Are my arms short?

[Dinghy fisherman]

After a couple of trips out in our new dinghy ive come to realise i must have short arms as the position i have to have my arm, in order to reach the tiller is bloody uncomfortable. So after weeks of weight training in order to stretch my arms, to no avail i might add; ive decided to combat the problem in true English fashion... to give up boating!

No i jest, my arms arnt short and i wont be giving up my boating but i have decided to do something about the short tiller and the uncomfortable position on my left arm.

Firstly i raided my off-cut wood bin and found a lovely piece of Hard Pear and began truing this between centres.


Then it was given a shape of both function and hopefully something pleasing on the eye.



I sanded this up to 400grit and gave it a soft sheen finish with a very hard wearing friction polish. Here it is.



This is a simple push fit into the original tiller arm and gives me the chance to face forward as i punt along up the river whilst still remaining in control of the dinghy.

[BroadReach]

Ahh a fellow woodturner as well as a seaguller!

Like your design, mine is more of flowing curves, turned from green ash I had laying around. It is now oval rather than round but still functions

[Keith.P]

Its nice to have the skills to make things like this, I have never been good at woodwork, I just about get away with the basic jobs, an extension tiller is handy, as its usually a low hanging tree that gets the job.


Charles we have a wood worker on the forum, do you need any oars?
Just to clarify Charles outboards never seem to get as far as he wants to.

[Dinghy fisherman]

Broadreach; Yes for my sins i enjoy making a big pile of shavings at my feet mostly but every now and then i get to make something worth keeping Now in my 6th year of my turning apprenticship and i think im just about getting the hang of a tools leading edge whilst watching out for its trailing edge, whilst at the same time getting my angle of attack off the rest ...LOL.
Turned a few things from ash and found it a nice stable wood. RE; green wood. ever turned a thin walled bowl and bunged it in a microwave? the results are very pleasing in shape and form
Any chance of a pic of your tiller?....

Keith.P; I have made dozens of paddles for canoeists so a pair of oars shouldnt be a problem even made a few dinghys over the years but mostly these days its book cases and toolchests

If nothing else, i can always use it to repel Pirates with a good beating....

[chaldon3]

nice work df not just a pretty face then.
it is always nice to solve ones problems your self know matter how big or small it just feels good.
could i put in an order for a fruit bowl my friend.
jokes apart i am a joiner, your wood working skills are great. thanks for the pics. regards garry.

[Dinghy fisherman]

LOL....Plenty of fruit bowls been made on this and my old laith, still using a19inch one on our living-room table. Biggest ive ever made was 36inch, one made from oak beams from a local church. Each beam was 12inchX6inch and as long as I could manage and had strength to get on my van roof bars
I tried to purchase the floor boards but it seems a local builder beat me too them.

God knows (pardon the pun) how old the church was before it was laid flat but that oak was the devils own ( oh not again, sorry) on my tools

[Charles uk]

Most Seagull racers use tiller arm extentions, there is only one problem with them.

To illustrate this fit yours in your Seagull boat & motor into a good clear area of water, set the throttle to warp 9 & sit not on the seat but on the floor, now let the extention slide out of the tiller arm, if you'd been sat on the seat there's a good chance you would be on your back on the floor on full lock going around in circles, with one gunnel almost under water.

This only needs happen once, before you decide a retaining device is the order of the day.

[Dinghy fisherman]

Love this reply........dont know why but it had me roaring with laughter at the image in my minds eye...

Problem no2. if the extension arm is too tight a fit and your sitting on the stern seat by the transom nice and comfy like with the extension over your leg, you can only turn one way. If you need to turn in a hurry the way your body is stopping the tiller your also in trouble. Dont think i will be sitting on the centre seat as i will be sitting in much the same way as i do now, with my arm behind me making it painful on my shoulder.

[BroadReach]

This is my attempt at a tiller extension. Made from green ash, dried perhaps a little too close to the stove for a month. Could not re turn it properly as it bowed a little but managed to turn down the spiggot where it fits the engine.

Also useful for, ahem, despatching the odd bass when I get lucky!

[Dinghy fisherman]

I love the strong grain pattern of ash, looks so bold. Broadreach, have you put a dark stain over the top, something like a jacobian oak as its really done a nice job of causing a lovely contrast. Very nice clean design. Whos next?

Bass, what are those? been a very hard season for me off the beach this year and my tally of Bass is a big fat 0. Looking forward to the whiting and early cod run off the east coast here

[BroadReach]

Used a brown mahogany stain if I remember correctly followed with a couple or so coats of yacht varnish. All other trim on boat is mahogany but it does not make good tillers. Broke a couple over the years!