I bent the inner tube of my Davis Instruments aluminum tiller extension. I have a spare that does not slide easily, so I want to try to make one good one out of the two, but I don't know how to separate the telescoping tubes. Is there a secret? Thanks.

John

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John Fricker
Prindle 16
Seabrook, Texas
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Doesn't it go through the handle?

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Ron
Big Bear Lake, Ca.
1990 Hobie 18 Worlds
1988 Mac 26Dagger
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Rondog - the inner tube has the black handlegrip attached. When I turn the inner tube/gripcounterclockwise, it releases the inner tube from the outer tube, so I can slide the grip out while hiking, then I turn it clockwise to lock it's length where I like it. When it's loose, I can pull the inner tube/grip out to full extension and a hard stop. I don't know how to get it past the hard stop to separate the two tubes.

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John Fricker
Prindle 16
Seabrook, Texas
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If you remove the handle and slide it in the shorter direction maybe the hard stop will get out the outer tube and you will be able to remove it.

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AB
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This is not a Handi-Mate right?

Can you find a picture of it on the internet?

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Ron
Big Bear Lake, Ca.
1990 Hobie 18 Worlds
1988 Mac 26Dagger
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Davis Marine technical help guy had no idea how to do this, and their technical support group never answered my email. I solved the problem. The twist lock mechanism is a very cool, simple device. You turn the handle one way and 2 split rotating collars on the inner tube nest to a small OD. Turn it the other way and the split collars grab on the ID of the outer tube and the inner tube cams the split collars out to a bigger OD that jams it to the ID of the outer tube.

Anyway, they add a little glue to the ID of outer tube nearest the handle to reduce the ID so the inner tube can't come out. I used a heat gun to soften the glue, then pulled out the broken inner tube. I installed the inner tube of my spare hiking stick, then put a few small dings in the out tube near the handle end to stop the inner tube from coming all the way out (this does what the thin layer of glue did). I'll never get it apart again, though I could cut off the out tube just at the dings and have a 2" shorter stick.

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John Fricker
Prindle 16
Seabrook, Texas
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John, what kind was your tiller extension? I googled around for Davis Marine hiking stick or tiller stick and all I found were some outboard motor extension handles.

Got a link or picture?

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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN

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Damon - Here is a picture of my daughter at the tiller:

I also Googled around and could not find a single reference to this tiller extension, so it's strange I had 2 of them. I think a previous owner got them from Murray's. They look like Davis Marine's telescoping aluminum boat hooks but with a pivot plastic piece to attach it to the rudder cross bar, and the black handle is on the inner tube:
http://www.davisnet.com/marine/products/marine_product.asp?pnum=04122

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John Fricker
Prindle 16
Seabrook, Texas
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Quote

then put a few small dings in the out tube near the handle

We had the same problem with one of the Arriba FX sticks.
To re-asssemble we drilled 2 small holes, slightly countersunk them,(you can't go far because the material is fairly thin) then pulled a couple of aluminum pop rivets. That makes it easy to take it apart again.
The tiller will not go quite as short as it used to, when retracted as far as it will go the rivets hit, leaving it about 2" longer than original.

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Hobie 18 Magnum
Dart 15
Mystere 6.0XL Sold Was a handful solo
Nacra 5.7
Nacra 5.0
Bombardier Invitation (Now officially DEAD)
Various other Dock cluttering WaterCrap
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jfricker

could not find a single reference to this tiller extension, so it's strange I had 2 of them. I think a previous owner got them from Murray's. They look like Davis Marine's telescoping aluminum boat hooks but with a pivot plastic piece to attach it to the rudder cross bar, and the black handle is on the inner tube:

I wonder if someone made yours from one of those boat hooks? I've heard of people making tiller extensions out of extendable paint roller handles as well.

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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN

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I saw a guy with a Hobie 16 at the beach last month, his hiking stick was 2 hockey stick shafts scarfed together.

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Jeff
Houston TX
1986 Hobie 18 Sail# 13031
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I'm bumping this very old thread to see if there are any developments. I was out this weekend and turned my Davis instruments aluminum tiller extension into a pretzel. I'm tempted to try to take it apart, get the cam out, buy new aluminum and reassemble.

