Simple tip: remove your tiller

Short-term boat hirers like me have little opportunity to learn the multitude of tiny tricks that make life on a narrowboat more pleasant. You do quickly learn some adaptations, such as walking like an Egyptian to negotiate the confined corridors of a narrowboat or checking your shoes before boarding to ensure you’re not tracking dog poo onto the boat. But I know that people who own a boat must have a plethora of time-, space- and pain-saving tips.

One tip that I’ve yet to employ is removing the tiller arm or handle after you’ve moored the boat. It never occurred to me to do that, and yet looking back I remember all the times I caught the end of the tiller arm in my gut or stood up and conked my head on it. The tiller arm, of course, is the long handle that eventually connects to the rudder.
On historic narrowboats the tiller arm is a rather large and long wooden lever that fits into a slot on the rudder post. It’s so long in fact that the person at the tiller often stands inside the hatch to the aft cabin. When the boat isn’t underway, the tiller is rotated 180° (around its length), allowing easy access to the rear of the boat. The genius of this design is that it there is no other place on board to store the gigantic tiller arm.

On a modern hire narrowboat, however, the tiller handle is a lot more understated affair. The rudder is just below the rear of the boat (although it projects out a little, which is why it’s so important to ensure it doesn’t get caught on a canal cill). The rudder post protrudes through the rear deck where it meets an S- or Z-shaped metal tube (the swan neck). The end of the swan neck narrows, allowing the final length of the tiller handle to be slipped over. The tiller arm is usually a straight metal tube (about two feet in length), although it usually ends in a shorter, wooden handle.

To keep the final length of the tiller handle in place, there’s a metal pin that connects it to the swan neck. Many private boats have a decorative tiller pin like a bronze animal or some other whimsical design, and is usually attached to the swan neck with a chain. The pin  is quite long and can be removed without a tool. The tiller handle can then be stored in a locker.

Unfortunately most hire boats don’t come with an easily removable, decorative tiller pin … because they’re decorative and easily removed. Instead it’s probably attached with a short steel pin fastened on the bottom with a nut. That nut, however, can probably be removed with the pliers on a multi-tool.

Of course it would be a pain to use pliers every time to remove the tiller pin, so one could use a tiller pin with a clevis pin. I think 8mm is the standard diameter for a tiller pin and I think most tiller arms have an approximately 1.5″ outside diameter (1.25″ I.D.). You could buy one in advance and take it with you. A simple tiller and clevis pin costs and weighs very little. A better option, however, would be to contact your boat hire and ask if there is a nearby chandler. You might be able to buy a decorative tiller pin at the chandler and have the boat hirer install it for the duration of your holiday. You can then bring it back to the U.S. as a souvenir.

Another benefit of removing the tiller arm and storing it elsewhere is that it would make it harder for someone to take your boat for a joyride. I know it seems farfetched, but it does happen. Just stash the tiller arm in a closet on the boat, especially if you leave it unattended. If you do buy your own decorative, easily removed tiller pin, you should also stash it somewhere on board if you leave.

Now if I just come up with a tip to prevent you from banging your head on the rear hatch.