Tag Archives: steering gear box

Massive Repairs in Savusavu

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I return to Savusavu after a quick trip to the states to pick up all of our boat parts (see blog “Life as a Pack Mule“).  Now, Matt is ready to begin working on the lengthy list of repairs.

He tackles the most important jobs first: Port Engine and Starboard Steering

Port Engine Timing Belt

An engine cannot run without its timing belt.  We lost the port engine timing belt in Tuvalu which rendered us short one engine.  See Failures Bring on Frustrating Times.

The new timing belt was a lot tighter than the original.  It took Matt a few tries to get it on.  Once it was on, Matt triple checked everything before attempting to start the engine.  And….it would not start.  He worked on it all day before he finally asked a fellow cruiser (Michael from sv Promises Kept) to take a look.  They bounced a lot of ideas off each other and worked on it for several hours.  Still nothing!  It would try to turn over and it sounded like it was almost there.

Finally, Matt took it apart again and triple checked everything again.  Hoping that all of the pieces were aligned and “in time.”  He moved one piece a few cm over and tried to start the engine.  It was the most beautiful sound to hear that engine fire up!  And we are back to being a two engine boat!

Starboard Steering Gear Box

This project is a little trickier as we require a machine shop to press the bearings out before Matt can finish this project.

Matt was able to get one of the small and one of the large bearings out using his new tool kit.  The Orion Motor Tech Blind Hole Collet Bearing and Seal Puller Extractor Kit.  This heavy tool kit was part of the reason my check in bag weighed 66lbs!

So we had two of the four bearings/seals out.  The other two required a machine shop.  

What we learned:

  1. The small bearing is completely missing its seal.  See old vs new bearings in the photo below.
  2. The large bearing and seal are workable but since we are taking it all apart we will replace them too.  

In the photo below, Matt uses the extractor tool to remove the bearing (green arrow). 

The red arrow shows the spot where the bearing came from out of the gear box.

We also noticed that there are a few teeth in the gear that are “worn.”  This wearing is at the center position (when the helm is centered) which is the most used position.

Finding a Machine Shop

We need to find a machine shop that has a large press to remove the gear. This would give us access to the two bottom bearings.

Stay tuned for a follow up blog post on our trip to Labasa to find a machine shop.

Wash Down Pump

The wash down pump is located at the front of the boat by the mast.  We use it to clean off the ground tackle and the boat.  We can use both fresh water and salt water through the same pump and 50′ of hose which makes it super convenient.

This poor pump is constantly exposed to salt water as it lives inside the anchor locker. 

It stopped working as we were lifting the anchor up to leave the Marshall Islands.  Which was a real bummer as the anchor chain was really dirty and needed a good scrub.

Matt thought he could repair the pump. 

However, when he took it apart he realized it was too rusted to repair. We ordered a new one which I brought back with me from the states.

Matt got it installed with little effort and ow it is working perfectly.

Leaks at the Bow

It is never good to have a leak on a boat and we had 2!  At least both leaks were contained to the bow peaks.  

We use our two forward bow peaks for storage. 

The port bow peak houses (5) A4 and (8) F4 fenders, a passerelle, SUP, and (8) PFD’s. 

Starboard houses (3) spinnakers, (2) large bean bags, (4) empty large water bottles, and some fun floats and noodles.

Both lockers were getting wet and it was a challenge to find their source. 

Matt discovered that the starboard leak was coming from the outside cleat. 

First, he had to remove everything from the locker and to clean it out. 

Then he took apart the cleat fittings, cleaned it, and sealed it up.  No more leaks! 

It does look like we need to repaint the interior of this locker at some point.

The port leak came from the outside rub strake. Matt removed the strake.  The water dripped in through some of the old holes were never filled in.

Matt fixed the leak by filled the holes and applying lots of 5200 (extra strength adhesive).

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual events.  Matt worked on these projects over the month of May 2025. 

