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Photo AlbumMoving tiller aft to the coamingMay 10, '09 2:25 PM
by Jesper for everyone
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This is another "pictures missing in the original posting" photo Album.

Moving the tiller aft is the best thing I ever did on the Ballad. It makes the cockpit roomier, it moves the autopilot away from the locker lid, and on to the coaming. and it just works great. For those who feel sorry I can't steer under the sprayhood anymore, I say "look no hands" when I use my auto pilot with remote control (no pictures of that, I'm sorry)

Jesper.

Blog EntryMar 25, '09 2:44 PM
by Jere for everyone
Hello friends!

I noticed some times ago that rubber hose around tiller axel is quite old and maybe a little bit suspicious. Does someone know, how rudder can be removed? Is it possible to change hose without removing a rudder?

Jere
#752

Blog EntryJan 13, '09 9:25 PM
by Jesper for everyone
Alec has not been able to join Ballad Exchange for some reason. He has lost his gudgeon, the brace holding the rudder, at the buttom of the skeg. Would someone please measure this brace (or gudgeon) now when you all have your boats on land. My own is still in the water. A couple of pictures would be wonderfull too.
 
Thanks on beforehand, from Jesper Milling.

Blog EntryMar 27, '07 9:57 AM
by Jesper for everyone
In the cold and dark winter of the north
 
 
under a thin sheet of plastic
 
 
I made a small adjustment to the steering arrangement of our Ballad.
 
I moved the tiller two feet aft.
 
 
Here are a foot fotos of how I did it.
 
I removed the lower two thirds of the tube around the tiller shaft. This tube prevents water coming into the boat. I could have removed all of it, but it was not necessary.  I then lowered the rudder to the ground, and slipped a standard Volvo propeller shaft gland over the top of the rudder shaft. This gland fits both the shaft and the rudder thrughthehull pipe perfectly.
 
 
As may be seen on the photo, the pipe and the shaft do not align perfectly, but the gland is made for such misalignment and adapts itself. Notice the misalignment at the bottom of the gland.
 
 
I then purchased a number of parts from Jefa Steering (www.jefa.com). They deliver such parts to many, if not most, european yacht manufacturers.
The Flange bearing to the left, was not delivered by Jefa, They don't carry, or produce such items. It is a stainless steel sealed swiveling flange bearing.
 
The Flange bearing had to be mounted on a base at the bottom of the boat, in a position sligtly aft of the tiller head, giving the new tiller shaft the same or almost the same inclination as the rudder shaft.
   
 
The base was made out of a 16 mm marine plywood sheet, glued to the sanded down spot on the bootom with epoxy mixxed with a microfiber powder to thicken it. This picture shows the base upside down.
 
 
Here it is after the first glueing process.
 
 
Excessive epoxy was sanded away, and then 6 layers of fiber cloth was glued on top like this:
 
Notice how I had the flange bearing sitting in the epoxy while it cured to form a perfect fit between base and flange.
 
After some fitting and adjustments I was able to assemble the steering shaft arrangement like this:
 
I left the apoxy unpainted, since it is not normally exposed to ligth, for anybody concerned to be able to see how it is made. I will have to sell the boat one day.
 
A similar arm was clamped onto the rudder shaft like this:
 
 
The entire arrangement looks like this:
 
 
The locker bottom fits on top with 15 mm space to the moving parts below, so I was lucky I did not have to modify the locker. Alle the different pipes were led to starboard.
 
What advantages do I expect to have?
  • Better space for the wife and I when working the sheets.
  • Autopilot arrangement that does not prevent opening the locker it sits on.
  • Better space for entertaining when the tiller is raised, when not sailing.
  • No chafing on the aft locker door (lid).

Saturday we will go on a nine day easter cruise, and I will report back on the new tiller arrangement, and how it works.

Jesper Milling


Blog EntryOct 22, '06 10:42 AM
by michaelwilhelm2 for everyone
 
Hello, yesterday I bought Ballad 1480, which is currently steered by wheel. To change back to Tillersteering I need a tiller flange. Can anyone give me the technical details of the original flange, a photo? Has anyone a flange to sell? Is someone interested in the complete wheelsteeringsystem (Wheel, column, wires, smechanic system and compass)?
 
Kind regards
 
Michael

Blog EntryAug 4, '06 11:08 AM
by aurignyballad for everyone
My tiller vibrates when under sail & under motor. It is worse on calm water & occasionally knocks. It is not too bad but I wonder whether this could be due to worn rudder bushings. Has anybody had the same problem.

Blog EntryMar 5, '06 10:48 AM
by jiiku for everyone
Hey!
 
 
I found blisters from my rudder! They have not been there when my boat lifted up at last autumn and they have suddenly appeared during last two or one month. I attached a picture from it.
 
I inspected very carefully the hole hole bottom area at last september after lifting (knocking also with plastic head of screw driver). The bottom was and it is still in excellent condition- very clean, flat and no scrathes . Rudder is also not "soft" and knocking it makes still a very pure and "dry" sound.
 
