I am in the process of building my own rudder/tiller and picked up one of these Allen tiller extension universal joints. Allen tiller extension uv joint
The thing is, it seems much too rigid to me. It is quite difficult to bend. How am I going to stop my tiller extension from pointing upward towards the sky?
Don't worry. It will bend under the weight of a long tiller extension. It is the same as the one I use.
Thanks for the reassurance. My tiller extension is roughly 1 meter long. If it does not work I will build my own using a thrust bearing and a small piece of U profile.
1 metre is quite short for a tiller extension on a cat, even if you are only hiking, not trapezing.
I haven’t seen one of those but you don’t have to put it on top of the crossbar, you can put it pointing slightly forward towards the boat no problem and the rigidity will help