Fitting a tiller to a cat with tie bar steering

Boat is 10m x 6.3 with transom hung rudders, steered with a tie bar. Boat has centre outboard. At the moment its steered rather like a Hobie cat with a telescopic extension. Fine for a Hobie, Awkward otherwise. This works fine for short periods but I am a bit concerned with having to hand steer for any distance if the auto pilots (multiple back ups) give up. As they are want to do. I have a few ideas that may work, involving a steering quadrant off set (to attach to the tie bar, but wondering if there are any other ideas out there.

 

The simplest solution is to mount a tiller with its hinge axis pretty much in the plane of the rudder hinge axes. Then either attach it to the tie bar with some freedom (e.g. a pin in the tie bar into slot in the tiller) or split the tie bar and attach each half to the tiller. If you rigidly attach the tiller to the tie bar then any misalignment will risk locking up the system, or at least making it very stiff. This tiller would ideally be on the centreline, but there is no reason it couldn't be offset.

Actually the very simplest solution is to directly mount a tiller onto one or both of the rudders.

 

If only it were so easy. Sorry I should have posted these in the first place. I want to keep the railing on both sides for a few reasons, things mount on them at the moment, but even if I moved it or lost it, a longer tiller would still foul the traveller pulley. Hmm unless tiller was higher to go over that winch. As a sort of emergency tiller that might work.
I cant quite visualise your other suggestion, but if I have it right I don't think it will work.
I was thinking along the lines of something that might be mounted on the underside of the X beam and linked to the link bar.
Thanks tlouth its an idea to think about. Its a dreaming project until I get back to it.

 

Hmm that does look tricky. The only thing you have to mount your tiller to is the crossbeam, which is both in front of the tie bar and where the mainsheet traveller is located.

Given whatever you do is going to be reasonably complex you might as well work backwards: where is the most ergonomic location for the tiller? Is it a single one on the centreline or one at each side? How far forwards?

 

Nice cat. What design?
You could try a whipstaff (vertical tiller) that hinges underneath the beam, actuating the cross-bar and protrudes vertically through the cockpit floor in front of the rear beam. That would avoid the traveller etc and leave the existing crossbar/steering intact. No reason why it couldn't be offset to one side or the other.