Tag Archives: rudder

A Double Steering Failure

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Matt and I were enjoying a lovely sail from the Marshall Islands to Kiribati.  About 55 hours into our 63 hour passage we noticed an issue with our starboard steering.  Yikes!  Our engine throttles are on starboard so we use starboard as our main helm and port as a “back up.”

The good news is that auto pilot is working ok and the port steering is working ok.  We were able to safely navigate through the Kiribati pass to the anchorage.  Matt jumped in the hole as soon as the engine cooled off.

What Type of Steering is on Sugar Shack

There are multiple types of steering on yachts: mechanical, hydraulic, electric, and electric hydraulic.  We have mechanical on our boat.

How does mechanical steering work?

The mechanical system is usually made up of a Rack-And-Pinion or Worm-And-Sector steering gear that is physically connected to the helm. When the steering wheel is rotated, this mechanical system also turns. These mechanical systems, in turn, drive a pitman arm that physically turns the wheels of the boat.

Which is the same as “Christine speak”

When you turn the starboard wheel it turns the “Steering Gear Box”. The steering gear box then turns the “Arm” which is also connected to the port steering box.  That in turn rotates our port and starboard “Rudder Arms” which turns the rudders which turns the boat.  It works the opposite way as well when you turn the port helm it turns the starboard steering.

I am sure there are more technical terms for this system, but hopefully I described it well enough for you to follow along.

What Happened?

Steering Gear Box:  We are not 100% sure what happened to the starboard steering box.  It could be age and regular wear and tear.  It also could be something else???  We tie off the wheel while at anchor to reduce movement of the boat.  Could this have been a problem??

Matt disengaged the steering box after a lot of struggle.  It is super heavy and located in an awkward position.

What we discovered was the following:

  • Water appears to have dripped from the either the compass or a seam into the gear box.  We will have to reseal the helm.
  • The bearings were shot and the balls were floating around
  • A lot of gunk was in and around the gears
  • One section of the gears was stripped

Temporary Fix

There is nothing we can do in Kiribati (where we are now) or Tuvalu (where we are going next).  But we can disconnect the starboard steering box so that we don’t do any more damage by using the port equipment.

Matt ordered (8) new bearings and (4) new seals.  It will take approximately 6-8 weeks to get to us from Germany.

What Else Happened?

A few days into our passage from Kiribati to Tuvalu we discovered another problem.  The wind had dropped to 5kts so we decided to drop the sails and motor.  Matt jumped in the engine room and  found a major problem.  The port rudder arm (tie rod) was broken at the attachment point.

You have got to be kidding!!!

We don’t know what happened, but the only way to fix it is to weld the stainless back together.  Obviously we can’t do that while underway.  Matt lashed the arm down to prevent further damage.

How Are We Able to Steer?

Auto pilot is located on the starboard helm.  He has been running great!  Auto turns the port gear box which turns the arm connecting the starboard and port helms.  The arm then turns the starboard tie rod / rudder arm which turns the starboard rudder.

Basically bypassing the two broken parts on both starboard and port.  Thank goodness for redundancy on a catamaran!

Repairs

There is not much we can do until we get to Savusavu, Fiji.  So, we are being super gentle with the boat and her steering.  Good news we have very light winds and moderate seas so there is not a lot of pressure on Auto Pilot or the rudders.

Stay tuned for repairs…

Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind actual live events.  We were under passage from the Marshall Islands to Kiribati, then Tuvalu, and then Fiji in mid to late April.

Be sure to read the good news about this passage here.

Boatyard Boat Projects Before We leave

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Were you wondering what Matt and I do while the Norsand boatyard crew was working hard on our repairs?  Well, you know we can’t just be idle so we finished up a few more boat projects which honestly seems like an endless list.

The cover photo is Sugar Shack at Norsand Boatyard.  Photo courtesy of Yum Yum who took it as they passed by heading up river.

