I have a crack

[JPA Cate]

Sorry you did not find it helpful, Chotu.

In fact I have seen the allure of other waters, with narrow protected entries, on Espiritu Santo Is. in Vanuatu. And the fact is that when the strong winds blow, the catamarans anchored near shore have been damaged. I hope you don't have to learn the dangers for yourself. We beat into 45 kn. winds for about 18 hrs. to get from where we were to a hurricane hole that would be safe for us. It was not an easy day. But it WAS a strong lesson about what to avoid and why.

Ann

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Fore and Aft

Chotu what I find interesting is that only the aluminium casting broke. No cracked fiberglass around the mount? Did the mount come loose at all?
The other interesting thing is why disable the steering, we have a kick up transom mounted rudder and up or down it's not going to break. I would bet almost every boat in our marina could be towed out anchored and be fine.
I am starting to think the book about all your boating dramas is going to have to be written as a trilogy.
By chance is Stuart Hill your brother living in the UK? I see the resin allergy thing runs in the family!
Cheers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart...lamity%22_Hill

No. No other damage. I’m kind of a really big stickler for good backing plates. I have a monster under there. It would have to take off half the stern to break any of the fiberglass. My mounting is stronger than the aluminum was. Same thing with my deck cleats. Using just two of those, my boat sat at anchor through a category 3 hurricane. i’m just very paranoid about those types of things so I overdo it a little bit.

it’s just how these kick up rudders work. instead of one step coming up with them, which would have been much better, the design was to have a narrow central piece that pivots up. That’s what he designed. That’s what I built.

everything has worked out pretty well with them. Obviously I have 3000 miles on the boat. No problem. But I had them apart because the water is very shallow in some places. As you go into the harbor, it’s too shallow. Less than 36 inches. So I had to lift the rudders and disconnect the steering. It was on my list of things to do when I move the boat out of the harbor. But I did not move the boat out of the harbor nor did I know it would be moved out of the harbor. I had a 50 mile fetch last night for the storm outside the harbor. Boat would have been fine if I would have been able to do that steering before the storm. it can take plenty of bouncing around. Quite a stable platform actually.

I hate my trilogy. I was really hoping it would be a two-part series. I did not need this extra chapter at all. this was supposed to be my chance to finally sail the boat.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Sorry you did not find it helpful, Chotu.

In fact I have seen the allure of other waters, with narrow protected entries, on Espiritu Santo Is. in Vanuatu. And the fact is that when the strong winds blow, the catamarans anchored near shore have been damaged. I hope you don't have to learn the dangers for yourself. We beat into 45 kn. winds for about 18 hrs. to get from where we were to a hurricane hole that would be safe for us. It was not an easy day. But it WAS a strong lesson about what to avoid and why.

Ann

Ann, we just had a private message. I apologize for getting too snippy earlier. You really just opened a wound that is fresh.

I don’t know why you keep saying this.

I was IN a hurricane hole.

The boat was not near shore in shallows. It was in a harbor at the dock. A pond essentially. With an entrance that is 30ft wide if that. I barely fit through the entrance. that’s why the rudders were taken apart. Because at the edges of the channel going into this pond, my rudders were touching the shore. That's how well protected it is. There are 30 other boats in there on the docks and on the hard.

you have the wrong picture in your head. That’s not what it looks like.

Right NOW I'm in the situation you are describing. I had a 50 mile fetch last night for the storm. I was not prepared for it because I didn’t know the boat would be out here. It wasn't ready to navigate.

I had days of work needed to get ready to navigate.

[Chotu]

C clamp is holding up well. First couple miles were no steering at all. I left it disassembled to clear some 1ft deep sections, cutting hours of my trip. Steered with engines only through there and counted on high tide.

[Chotu]

The C clamp is holding up nicely. No problems at all. I used some very thin pieces of wood to get a better grip.


I will just replace the part when I get somewhere. I can go 1000 miles like this without a problem.

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by Chotu

The C clamp is holding up nicely. No problems at all. I used some very thin pieces of wood to get a better grip.


I will just replace the part when I get somewhere. I can go 1000 miles like this without a problem.

If you replace with the same part, you could strengthening it by wrapping it with carbon fiber filament and resin (vinyles ter in your case).

Sent from my MHA-L29 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[SY Harmony]

Originally Posted by Chotu

The C clamp is holding up nicely. No problems at all. I used some very thin pieces of wood to get a better grip.


I will just replace the part when I get somewhere. I can go 1000 miles like this without a problem.

NICE!!!!!

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Franziska

If you replace with the same part, you could strengthening it by wrapping it with carbon fiber filament and resin (vinyles ter in your case).

Sent from my MHA-L29 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

I could, but there isn’t much force on it. It doesn’t need strengthening.

It was disconnected and got caught up in the wrong part of the kickup trunk. That’s why it broke. It happened because the boat was not prepared to move, but it was moved anyway.

[SY Harmony]

Originally Posted by Franziska

If you replace with the same part, you could strengthening it by wrapping it with carbon fiber filament and resin (vinyles ter in your case).

Sent from my MHA-L29 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

Too much work.
The unit, when properly and completely, assembled will have a good enough range of motion. This failure occurred because the rudders over traveled the normal range.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by SY Harmony

Too much work.
The unit, when properly and completely, assembled will have a good enough range of motion. This failure occurred because the rudders over traveled the normal range.

No. That’s not why. Lol

The ram was disconnected and ended up getting leveraged into the kick up trunk.

That’s why it got damaged.

Was taken apart so the boat could sit in the shallow next to the dock in the harbor. It was not put together properly before it was pulled from the dock and put out to anchor. The rudder dragged on the way out of the harbor and the kick up went up and crushed it and bent it since it was not located as in the picture.

When It is properly installed as you see in the picture, the kick up goes up vertically at the point where it is located and the ram pops out of a little holder.

Nothing to do with the rudder position at all.

It was disconnected and farther forward than you can see in the picture. So it got torqued instead of lifted upward as designed.

[Franziska]

Got you. Safe sailing (or motoring for now :-) )

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Franziska

Got you. Safe sailing (or motoring for now :-) )

Thank you! It least I can do some jousting if the boat traffic gets difficult. Ha ha.

I have to stop though. There is a pretty big danger I won’t be able to deal with underway in small, confined channels.

This stuff is not good for the health issues.

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Thank you! It least I can do some jousting if the boat traffic gets difficult. Ha ha.

I have to stop though. There is a pretty big danger I won’t be able to deal with underway in small, confined channels.

This stuff is not good for the health issues.

Not good. Take care of yourself in a safe anchorage.

Sent from my MHA-L29 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[HeinSdL]

Chotu, once the boat is fixed and you're up and away, you should seriously consider a multi season Netflix series on fixing your boat from A to Z. I promise you I -and many others?- will be glued to the screen! :-)

[nuku34]

This on-going saga is more like a TV soap opera. I always get a laugh out of reading the next instalment of the "Trials and Tribulations (and its never my fault)" of this guy who seems to spend his life on a doomed project.