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26M emergency tiller and tiller autopilot - quick and dirty setup - using the direct passage for the rope between the rudder and cockpit.
So today I drilled a hole in my 26M, Took out the rudder rope. Installed a stainless pipe and some intermediate fittings - and voilá - got myself an emergency tiller and tiller pilot setup. Next step is to test on water and to make a nicer looking version.

Any comments, suggestions, experience are most welcome eg. easy way to disconnect the steering wheel from cockpit as it offers some resistance...

More pictures here https://photos.app.goo.gl/U53fySceRNjTjz3v7

Nice! I always thought a tillerpilot might work on an X as well. Rudders are totally different on the X, but the steering arms are easily accessible at the motor well.

Very clever.

I've seen a boat pole duct taped to the outboard used as an emergency steering.

BOAT has a mod of the absolute best M tiller autopilot. I'm going to look for it and post it.

Nice.

You might be able to adapt a steering quick disconnect end to the steering cable end. You'd still have to crawl into the rear berth though.

Unless your steering offers a lot of resistance, the tiller pilot can probably handle it.

Suggest you put a lanyard on the tiller pilot so it can't go swimming if you fumble it.

Cool mod!

Jimmyt wrote: ↑Sat Apr 18, 2020 5:32 pm Nice.

You might be able to adapt a steering quick disconnect end to the steering cable end. You'd still have to crawl into the rear berth though.

Unless your steering offers a lot of resistance, the tiller pilot can probably handle it.

Suggest you put a lanyard on the tiller pilot so it can't go swimming if you fumble it.

Cool mod!

Thank - did the berth quick connector mod today - works fine - and the tiller handles the 60 HP engine (cold test) fine when the wheel is disconnected.

Actually, I was thinking the ball link quick disconnect, like used in the motor disconnect kit. But what you did works good too. Might want to add a washer between your pin and the steering rod.

ecoycht made a similar one in 2014, they seem not to exist anymore:

kurz wrote: ↑Sun Apr 19, 2020 1:57 pm ecoycht made a similar one in 2014, they seem not to exist anymore:

Oh yes - that was the picture that got me started - ound it on a google serch but with no detail. With all the many DIY mods I see on the Macs, I wonder why this is not more common, it turned out to be relatively simple to do.

could you go with a straight pipe or did you put in a sort of gimal?

kurz wrote: ↑Mon Apr 20, 2020 2:50 am could you go with a straight pipe or did you put in a sort of gimal?

Straight pipe, very easy - check the pix/video in til link to google photo

congratulations! Very good mod. And: The australien one... They wantet near 1000.-- for that... Mabe you saved a lot of money

Here's a link to what I believe is the best EV-100 autopilot mod for the 26M.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=25657

BOAT documents his EV-100 below deck tiller pilot mod.

I restored most of the image links.

Russ I also think the BOAT AP is the best - I also have installed it and love it so far after some seasons.

BUT: The mod with the emergency tiller I like to.
So you can store a spare cheap AP.
In normal case and with crew it may not be important. If the AP fails - just work harder.

If ever you do some single handing a bigger passage and the built-in AP fails it could bring you in a very hard situation maybe. Even more you have an emergency tiller on top.

I agree - I think an emergency top side tiller is a very good thing to have. And having the position of the tiller adjustable on top of the pipe is a great idea because if you have the tiller set at 90 degrees away from the transom like in the picture madsroesen Posts 5 shows it makes it easy to have the tiller pilot out of the way of the cockpit.

And the emergency tiller shaft is a great rudder indicator even when there is no tiller on it (something I find very helpful when trying to motor in real tight quarters). I installed an electronic rudder indicator but I would have preferred an emergency tiller extension instead.

This is a good mod.

There is an edit to the pilot on boat that will make the fabrication a little less work - I will reply to Russ with that edit in the next post:

Russ wrote: ↑Mon Apr 20, 2020 6:41 am Here's a link to what I believe is the best EV-100 autopilot mod for the 26M.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=25657

BOAT documents his EV-100 below deck tiller pilot mod.

I restored most of the image links.

One of the issues people have is fabricating the ball and socket joint on this AP it's the worst part of the build to make. - and when I added the electronic rudder indicator that eliminated the need to fabricate such a difficult metal part to grind and shape. The fitting that the ball falls into is hard to cut too so let me provide a solution to that.

First off - the whole reason I used the ball was in case the shaft rotated. If you use a pin dropping into a hole it will no longer work if the shaft rotates.

This off the shelf rudder indicator when installed will not allow the shaft to rotate. If you install one of these onto the piston you can skip the whole ball and shaft rigamarole and just have a pin on the end that drops into a hole on the rudder arm - much easier to make.

Should I post a video of the piston ball being lifted out of the cage? Would that make it easier to see?

Anyways, the cockpit till mod that madsrosen did is really a great way to get an AP onto the boat - and an emergency tiller is ALWAYS a great idea for a sailboat that has a wheel.