Oyster 39 (?) rescued 520 miles off Bermuda - steering failure

[Kukri]

I have a Whitlock Mamba. I really do not fancy disconnecting it at sea. Would involve much crawling in confined space holding tools whilst it tries to brain you.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

I have a Whitlock Mamba. I really do not fancy disconnecting it at sea. Would involve much crawling in confined space holding tools whilst it tries to brain you.

My last boat had the same it wouldn't have been impossible, a little difficult as it would have required emptying a cockpit locker lying inside it removing an inspection cover and then undoing one large nut and dropping the rose jointed tie rod from the auto pilot motor at the base of the pedestal. I have little doubt that it would be manageable if needs required. The boat also had a Hydrovane and a monstrous arrangement of an emergency tiller that weighed about 30Kg and dropped onto the top of the rudder shaft after removing a cover plate which would have left a 6" hole on the cockpit sole. It also required removing the wheel to operate as it fouled the tiller.

 

[DownWest]

I have a memory of feeding myself down a quarter berth, unscrewing a small hatch and feeling around to see if the slight slack in the linkage was important. Then beeing hauled out by my ankles. This was in port, I don't fancy doing it under way. In this case, the stock was roughly under the pedistal, so had an idler crank, with two links. Auto helm was on the wheel, later an Airies, so the linkage mattered

I like Frank's set up.

 

[geem]

My set up is Whitlock shaft drive. Disconnecting the drag link is easy. The gearbox is under the aft bunk. Lift the mattress, full size access panel and lots of access. I have just had the gearbox out and stripped it to check it for wear. There is 10 thou wear in the plate and bearings are perfect. Just need to refit. I am fortunate that the whole steering system is easily accessible. The pedestal is located over the engine room and we have excellent walk-in access. The autopilot is a rotary drive sat on a bench behind work bench. All very visible and easy to work on. I can swap drives at sea in about 15 mins. The only difficult and dodgy bit is getting the chain drive off whilst you are sailing without losing a finger?

 

[Bi111ion]

Racing yes cruising not to my knowledge. This is an Oyster so i would assume it would have one, though this with an aft cabin i would have thought be inside / below decks ,steering only.
a Spi pole & sole board lashed to the pole would give some steerage & as stated a warp / drogue would do similar. A big decisions to leave a floating boat that is your home too

Looking back at this, in case anyone is thinking about O39s. Yes we all have emergency tiller. Don Pye knew what he was doing when he designed them! And in this case it didn't help. We O39 owners have thought a lot about this as the only sister we have lost. Having talked at length to the crew, and Whitlock steering experts there is nothing any of us would have done different once at sea. I hope they write up their story as it is an incredible tale of resilience and seafaring.