Product Review: Tiller Tamer from Davis Marine

Have you ever been out for a lazy Great Lakes sail and wished you could step below for moment to grab a cold drink or perhaps a pair of sunglasses but you couldn't leave the tiller unattended? Davis Marine makes a product they call a "Tiller Tamer" that might help in such a situation.

The Tiller Tamer is essentially a clamping device for a tiller control line. It is constructed of durable, hard plastic with stainless steel hardware (screw/hex nut). The Tiller Tamer mounts directly on top of the forward end of the tiller handle. If your tiller is made of anything other than wood, you may need to fabricate mounting hardware or forego the Tiller Tamer all together. The device is mounted via two wood screws. The control line (1/4" diameter provided) is then run from the stern corners of the cockpit to the Tiller Tamer. I personally use jam cleats mounted directly in the fiberglass of the cockpit's stern to anchor the control line. You could also use cam cleats or other means. The Tiller Tamer does NOT come with any cleats.

The device works by turning the knob on top of the Tiller Tamer to essentially clamp the control line and thereby hold the tiller in a set position. I've found the clamp to hold very well in most conditions. Davis Marine advertises that the device works in "any weather or wind condition", but I wouldn't trust it in anything more than moderate wind and waves. I also would not recommend leaving the cockpit or tiller completely unattended while the Tiller Tamer is in use. Depending on how well your boat tracks, you may find that even with the Tiller Tamer in use the boat will wander and move off course in a matter of minutes. Small adjustments and a watchful eye make the Tiller Tamer more effective.

If you're looking for a simple and affordable way to occasionally free up your hands while in the cockpit, the Tiller Tamer should do the trick. However, I do not recommend it as a method of true self-steering. The Tiller Tamer can be purchased from many vendors from between $25 and $35, plus the cost of cleats.


Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy for http://www.grealakessailing.blogspot.com

If you require any more information or have any questions about our privacy policy, please feel free to contact us by email at kwaltersmi@yahoo.com.

The privacy of our visitors is of extreme importance to us. This privacy policy document outlines the types of personal information is received and collected by www.sailfarlivefree.com and how it is used. Like many other Web sites, our website makes use of log files. The information inside the log files includes internet protocol ( IP ) addresses, type of browser, Internet Service Provider ( ISP ), date/time stamp, referring/exit pages, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the site, track user’s movement around the site, and gather demographic information. IP addresses, and other such information are not linked to any information that is personally identifiable. Greatlakessailing.blogspot.com does use cookies to store information about visitors preferences, record user-specific information on which pages the user access or visit, customize Web page content based on visitors browser type or other information that the visitor sends via their browser. Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on Greatlakessailing.blogspot.com. Google's use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to users based on their visit to Greatlakessailing.blogspot.com and other sites on the Internet. Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy at the following URL - http://www.google.com/privacy_ads.html Some of our advertising partners may use cookies and web beacons on our site. Our advertising partners include Google Adsense and Commission Junction. These third-party ad servers or ad networks use technology for advertisements and links that appear on Greatlakessailing.blogspot.com and send directly to your browsers. They automatically receive your IP address when this occurs. Other technologies ( such as cookies, JavaScript, or Web Beacons ) may also be used by the third-party ad networks to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements and/or to personalize the advertising content that you see. Greatlakessailing.blogspot.com has no access to or control over these cookies that are used by third-party advertisers. You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party ad servers for more detailed information on their practices as well as for instructions about how to opt-out of certain practices. www.sailfarlivefree.com's privacy policy does not apply to, and we cannot control the activities of, such other advertisers or web sites. If you wish to disable cookies, you may do so through your individual browser options. More detailed information about cookie management with specific web browsers can be found at the browsers' respective websites.