The question is, how rudder can be removed for further inspection?
 
regards,
 
Jere

Blog EntryOct 27, '05 6:57 PM
by symystic for everyone
I am going to add a wind vane to my boat, Mystic, would love to hear your thoughts. mb

Blog EntrySep 27, '05 10:04 PM
by Jesper for everyone
I have decided to solve the problem of the tiller beeing in the way of the entire crew in the cockpit by moving it to the cockpit coaming. I will place a supplemental rudder stem two feet or approximatly 60 cm aft of the actual rudder stem, fastened in the cockpit coaming, and the buttom of the hull with bearings. The supplemental rudderstem will be connected to the actual rudderstem with two 10 inch - 25 cm - arms and a conecting pushrod. A new tillerhead, and tiller will be mounted on the top of the supplemental rudder stem extruding from the coaming, and the old tiller will be removed, and kept onboard as an emergency tiller. The old tiller head will remain.

Moving the tiller aft, allows moving the tillerpilot aft of the lockerdoor, where it usually restricts access to the locker when in use.

I will also make the tiller foldable, so that 45 % of it can fold back on top of the aft 55%, allowing even better room in the cockpit, and much easier access to the controls of the tiller pilot.

The actual rudder stem wil have to have a new packing or gasket.

Jefa (www.jefa.com) produce and sell if not all of the parts needed, and I will try to assemble a kit with them, that can be bought by other Ballad sailors for this tiller moving, if they want one.

This idea is simpler, cheaper, and frees up much more space than a wheel steering system. And it solves the one serious and always irritating design problem of the Ballad. And if you want you can still be steering from partly under the dodger, using a tiller extension of some ingenious sort.

seating a large number of guests in the cockpit will be much easier too, when the tiller is folded up, at the tiller head.

Comments and suggestions to - and especially experiences with - this idea are hereby welcomed.

Jesper Milling, Ballad # 1200 "S첩stjernen" of Dyreborg.

Blog EntryApr 15, '05 6:26 PM
by balladforever for everyone

I have bought an autopilot to my Ballad. It is a Raymarine st 2000+ tiller pilot. Any advice about pedestal socket mounting vs tiller bracket? Does anybody knew the size of the tiller bracket (pushrod below tiller) I should use? I have an original tiller on my boat.

 

Regards

 

Andreas Gullberg

Norway


Blog EntryDec 17, '04 3:19 AM
by aballport for everyone
The Ballad does not have many bad habits but backing down under power may qualify as one. I have been most frustrated while anchoring. I generally tour the anchorage with the depth sounder on looking for a spot with fifteen to twenty feet of depth, then I circle that spot to see if there is enough depth to swing. Having satisfied myself that it is safe I drop the hook with about eighty to one hundred feet of line out. Finally I attempt to back down with the wind to set the hook. GOOD LUCK! Despite my best efforts to steer, the boat wanders every which way until the slack in the line is taken up. Finally with something to pull against she will settle down and set the anchor to my satisfaction. I suppose I could let the anchor line out gradually and basicly steer her from the bow but this hasn't been necessary with any other boats I have sailed. Maybe I need a riding sail. Does anyone else have this problem?

Blog EntryJul 12, '04 2:17 PM
by patentnick1 for everyone
I find that the only disadvantage of having a tiller is where to temporarily store the tillerpilot when you need to helm manually. The solution is simple and elegant. Since my tiller pilot’s base is mounted on the starboard cockpit coaming, I made a wooden bracket out of 30mm marine plywood, screwed on a pair of plastic brackets the diameter of the pushrod and mounted it aft of the base. This way, you simply unhook the pilot from the tiller, swing it aft 90 degrees until the pushrod snaps into place.  The photos are self-explanatory.

Blog EntryJun 28, '04 12:54 PM
by Jesper for everyone
I have bought and installed three new rudder bushings from http://vegamarin.se/ and they fit so tight that the tiller now needs a force of several Kg's to turn the rudder. Any feeling with the sailing is gone of course, and I will have to do something. I first assumed the wear would reduce the problem, but that will take many years off course, the nylon material (Delrin) is likely to be very very tough.  The bushings fitted very well to the rudder stem before installing, but the they fitted very tightly when inserted into the hull, and seem to have become just a little smaller from that. I plan to put the boat back on land to pull the rudder some 20 cm out, and I will then drill the upper and the lower bushings with a 25 mm drill, to remove a fraction of a millimeter. The stem is 25 mm. The middle bushing is not likely to be tight since the stem at that position has been worn 1 or 2 millimeters down.
 
Any advice or other experiences with new bushings would be interesting to hear about. 

Blog EntryMar 28, '04 6:42 PM
by Jesper for everyone
I Just saw in BÅDNYT (a Danish yacht Magazine) a picture of a Etap 34 which has a vertical tiller. A tiller that stands up when in use, and tilts to each side, as opposed to a horisontal tiller that swings to each side.
 
This of course is also a solution to the problem of the Ballad tiller sweeping almost the entire cockpit when tacking, and just taking up too much room, and beeing in the way of the person using the sheetwinch, or vice versa.
 
A vertical tiller convertion should be a lot easier to make since you need not go below the buttom of the cockpit with wires and quadrants, you can just install it on top of the cockpit bottom, and link it to a short tiller replacement.
 
Does anyone have any comments, or experiences on this?????

Blog EntryFeb 1, '04 11:08 PM
by Jesper for everyone
One day I want to convert my Ballad to be steered by a wheel. I have allready found some information on tiller-to-wheel conversion on the internet, but I would also like to hear from anyone who have actually made this conversion on a Ballad.
 
Here follows a list of interesting links:
 

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