[Rhodes22-list] Tiller pilot - Am I overthinking this?

[Peter Nyberg]

Mike,

You probably are overthinking this.  :^) You've got the right extension pieces, so you should be in good shape.  It isn't necessary for the tiller to be dead amidships when the tiller pilot arm is exactly half-way extended.  That would be the goal, obviously, but unlikely to be achieved with precision.

The tiller position that will keep the boat going in a straight line is rarely dead amidships, and is rarely constant for any length of time.  The tiller pilot will push if it wants the boat to turn to starboard, and pull if wants the boat to turn to port.  It's good if there's roughly equal push and pull capacity.  But it doesn't work on the basis of knowing where amidships is.

--Peter