However, I'm seeing West Marine and Davis Instrument boat hooks can be had for about $40. I'm going to take my bent up tiller extension into WM to see if the diameter of the tubing is the same. If so, I can drill out the rivet of the old tiller extension and replace the hook with it.

If anyone has any experience with this, i.e., I'm wasting my time, please let me know.

Dana

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Dana, Holly, Emma & Hannah

LJ/Stu's Dart 18 (Sold! :( )
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your wasting your time - lol

in my experiences alum boat hooks converted are about worthless
one light "drop" on your hull (just simply dropping the stick) will dent the shaft ... once dented it wont collapse and will be where it turns into a pretzel shortly after.

my experience with purpose built alum hiking sticks is not much better... they will fail much faster than an ariba stick
and will not take being bent much at all
(e.q. fall off your boat somehow and hang on to the tiller, or in a capsize, or just putting pressure on it while tacking can ding it).
an ariba / fibergla ss stick will bend much more before failure - i have slipped off a cat once or twice and held on to the ariba - bent pretty far without failing

I even prefer a non collapsible over an alum one - like the original h16 stick. i used one for a year a few years ago ... was a pita due to its size but was nice to have a stick that didn't collapse accidentally at a bad time as telescoping one's are known to do. I have even epoxied up broken ariba's and lived with it full length for a long time waiting to save up for a new $200 ariba (i need the biggest one they make)

Damon mentioned paint sticks - they work well until they start to degrade and put fiberglass splinters into your hand (about a dozen uses in fl summer)

Thanks Andrew! Murray's doesn't have any Arriba tiller extensions on their website. Where do I get one? Tackle Shack?



Edited by dartsailors on Sep 04, 2018 - 11:51 AM.

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Dana, Holly, Emma & Hannah

LJ/Stu's Dart 18 (Sold! :( )
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Have a couple Arriba sticks, PM me. Pete

dartsailors

Thanks Andrew! Murray's doesn't have any Arriba tiller extensions on their website. Where do I get one? Tackle Shack?Edited by dartsailors on Sep 04, 2018 - 11:51 AM.

Yes, that's where i got my last one and most of my gear these days
I like to support local catamaran shops when I can - these guys have been very good to me over the years

(bring cash, they often will make a deal if paying in cash)

I'm pretty sure Arriba went out of business (it was basically a one-man show), so they likely have no or very limited availability at this point.

sm

Andrew and Pete, thank you!

For everyone else, I did some digging and figure some things out that may be helpful to the community. I called Davis Instruments and asked about tiller extensions. Like JFricker, the nice lady had no idea what I was talking about.

I then called Murray's to identify my options. I learned that they assemble their aluminum hiking sticks from parts purchased from Davis Instruments. Since Arriba is out of business, the only game in town is their aluminum stick or NACRA's carbon fiber.

The stick is basically 5 parts: 2 aluminum tubes, a hand grip, a locking device inside the tubes and the plastic attachment point. As much as I don't need another project, I'm going to explore purchasing the locking device. If I can get that, I can buy the aluminum and rebuild the stick.

I looked at the paint extension sticks and they appear to be less than ideal. On the Murray's aluminum hiking stick/tiller extension, the largest diameter tube is closest to the crossbar, with the extension being smaller where you hold it. In other words, the portion that extends is the smaller diameter tube. The paint extension poles appear to reverse that, having the larger tube extend over the smaller tube. This would place the smaller tube at the logical mount point to the crossbar. As a result, it appears that the tubing would be weakest at the crossbar and strongest at your hand, which seems opposite of what you want. I imagine you might be able to remove the handgrip and the mount point, reverse the pole and mount the crossbar connector to the handgrip end. However, you would then have to fabricate a new handgrip since the existing one would likely be too large for the smaller tube.

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Dana, Holly, Emma & Hannah

LJ/Stu's Dart 18 (Sold! :( )
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http://www.apsltd.com/har…BvwkHEAAYASAAEgIYj_D_BwE

Consider one of these. Expensive but nice.
I use the EA2000S which is 80". The push button extension works great.



Edited by gahamby on Sep 04, 2018 - 02:14 PM.

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'82 Super Cat 15
Hull #315
Virginia
Previously owned: '70 H14, '79 H16, '68 Sailmaster 26, '85 H14T
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