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EXCUSE THE STEERING, MY RUDDER'S A CABIN DOOR...!
At some time or other, and for many of us often, something vital gives up working when you and your boat are far from anyone or anywhere to get help
from.
This is where the Jury Rigger's Art comes into it's own.
Share your favourite makeshift solution with us.
Tell us what went wrong and how you solved the
problem. What didn't work and what did?
Some of us never get around to replacing the Jury Rig with the 'proper' repair.
Are you still sailing the seas with a long-standing 'bodge-job' in place?
Perhaps we'll have a contest to see whose Jury Rig has lasted the longest...
You can tell us about any kind of Jury Rig and we'll classify them into
groups, but to get ourselves started in some sort of direction, how about telling us what you did
if the rudder ever disappeared into the sea behind you (literally or
figuratively)? Remember to tell us the type of boat and rudder configuration, what didn't do the trick and what did.
If you'd rather remain anonymous, let us know and we'll respect
that, although as someone's grand-dad used to say " the art of mastery is bodgery " or something like
that,
and if you're alive to tell the tale you didn't do that badly!
The Skipper has a tale to tell:
"Before sailing for Antigua, West Indies, from Palma de Mallorca
in the Balearic Islands off the coast of Spain, in 1993, I employed an
'engineer' to service both the Ford 90 h.p. diesel engines aboard.
As a result
of the attentions of this 'engineer', who turned the port seacock off and then
omitted to turn it back on again after fitting some new hoses, the motor
overheated and I was lucky to get away with a head-gasket failure. No problem.
There was still the starboard motor to get us into, and out of , Gibraltar.
'Murphy' then decided to visit us with an impeller
problem! Worse still, the
spare impellers, supplied by the 'engineer', were designed to fit any motor but
mine. Solution? Remove inlet pipe from raw water pump and attach a bilge pump
to the inlet side. Then attach the outlet of the bilge pump to the engines'
circulatory pipe. This, I would stress, is a temporary measure and will get you
into (or out of) a tight spot.
Incidentally, having learned that the term
'engineer' in the boat world is
applied to anybody who can successfully change a plug on an outboard motor, I
now do all my own maintenance, overhauls and jury rigging."
Hmmm....who else would do his jury rigging for
him?! It conjures up visions of a signboard proclaiming 'Jury Rigging Expert' or
perhaps 'Professional Jury Riggers since 1975'...The Skipper has, in fact,
performed a great number of excellent temporary repairs over the years and found
some brilliant ways of solving problems. Unfortunately, not all of his ideas
have culminated in quite the results he had in mind...you may enjoy his
confession on Piped Aboard, elsewhere in
this section.
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