Wood options for a sail boat repair

[John Gregory]

A friend of mine has a sail boat. All of the wood trim is Teak. He lets it weather. He used to oil it annually but doesn't any more. The arm that controls the rudder is cracked, he accidentally stepped on it. He made a functional repair, nothing fancy. It is curved, looks like bent lamination. I called MaBeaths today, Teak is $38/BF. I am not sure any other wood would be suitable. Strong AND weather proof. Does anyone have a suggestion?
Ipe? Mahogany?

Thanks

[Lee Schierer]

Ipe' is a hard weather resistant wood, commmonly used for decks. It works well, but will dull any tools except carbide. It is so dense it will not float. It should work well for your tiller application.

[Tony Joyce]

You might take a look at Iroko also. It is commonly advertised as a teak substitute. Much less than Teak 4/4 - $6.00 BdFt, 8/4 - $6.50 BdFt

[William Nimmo]

I just made a bunch of pieces for a friends sailboat. I just copied what he gave me that was 30 years old. Paid $27 board foot for 4/4 rough teak. He paid me a couple hundred for my time on top of the money for the materials and he saved tons of money. He had a source to order the stuff that I made him. Like $550 for some part of his deck that I made with about $160 worth of teak.

[Nate Carey]

Small boat tillers are commonly made from ash or white oak. If teak is the material of choice, spend forty bucks for teak and go sailing!

[lowell holmes]

The arm you are speaking of is called a tiller. I would use qs white oak on it. Finish it with marine varnish that has a uv filter in it.

I think a sawn piece might work using white oak. Lamination would be stronger.

[Rich Souchek]

John,
You can use any wood you want to for a tiller. The loads on it a real small.
If you are real cheap, a piece of galvenized steel pipe would work, or one could use part of a pine 2x4, either cut to shape or laminated.
White oak would be good, and mahogony and or teak would work good.
Real fancy tiller might be laminated out of white holley and teak.
Jus a matter of how much money and how fancy does one want....
Rich S.
(If I laminated one, would use the waterproof titebond and a good spar varnish...)

[Mike Cruz]

Why not PT lumber? Heheheheheheehehehehehehehe

[Nate Carey]

Mike, if your sailboat needs a tiller and PT is what you have...I say build your tiller out of PT...AND GO SAILING!

...just remember to take your MSDS with you...hehehehehe

[Nate Carey]

You can use any wood you want to for a tiller. The loads on it a real small.


Rich, in light air most small boat tillers have adequate flexibility and strength but when close hauled a small sailboat can generate tremendous loads on the fittings and rig. Hundreds of pounds per square inch of load can be concentrated at the tiller/rudder connection. Don't under estimate the need for a robust tiller.

[Tom Jacobs]

I created some trim for my sailboat this year using walnut. It is rot resistant, looks good and is easy to come by (al least here in the Midwest). A word of warning though, walnut is considered a bad luck wood for boats by some.

In any case for detailed answers about wood characteristics, put your tax dollars to work and go to the US Forrest Products Lab site - www.fpl.fs.fed.us (http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/). There is a wealth of information you have already paid for. You can download their 500 page “Wood Handbook” PDF and also search their site for information on specific woods

[Frank Hagan]

An inexpensive alternative to buying a new tiller is an axe handle. Looks funny to me, but I've seen several people do it to get back on the water without spending $150 on a tiller at the chandlery.

I made two for my sailboat, one laminated from Douglas fir and mahogany, the other laminated with white oak and mahogany. Not hard to make; cut the basic shape out on a bandsaw, laminate, and then shape to suit. I used epoxy thickened with maple wood flour (which makes the epoxy a dark brown).

[John Gregory]

Since my friend will be paying for materials, I let him make the choice. I can get Ipe locally.