Boatyard Boat Projects on the List

  • Replace Dinghy non-skid (under warranty, Aakron Express to repair)
  • Repair Anchor Chain Caddy
  • Replace (2) anchor chain rollers and several bolts at caddy (RH Precision)
  • Repair genoa North sail (random strings showing)
  • Re-Certify Life raft and (4) PFDs (Personal Floatation Device)
  • Clean and polish exterior stainless steel
  • Apply anti-foul to old/spare rudder and stow in forward bow
  • Get the Bauer Dive Compressor Working
  • Install bathroom accessories (see next blog post “Final Touches on Sugar Shack”
  • Installed a MeLE Mini PC
  • Service, Test, and Fill Propane Tank

Repairing the Non-Skid on Sweetie

The non-skid came off the floor, again, so we reached out to Aakron Express / Highfield to come out and fix it, again.  Luckily they were pretty responsive and willing to do the repairs.  I am glad this is not one of my boat projects (lots of glue/adhesive removal).

Last time they just pulled up the pieces that were coming lose and reglued them.  And surprise, surprise, they did not stick and came unglued again.  So, this time they completely removed all of the non-skid pieces, cleaned the bottom flooring and adhered new non-skid.  Let’s hope this sticks better.

I’m trying not to be annoyed that they did not replace the non-skid on the step.  As you can see it is still a little dirty which I can live with but it is a different color!  Ugh!

Bow Rollers for Anchor Chain

We took in two of our 5 bow rollers to RH Precision with the hopes of having new ones fabricated.  Rob, is truly the coolest dude ever!   He put in the specs into his CNC machine (bottom left) and showed us how they will look (purple lines).  As you can see, the bolts are way overdue for replacement so we replaced those as well.  The black will be our new roller (top left).

Rob surprised Matt by allowing him to come into the shop to assist in fabricating the rollers !  He showed him how to program the machine, figure out the math and then hit “go.”  Matt was thrilled which was so darn cute to see.

While the anchor chain caddy was taken apart, Matt decided to fix a few more things.  He added strong plastic to the inside panels which were indented from the chain, and he added chivs/spacers to prevent the bolts from rattling.

North Sail Genoa Repair

Our brand new North Sail Genoa had a few random strings (top right photo below) that worried us and it was not furling properly.  Roger from North Sails came by and collected it and we all took it to the large North Sail Loft in Auckland for repairs.

You can see how wrinkled the sail is when it is unfurled and it shouldn’t be that way (top left).  Guy at North Sails showed us what the 3Di fabric looks like when it comes apart (middle photo with black fabric and white strings) and that does not look like ours so they are “not concerned” with the random string we found.

The North sails engineers added more foam guides at the luff to help it roll better.  However, we discovered another potential problem with our forestay.  There were black marks on the luff of the genoa which usually indicates something is amiss with the forestay.  So, we bring in a rigger…more to come on this in an upcoming blog titled “Fine Tuning the Rig.”

Liferaft and PFDs

Our Viking Liferaft was due for service (every 3 years) so we took it to Denray Marine.  They inflated it, checked all seams and connection points, replaced the canister, and added some emergency supplies.  I know it looks like the liferaft is locked down, but it can easily be deployed with a single push of a button.

We also serviced 3 of our PFD’s and bought Matt a new one.

Cleaning up the Stainless

We have lots and lots of stainless on the boat.  It is one of my many jobs to keep it shiny and clean.  So, every 3 months I use super toxic chemicals such as Opsho, CLR, or Grunt to clean up the stainless.  However, our friends at Absolute Stainless turned me on to Chemico Paste Cleaner for our stainless counter tops. I thought I’d give it a try on our stainless exterior pieces and HOLY COW it worked amazing!  This will make this particular boat project a lot easier in the future.

We have stainless stanchions, turn buckles, line guards, pad eyes, and railings.  Each piece has to be meticulously cleaned and polished.  Most of the stainless just looks like it has a brown stain or spots which drives me crazy.  It’s hard to see in the sun, but trust me it looks bad.

The gates (upper left) get so corroded that they don’t easily open (this is after 3 months).

The pad eyes seem to get the worst corrosion, but they clean up nicely.

