so i'm slowly catching up on lots of little improvements to my old cat. yesterday pulled off all the tell-tales and moved them so they are now a foot, 300mm, back from the mast instead of 3 foot, 900mm

my old 5.2 has straight tiller arms but the later versions had inwardly cranked tiller arms, presumably for the "akerman" effect where in a turn as the inner rudder is turning a smaller circle, (than the outer rudder) it needs to turn a tighter angle for minimum drag

from google it looks like "akerman" cat tillers are each cranked/bent 8-10degrees inwards

is that about right and how hard would it be to safely crank my straight tillers? take it to a pro.shop with a correctly radiused bending rig???

Cat steering akerman is a "black art" and there is no correct amount as it changes with beam, speed and rate of turn.

Start with seven degrees, as you're on a narrow beam boat. 'Tis easier to bend more than to unbend. That, and it is difficult to add the metal back to your tiller crossbar, as you'll have to shorten it to accommodate the bent tillers.

I used a fencepost and worked slowly and gently, and I have tiller arms just like yours, having a 1982 NACRA Square.

New arms with angle 31" long from Performance $31 each. Part#5551. Nacra 5.2 and 5.8 are the same arms.

You gonna hurt my last feeling if you tell me these arms have been out for, like, years...