Thank you for your solution. The advantage it has over the previous system is that the bridle can quickly be released from the actuating rod.

Cheers,
Bill.