Spare Rudder

As you might recall, we replaced both of our rudders in November 2023 (as we lost one rudder).  We decided to keep the other “old” rudder as a spare (just in case), but it needed to be painted with anti-foul.   Matt sanded it down and I applied 4 coats of anti-foul paint so she is ready to go back into storage.

The spare rudder will be stowed in our forward port bow locked.  We stow a lot of stuff in here including: 15 fenders, 2 SUPs, passerelle, 2 folding chairs, 8 PFDs (personal flotation vests), 2 inflatable animals, SUP pump, ladder, and now a spare rudder.

Bauer Dive Compressor

Matt and I love to dive.  However, we have not had a dive compressor onboard to re-fill our dive tanks.  So, we either have had to find a local company or a friendly cruiser to fill our tanks or we just didn’t go diving (which was always a shame). 

We were able to buy a used Bauer Jr. Dive Compressor a few months ago despite the fact that we knew it would be a challenge to get it started.

The Bauer Jr. requires a lot of power to start up.  We purchased a soft start (an electrical device designed to gradually and smoothly control the starting and stopping of a compressor motor) to aid our Mastervolt inverter/charger (MASS COMBI 12/3000W-160A 220v) and our Honda EU20i portable generator.  Unfortunately, this did not start the dive compressor.  

We did verify that it started by plugging it into shore power.  So that is good news.  We talked at length to Mastervolt, the dive shop that sold us the soft start, and our electrician and they all said it should work – but it did not.

So, we purchased a new Honda EU32i portable Generator and a parallel cable.  Using the inverter/charger, the two generators, and the soft start the compressor finally started!  Yeah.  But we really did not want to have 2 Honda generators onboard – (imagine me smacking my face)!

Small Projects

As you might recall, we sort of blew up our Mastervolt inverter charger when we tried to start our “new to us” Bauer Jr. II dive compressor.  The good news, it was still under warranty as it was only a few months old!  So, Matt installed this new baby to give us 220 power!

We also finally received our brand new ITSEC 175m2 parasail.  I am so excited about this sail!  I cannot wait to fly her!  We love our new ISTEC Parasail (175m2) – she is gorgeous!

Bathroom Accessories

We also worked on our new bathroom accessory upgrades which are coming up in the next blog post titled “Final Touches on Sugar Shack.”  They are the prettiest toilets on the sea!

Programming

We use Synology Diskstation for a number of things including storage of our files, movies, books, and music.  But it is also used to monitor our electronics and run our music.  The problem is that Diskstation can be a bit of a power hog running at 3+ amps per hour.  When you are plugged into shore power or at a home it is not a big deal.  However, when you are making your own electricity and you have other power hungry sources, 3 amps can be huge.

So, Matt decided to try out a MeLE Mini-PC which is no bigger than a deck of cards.  It has no monitor and no keyboard.  But that is not a problem as we already have those.  It took Matt several days to program it, but it is working like a charm and only draws 1amp per hour!  Big Win.

The mini-PC will not be on the navigation table with all of those wires.  The photo was taken as Matt was programming it.  It will go below the nav station with diskstation.

Propane Tank

We have several propane tanks on the boat, for cooking and for the bbq. Our main propane tank is aluminum.  These tanks are supposed to be tested every 10 years but it is often difficult to find a place that will test them.  We had been filling this tank at El Gas for two seasons and they never said anything, until this time.  He refused to fill it until we got it tested at Firewatch.  it did not take long, but it did cost is $120NZ (we got a new valve as well).  The problem was she accidently stamped the tank as a 10lb instead of  20lb.  We did not realize it until we took it to El Gas and he had us take it back.  So she hammered out the incorrect info and restamped it.  Gesh what a pain.

There are two large boat projects that will get their own blog: Caulking the Sugar Scoop Teaks and Caulking the Sugar Scoop Teak.

As you can see we made the most of this haul out in the boatyard.  We completed a few more boat projects and are feeling good about our NZ departure.  We were anxious to get back in the water as we prepare to head to a new country, Vanuatu.

