Emergency rudder/tiller account

zoidberg said:
Here's an interesting account of a 100nm recovery using a 'lash-up' emergency rudder/tiller assembly, after the effective failure of a Galeride drogue. The subsequent comments also have interesting points.....

http://bermudarace.com/jury-rigged-rudder-steers-bailiwick-for-last-100-miles-to-bermuda/
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Interesting.

Its is a legal requirement where we are to have an emergency tiller arrangement on all wheel steering boats but that would not help in this case.

In my practical exam for my skippers ticket the examiner asked how would you rig an emergency tiller? some came up with buckets as a droge but the answer he wanted we a spinnaker pole and floorboard as shown in you attached link.
 
Was running a Jenneau 45 once on a charter in the West Indies, going south past Guadaloupe. My wife was hostess. She noticed there was a steering problem and called me on deck. I was presented with one of the two wheels. Fortunately the autopilot was direct drive onto the rudder stock so we continued on to the marina in the capital. The last ten miles were straight into the now considerable wind and sea. The autopilot coped but the mainsail, although reefed, split in two. The starboard bow light decided to abandon ship.

Anyway, as we got close to the marina, we needed to call on VHF to get an easy berth, using the emergency tiller. No prob, I can do that. However, one of our customers said she was fluent in French and would talk to the marina. By this time it's near midnight. Five seconds later, four high speed ribs, one with flashing orange light raced to our position. ' What is the emergency, captain??? '. Errr.....
 
If an emergency tiller is a legal necessity than I understand why such a daft implementation is used on most boats that have a centre cockpit. In my experience (Halberg Rassy and Moody, the emergency tiller is used while sitting comfortably in the aft cabin. With absolutely no view forward whatsoever.
I noticed on that young girls circumnavigated boat (Guppy) the emergency tiller was extended up through the aft deck and was also used for the Wind Pilot steering lines.

I have also done that on both boats for the same reason. Also read that a tang added to the trailing edge of a rudder can carry two steering ropes to the aft cleats to cover most rudder damage.
 
BurnitBlue said:
If an emergency tiller is a legal necessity than I understand why such a daft implementation is used on most boats that have a centre cockpit. In my experience (Halberg Rassy and Moody, the emergency tiller is used while sitting comfortably in the aft cabin. With absolutely no view forward whatsoever.


.
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That why I've got a Hydrovane. On our first Windies cruise, the belt driven autopilot went wonky whist going west past Tarifa. Despite lots of endeavour, we didn't ever get it to work again.

Our second trip with Hydrovane was a delight.

On the plus side though, my wife and I are very, very good at boat steery.
 
The Rival 41C (centre cockpit) has an emergency tiller shaft that goes through the deck head. The yachts were built like that with a deck fitting flush with the aft cabin coach roof.

Having experimented with jury rudders / tillers with spinnikar poles in the past, they have always failed for the reasons stated in the article: twisting boards. I like their simple solutions of drilling through the pole and using screw drivers to lock it up.
 
BlowingOldBoots said:
I like their simple solutions of drilling through the pole and using screw drivers to lock it up.
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I like that idea. Perhaps a step on, if one is 'preparing' for such an occurrence, is to have a couple of suitable-length 8mm eye bolts-with eye-nuts and a couple of 8mm sharp twist drill bits, and some large s/s washers.
 
zoidberg said:
I like that idea. Perhaps a step on, if one is 'preparing' for such an occurrence, is to have a couple of suitable-length 8mm eye bolts-with eye-nuts and a couple of 8mm sharp twist drill bits, and some large s/s washers.
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It depends on your spinnaker pole I'd make them 'long' drill bits - so that you can drill right through in one but if you need to especially carry drilling bits, (doesn't everyone carry a set?) you had better remember the battery drill (and keep it charged).


We were on a China Sea Race, HK to San Fernando, and the tiller extension snapped at the fitting on the tiller. Steering at the time was an accomplished yachtsman, his brother ran the North loft in Helsinki. He looked at me in blank amazement when I admitted we had been carrying a little Stanley hand drill- for such an eventuality. All it needed was a few mm chopped of the end (and I also carried the hacksaw) and a new hole drill for a clevis pin.


