At the Drascombe Convention on 25 February, Philip approached me at my JLJ stand on my option to supply a new tiller, with extension fitted, all fully spray varnished finish, to fit his existing tiller head, this being an early aluminium type. Not only do we supply the joinery, but we will fit it to the existing tiller head for free.
This is his original assembly, which he sent to me, received on 28 February. From my vast stock I was then able to choose a new tiller and allocate an extension to suit. All are pre-shaped, so it is then just a matter of doing the final shaping to fit the head supplied.
The tiller head is probably 40 plus years old and has seen a lot of service. I have re-finished this tiller head as best as I can, given its condition.
The head is now fitted to the tiller, and the tiller extension swivel fitted to both. Note that I recess the 4mm pan head bolts that secure the extension to the tiller.
So with everything pre-fitted, all that remains is to add the tiller extension holding pin.
So in the space of an hour at the workshop of Dragon Design, I have drawn from our extensive stock, a tiller and extension, all with the main machine work already done, and pre-fitted everything, so it is now ready for full spray finishing the next day. This next stage is the most time-consuming as each set of 3 coats takes 24 hours, and we apply 3 sets, giving 9 coats in total.
The high spray build of varnish is there to enhance the appearance of the tiller and primarily to give it the protection needed in the marine environment. The swivel assembly is recessed into the body of the tiller to give added strength; note the absence of sharp edges, all heavily profiled. The old aluminium rivets were drilled out of the old head and replaced with pan head machine screws and domed head nuts on the threaded side.
So, all spray varnished, reassembled and ready for dispatch tomorrow, along with one of our own-design boarding ladders.
All this demonstrates the efficiency in our manufacturing process for high quality marine joinery and the ability to provide Drascombe owners with an incomparable level of service. No other company manufactures in house, carries such high levels of dedicated stock, are able to come close to these prices and deliver a turnaround service like that of Dragon Design.