Best Seat in the House

We got the best spot in the yard!  We were parked right by the river on the corner which gave us great views and a beautiful breeze. The top photo is out our bedroom cabin window at dawn and the bottom is a shot from the bow.  It is not terrible to do boat projects when you have this view.

Our blog posts run several weeks behind actual live events.  This blog post on boat projects occurred April-May 2024.  In our last blog post we show you how to repair your teak deck – did you catch it?

Rudder Rebuild: The Rudder Part II

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In Part I of our Rudder Rebuild 1, we walk you through the steps we took to custom design our new rudder posts.  Now we are ready to custom design each rudder blade.  The shafts had to be completed before we began the design process on the blades. 

Both of our rudders were removed immediately after being hauled out.  We were on the trailer and still dripping with water, but they had to come out now while we could raise the boat high enough to get them out of their casings. 

It is pretty clear that the temporary rudder and our standard one are very different shapes, but the surface measurement is about the same.  The borrowed rudder came off a bigger Catana 50, same manufacturer but very different blades.

The one on the left was borrowed from Norsand and the one on the right is our original 23 year old rudder.

Rudder Casing  is Compromised

After we removed the rudders we stuck our heads below the hole and looked up with a flash light.  To our horror we found a few issues with the rudder casing.  One there is a slight crack at the entrance and two there is a bump inside that was rubbing on the rudder post.  Lucky for us, both are fairly easy repairs.

Peter, the expert glassman and rudder specialist, comes over to help us remove the bearing and do the repairs. The bearing proved to be a bit of a challenge as it did not want to come out.  They get a massive sledge hammer and attack it from the top and bottom.  Once it is out, we sand down the blister, fill and paint it before installing the new bearing and case.  It all sounds simple enough but it took them several hours to complete this project.

As you can see the bearing case (lower two photos) was in need of replacement and lucky for us we had a spare on board.  Evidently, it was not considered “horrible” and still functional but we replaced it anyway.

Getting Started on the Rudders

We hand over our old rudder and the two new shafts.  The foam is cut and patterned to fit our new shafts and tines.  As you can see, the rudder posts and tines support the blade a lot better than our original ones which stopped before the center of the rudder.  Weights are put on the foam to ensure it all sticks together.

We are not on site to watch the exact process so I may be missing steps.  Once the foam is sealed and molded they apply fiber glass.  The rudder on the left is done and the one on the right is in process.

Norsand Takes Over 

Once the fiberglass work is done, they are sanded down.  Then we make the executive decision to apply the Hemple barrier coat instead of the Interprotect barrier coat.  Why did we use a different barrier coat on the rudders than on the bottom of the boat?  The primary reason was we didn’t want to wait 2 weeks for the Interprotect to off gas.  So we used Hemple and dealt with the difficult application process.

The Hemple barrier coat was having a hard time curing which meant they could not sand the peaks and valleys.  We were delayed by 5 days waiting for the paint to cure, sand, tweak, sand, tweak and sand again before the rudders were handed back to us to have Norsand apply the coppercoat.

Norsand quickly covers the rudders in coppercoat repeating the same process as on the bottom paint. 

Once the coppercoat is dry, they sand the rudders to activate the coppercoat.  Then it is time to fit them.

Does the Shoe Fit?

Must admit that there is a little anxiety about the rudders fitting properly.  We were confident the builder knew what he was doing and did it perfectly, but there is a little niggle in the back of our minds.  We knew they were made much stronger and safer than our previously rudders that were factory made and lasted 23 years.  But it is hard to relax until they are fitted.

The yard has to raise us on the trailer in order for us to be high enough to insert the rudders into their shaft/casing.

Peter, Tony and Kevin are on hand to help us install the rudders.  Matt is inside the engine compartment inserting the bolt (bottom right photos) while Peter and Tony insert the shaft.  It is a perfect fit on port.

Starboard needs a little bigger spacer which we can easily make with help from Rob at RH Precision.  What a relief to have two stronger, well crafted rudders back on the boat!

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog posts occured during over 2 weeks in November.  Did you see how we custom designed our rudder posts in part I?