And Dennis Palin says:
(everyone is listening in a hush right now)
that you rarely 'grip' the tiller, rather, you lightly touch it, and 'will' it where it needs to go.
As has been said, if your helm is that hard to steer, definitley need to rake in your rudders!
Heavy on the helm = SLOW
This is very true on a well balanced boat. The T only needs very slight thumb & index finger movements to hold course.
I like to be able to let go of the tiller breifly (when needing two hands to yank on the mainsheet for example)...so being able to place the tiller on the deck without it sliding away out of reach or just moving at all is very important. I've used rigging tape on the tiller extension and yes it works. But, over time is does get chewed up and lumpy (not good when I toss the tiller over the rear beam during spinny runs), plus a roll of this tape runs about $15-$25 bucks for something like 15 ft....so renewing is regularly gets expensive.
I much prefer the thin grip foam from Murray's...use a good contact cement to adhere it (comes with a small can). You can sand off (I used a dremel with a sanding drum) any overlapped sections after it's stuck down. This stuff lasts for 5+ years per application. The surface is very smooth yet it is easy to grip. I can place the tiller on the deck and it stays put quite well. I can toss the tiller over the rear beam and not get much drag off the waves.
Mike.