Jonathan
 
Neeves said:
.....if you need to especially carry drilling bits, (doesn't everyone carry a set?) you had better remember the battery drill (and keep it charged).

I admitted we had been carrying a little Stanley hand drill- for such an eventuality. All it needed was a few mm chopped of the end (and I also carried the hacksaw) and a new hole drill for a clevis pin.
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One mustn't forget the half-dozen quality fine-toothed hacksaw blades, oiled and kept in a sealed wrapper, for the one occasion in a lifetime when one needs - really needs - to saw through some bits of standing rigging, or the jagged edges of two halves of a bust boom..... (doesn't everyone carry a set?) ;)
 
The first time I lost steering was on an AC contender in the Solent in 1974ish.

We had been carrying a big spinnaker with difficulty (but hey ! we are racers :) ), and then a sequence of Chinese gybes took place. The mainsheet wrapped itself round the wheel, and pulled the wheel and all its support gear out of the deck. Mr Bejen took the pic a few moments before the drama.

The gorillas tamed the 'chute and dropped it, and I dug out the emergency tiller and passed it back to the skipper, who undid the plate in the cockpit floor and fitted the tiller to the rudder head.

Luckily the cables had jumped off the sheaves, so the rudder was free to move.

We tried to continue racing, but the leverage on the tiller was a two, sometimes three person job, so we retired and headed back to Cowes.

This was a racing boat with clued -up crew. Had we been a cruising twosome, it would have taken an awfully long time to sort everything out.

(I'm the navigator in the hatch .....) )

FWZo6BB.jpg
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zoidberg said:
One mustn't forget the half-dozen quality fine-toothed hacksaw blades, oiled and kept in a sealed wrapper, for the one occasion in a lifetime when one needs - really needs - to saw through some bits of standing rigging, or the jagged edges of two halves of a bust boom..... (doesn't everyone carry a set?) ;)
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Its interesting what we (everyone?) carry in case of emergency.

I've been carrying bolt croppers for decades and never needed them in an emergency (but have needed them at home). I have gear pullers and never needed them in an emergency (but have needed them at home). Not to mention the storm jib, life raft, EPIRB, flares, lifejackets, bilge pumps, emergency steering none of which we have used in anger. But we have used the trailing log, emergency nav lights, aforementioned drill and hacksaw (blade not wrapped in oiled cloth).
 
I chartered a brand new boat out of La Rochelle. Wind was high - at least F7. The wheel steering went but we were able to get the emergency tiller in place fairly quickly - luckily because we were off a lee shore.

Back at the marina the broken chain was fixed and we backed out. The problem was that the chain was attached in such a way that the boat steered the opposite way to the way one turned the wheel. Very confusing especially when reversing out of the marina.
 
Neeves said:
Its interesting what we (everyone?) carry in case of emergency.

I've been carrying bolt croppers for decades and never needed them in an emergency (but have needed them at home). I have gear pullers and never needed them in an emergency (but have needed them at home). Not to mention the storm jib, life raft, EPIRB, flares, lifejackets, bilge pumps, emergency steering none of which we have used in anger. But we have used the trailing log, emergency nav lights, aforementioned drill and hacksaw (blade not wrapped in oiled cloth).
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Things must have really gone pear shaped if you get to needing a life raft at home. Though the Somerset levels do come to mind. Brings a cartoon to mind of two people sitting on the roof of the house surrounded by water saying... "Typical I left everything we need for this on the boat".
 
For the record we had a cable pulley wheel casting break on a Sweden 38 (1990 vintage)

The emergency tiller which was a stainless hoop with two plates welded to match up with flat sides on rudder stock.

The tiller lasted maybe half an hour of upwind sailing in 25 knots and ocean swell. Fortunately we had an auto helm 6000 operating directly on the rudder quadrant, so ran the engine and motored upwind for two days to get back to the Canaries. Luckily we hadn't got too far West. Parking with autohelm was fun. From that experience it seems the emergency tiller simply wasn't up to the job, which was a surprise on a boat that was generally well made.
 
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