Sheet to tiller steering

[Silkie]

Been reading up on this poor man's self steering technique recently.

There's quite a good summary here and at the Oar Club. (Apologies for the appalling font size of the latter link)

Has anyone actually tried this?

[MacHurley22]

You'll have to sort the weather helm first.

[DaveS]

I might give that a try sometime, now that I've finally got the friction out of my mainsheet.

I replaced 12 mm with 8 mm and the difference is incredible: no more need to sweat away at the last part to get it in, or overhaul it all to let it out. (It's a rather clever 3/6 part purchase, and it now runs out by itself even in 6:1 mode - brilliant! And I now have another 12 mm mooring warp... )

[ash]

It's a rather clever 3/6 part purchase

Hi DaveS

Can you explain more about your mainsheet - or a photo ?

Ta

Ash

[DaveS]

I'll take a picture at the weekend. (I've finally bought a digital camera - I think I'm what the advertisers term a "late adopter" - and I mean to play with it then.) Whether I can then manage to get the picture posted is another matter, but if not I'll describe the sheeting arrangement - in hopefully under 1000 words!

[DaveS]

Well, let's see if my first attempt to post images works...

This should be the complete mainsheet:



This should be the top block:



And this should be the bottom block and cleats

[DaveS]

Well that didn't work. Anyone see what I'm doing wrong?

In words, then:

The top block consists of a double block above a single block arranged at right angles to the double. The bottom block consists of two double blocks, one above the other, the lower of larger diameter than the upper.

The sheet is passed through the top single block until its mid point is reached. The two ends are then passed backwards under the bottom upper blocks, forwards over the top upper blocks then backwards under the bottom lower blocks and through the cleats. Pulling both ends backwards together gives a 3:1 purchase (like a conventional 3:1 mainsheet but with everything doubled) while pulling either end alone gives a 6:1 purchase.

A sophistication is to splice the ends together to make an endless line so that there is no need for stopper knots or evening-up single sheet pulls.

[Silkie]

The first thing that's not right is that the url between the img tags should end with a recognised picture extension eg .jpg .gif etc.

However not all picture hosts allow linking (ie displaying of pics in blogs, forums etc) and I suspect AOL Pictures is one of these. I use Photobucket who are free and do allow linking.

[ash]

now that I've finally got the friction out of my mainsheet.

Your verbal description is very good, I can see how it works.

I now assume that the reduced friction is because the blocks are newer, and the sheet is a smaller diameter, rather than because of the variable puchase.

I'm sure that someone will soon point out why your photo links aren't working. Silkie obviously types his replies faster than me as his post went above mine! actually I'm not that bad - I stopped to eat my dinner in mid reply.

Ta

Ash

[ash]

Well, let's see if my first attempt to post images works...

This should be the complete mainsheet:



This should be the top block:



And this should be the bottom block and cleats

I'm not an AOL member so don't know but Silkie may be right, or you may need to set a Guest Password to permit viewing.

You could upload your photos to your Blog and link to that.

Changing one your links to an URL takes you to the sign in for Screen Name

http://aolpictures.aol.co.uk/ap/myAlbum ... 3447568.1.

[DaveS]

Second attempt!

This should be the sheet:



This should be the top block:



And this should be the bottom block:



Oh, I've always wanted to be able to do that! Thanks for the assistance, Dave, much appreciated. I made a guess at the best picture size (they came off the camera as 6Mb, umpty by umpty which I thought was probably too big), but they seem about right: any thoughts as to optimum x by y file size and compression options (I looked at the latter but didn't recognize or understand any of the terms so backed away in a panic...)

Back to the mainsheet: the improvement was solely due to reducing the line diameter, the blocks are unchanged. The improvement, as I said, is unbelievable, and has left me thinking about other places that I could repeat this approach...

[ash]

I've just signed up for AOL Pictures. Created a test album. Sent an email to myself invite to view and am about to cut and paste the resultant URL.

Try HERE TO TEST

Ash

[ash]

Thanks for photos.

I reduced the diameter of my headsail sheets when I replaced them - also to reduce friction - smaller diameter does make it less easy to grip.

I was a bit confused by your backwards and forwards but that was because my traveller is behind me.

I assume that your traveller line is continuous so that you can free the leeward cleat as you pull on the windward line to bring the traveller above the centreline in light winds. My traveller lines are cleated at each end of the traveller which is a pain. My whole system could do with upgrading but its all money - just add it to the wish list.

BTW - Nick told me that I should make my photos a maximum of 800 X 600 pixels resolution. I use save for the web to determine compression or else aim for a small file size. I keep photos for the web in a separate folder so that I still have my origional (large file size) photos for other purposes.

Ash