How did we get all of these new parts to Fiji?  Check out my life as a Pack Mule.

Failures Bring on Frustrating Times

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Sugar Shack has had a string of failures over the last few weeks. I cannot remember a time when I’ve been so frustrated.  

Our boat has been and continues to be an amazing vessel. 

She has safely transported us over 50,000nm across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.  She is our home, our yacht, our love and I would not trade her for anything else.  We love our Catana!

However, with anything over 24 years old you have failures.  

All of this happened over the course of 2 weeks in route to Fiji from the Marshall Islands.

Double Steering Failure

As you might recall, we had a “A Double Steering Failure” when we lost our starboard steering gear box and our port rudder arm.  This rendered our starboard helm un-steerable and our port helm without a rudder. 

Makes steering a challenge, but still doable with auto pilot using the port steering gear box and the starboard rudder.

Problem: ​Starboard Steering Gear Box failed. 

Solution: We ordered new bearings and seals from Germany for both port and starboard.  They’re being sent to Fiji where we will do repairs.

Problem: Port Rudder Arm failed. 

Solution: The good news is it broke at the attachment point.  We found the one man who has the tools to weld stainless and he fixed our rudder arm! We need to weld the two pieces together at the exact correct length to reinstall the rudder arm.

Matt and I searched for a stainless welder all over Funafuti over 3 days.  We finally found the one man who has the tools and expertise.  He tack welded the two pieces together, then did some grinding, then finished the welding.  We are back in business with two rudders!

A Massive Disappointment

Port Engine Failure

Problem: Our port engine water pump had a slow leak.  We had been watching it and were prepared to replace it once we got to Fiji. However, the leak got progressively worse.  So, Matt decided to replace it in Tuvalu.

The water pump is located in front of the engine making it a challenge to access. Matt has to lean over the engine, upside down to access the pump. Many pieces and parts have to be removed including the timing belt.

Problem #2: As Matt was removing the timing belt it ripped!  Oh for the love of God!  The engine can’t run at all without a timing belt!  This is bad, very bad!

Solution: The water pump was installed, but there is nothing we can do about the timing belt.  We ordered (2) new timing belts (one for both engines) from the UK to be delivered to Fiji where we will do repairs.

More Annoying Issues

Problem:  As Matt was removing pieces from the engine to get to the water pump one of his most used sockets fell into the water.  We are in 14m depth (40′).  

We got the dive gear out and both pressure gauges had water ingress and were not readable. 

Solution:  Matt used the dive gear anyway and within 4 minutes found the socket!  Yeah.

Problem: The furler is starting to fail and is leaking.  It is still working, but we have to be gentle when using the genoa.

Solution: We ordered new bearings and seals to be sent to Fiji where we will do repairs.

Problem: The washdown pump failed.  We use this pump to hose off the boat and clean the ground tackle (with both fresh and salt water).

Solution:  Matt thought we could just take it a part, clean it and get it working.  But this 13 year old pump was done.  We will have to buy a new one.

Summary

 
We have one engine and one rudder forcing us to run between helm stations. And somehow make it to Fiji to do the repairs.
 
Good news:  
  • We can steer from the Port helm and run back to starboard to use the throttles
  • We found a stainless welder in Tuvalu (the 2nd smallest country in the world). We now have use of both rudders
  • The port engine NEW water pump is installed
  • The engine was off when the timing belt failed.
    • Would have been catastrophic if it failed with the engine on.
  • We found the socket in 14m of silty water.  New octopi will be purchased in the future
  • Matt thinks he can take the washdown pump apart, clean it, service it and get it working without a replacement.  
  • The furler still works but we have to be gentle using it.  

Trying our best to see the silver lining. We are truly blessed and know that “life happens.”  It’s just hard when it happens all at one time.

We find some joy and charm in Tuvalu – check out our last blog post.

Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind actual events.  The failures occurred between mid to end of March 2025.

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.