J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Replacement Tiller

I have used the straight tiller most of the last 25 years but when I tried the curved tiller 20 years or so ago I had a problem with the stainless steel hiking stick not working with it ... so I changed back.

Vee Jay 2 had the curved tiller and Defender had it in stock. This summer Koos of Sonskyn told me to just bend the shaft of the hiking stick and it seems to at least look good. I am about to update the Vee Jay here in Naples to match the tiller in Newport [photo attached] I opted to go to double plastic clips on the shaft to hold it in place. Originally we used one on the cross bar but that is too far off the wood with the curved version.

And for $108 I thought this was sort of J30 ish and in budget.

Problem with these tillers is that the ash seems to go faster than the mahagany if water gets into the laminate ... that's what went bad with the tiller on Daisy Cutter now Vee Jay 2.

NOTE i have not actually used this combination as i rehabbed Daisy Cutter to Vee Jay 2 this summer and was not able to get it in the water ... this combo may really be a bust ... but hey i've tried everything else once or twice. A lot of J30s seem to now use it. This summer when I sailed on Rhapsody I didn't seem to have a problem with it on that boat, nor when I returned to the straight stick here in Naples.

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|118|297677|76313&id=76378