Affordable Carbon Composite Tiller & Rudder Stock for Solo Dinghies
Ever thought the present day rudder stocks were a little expensive at around £300. Present day rudder stock and tiller assemblies use either laminated timber or marine plywood that is epoxy coated and finished to a very high standard. A circular carbon fibre tube is commonly used as the tiller. They do a good job but at a cost that many sailors feel excessive. The price might be acceptable if the stock itself was carbon fibre composite but the present class rules allow only timber construction.
Taking a leaf from Scandinavian flat pack furniture makers and combining this with high tech ProGraphite tillers that are used by many of the top Laser international sailors, C2 Marine have come up with a cost effective assembly. The lay-flat kit offered by C2 Marine provides timber side cheeks and central core machined to the finished profile with curves in all the right places. Dowels accurately locate the 3 pieces. It accepts the ProGraphite tiller and all a Solo sailor has to do is glue the assembly together, paint it to your own unique specification and fit it out with pivot bolt, gudgeon and pintle. Some of you may have seen the prototype exhibited on Solo 2 at the Dinghy Exhibition. This and others are now on the racing circuit.
Each tiller is made from a combination of uni-directional carbon fibres and woven carbon fibres prepregged with high strength epoxy resin. The ProGraphite tiller is high pressure moulded in a precision CNC machined aluminium tool. The materials and tooling used ensure constant reproduction of a high quality part.
Care has been taken to cater for the most commonly used different shaped rudder foils and plans are provided to show the pivot point for these foils. This ensures the stock can be drilled accurately for your own foil.
