Ariel #24

[Tim Mertinooke]

Well, we completed our first trip with Archimedes (wooden name banner being worked on as we speak, sorry to those that liked whigmawhateveritwas...) Like any shake down cruise, there were highs and lows. The high is that she sails great, is roomy enough to live on for a few days for the three of us, took on no water, and overall is in nice sailing shape with the exception of one thing, the rudder. The wind was blowing a steady 15 gusting to 20. Not quite the ideal conditions to test a boat that hasn't been in the water for a decade, but non the less it was a fine day to see how balanced a boat can be. We started out by flying the jib as the wind was from the aft on the way out the river. After exiting the river we raised the main and were on a great beam reach and exceeded six knots over land the entire trip down. We were at hull spped and pushed the boat pretty hard. Just before we got to essex I noticed the tiller had a little more play than when we left Newburyport. We motored into the bay and set the anchor. The wind was coming from one direction and the current was coming from another so the anchoring was not ideal. I set the tiller so we were riding well for a while. With everything set, I started to check the tiller to see what was up and was getting ready to dive and check the rudder to see why it had the extra play. The wind began to pick up and the balance that I had found was disrupted and the boat started to swing around the anchor rode as it was overpowering the current. I couldn't stop it from happening once it started and once it was wrapped I heard a crack and the tiller went loose. The anchor rode that wrapped around the boat created enough force to break the top 25% of the rudder clear apart from the rest of the rudder. The shaft setup on the Ariels is not continuous from the top to bottom instead it is in two pieces to allow for the propeller aperture. The forces of a hard sail mixed with the force of the wrapped rode was all it could take until it broke. A piece of the broken rudder floated up and I hopped in the tender to chase it down. In the center of the piece was some suspect wood that looked a little rotten. I'm drying it out now to get a better assessment. The rudder was laminated as I showed in previous posts and it was damp when I removed it. It looked like it was in great shape, but apparently it wasn't. The good news is that it happened on the shakedown cruise within ten miles of my mooring and that we had a great two hour sail before it happened. We motored back using the outboard in the well and were able to steer using the motor just fine. This was one of the pros I thought of when buying a boat that uses an outboard in a well intsead of the inboard. Everything else on the boat worked great including the instruments, lights, running rigging, etc. so that's good news as well. Right now the boat is sitting on her mooring safe. We can motor just fine so bringing it in to the dock is no problem. Our plan is to bring it along side the bulkhead of the yacht club and dry dock her for a tide or two to get a better assessment and move from there. If I can rig something temporary up so that we can go for a few more sails we will. If it can't be repaired and sailed this season, then we will enjoy the fine harbor we moor in and putter around with our new 6HP Nissan. You can probably guess what my winter project will be.

The sunset on the first night aboard before motoring out to our mooring.



The next morning on our way out the river via the jib.


Right after raising the main.


What it's all about in my eyes.




This is looking south toward Halibut point which is the tip of Cape Ann Mass.


This is looking at the entrace to Essex Bay. At this point I could really feel the extra play in the tiller.


A blury picture, but we were flying down there on a beam reach. The top left shows our speed over land at that moment.


The show goes on. Stay tuned as the story unfolds. Of course I hope to sail again this summer, but even if I'm left to be a "powerboater" for the remainder of the season, we plan to spend quite a few more nights aboard as we work out where we want to keep everything and come up with a list of modifications we will make to make it our little cruiser.

[commanderpete]

What a bummer, especially after all your hard work.

Another reason why everyone should have at least two boats

[mbd]

What a bummer, especially after all your hard work...

Ditto that Tim! But, at least you didn't suffer a catastrophic failure or anything. Especially surprising since you ground it all down and had a close look at it!

BTW, beautiful sunset picture!

[Tim Mertinooke]

Ditto that Tim! But, at least you didn't suffer a catastrophic failure or anything.

Very true and that is why I'm bummed but not not distraught. The boat sailed beautifully and everything worked as planned except for the rudder.

Especially surprising since you ground it all down and had a close look at it!

Tell me about it. It was damp when I removed the laminate and if it were damp for ten years or more under the laminate creating an anaerobic environment in which dry rot occurs then it is logical that the mahogany would have lost some strength. It did look fine and solid, but it would have only taken a relatively small area to be compromised in just the right spot to create the situation that was created. I hope to fashion some sort of temporary repair so that I can do some more sailing. I knew putting the boat in this year after its long slumber would be a crapshoot and knew the potential of fighting such demons. I envisioned an annoying leak, or some rigging issues where something would need to be replaced, maybe even some electric poltergeists, but the rudder I didn't tink would be a problem especially after what it looked like. Oh well, 45 years of life with 35 years of service it did its job and I suppose doesn't owe anyone anything. The good news is that the epoxy-work I did on the rudder shoe and strap area has created a waterproof situation and after removing the shoe this fall it should be a staright forward repair.

Remember the good old days...

[mbd]

Good luck with your rudder repairs Tim. I'll be out of touch for a week and, sadly, away from the boat (gasp!) and am looking forward to lots of pictures and a clever "fix"...

[ebb]

Can we see a forensic of the actual break?
And, please, how did it happen, again?

[Tim Mertinooke]

Post 157 explains it in greater detail, but in a nutshell I sailed her hard in 15-20 knot winds for two hours and I noticed a greater amount of play in the tiller the closer we got to our destination. When we went around the corner into Essex Bay to anchor the tide and wind were opposing each other but not in a consistent manner making it challenging to achor. We anchored and I set the tiller so that the boat would ride on the anchor without wrapping which is a common occurance where we were. The yacht club I am member of calls it the "Essex Wrap". With a lengthened wind gust we wrapped around our anchor rode which put an enormous amount of strain on the rudder and that's when we heard it crack. The tiller wne tloose and I immediately knew what had happened although I didn't know to what extent the damage was until later that day when we were back at our mooring. I was relieved to see that the top part of the rudder broke and that it appeared to be about 75% there which will give me a nice place to fabricate a repair from. I didn't dive down to get a better look I was just pearing down from the tender with a mask.

As far as the repair goes, I am trying to make a cheap adequite repair that will get me through the next two months of fair-weather sailing. Our cruising plans are to stay close to home and maybe do a couple 3-5 hour jaunts down or up the coast, but not venture too far from home and to certainly not push the boat as I have no real specs to go by for the integrity of this repair. On paper it looks Macgyverish enough to work, but for how long?

I will post lots of pictures for everyone to see. Close-ups of the damage, repair, etc. so that we have on this site an archived detail of a rudder failure. The repair will consist of a galvenized steel water pipe with a threaded elbow at the end on which another short piece of galvenized water pipe will be will be threaded into place. That short piece will act as the lateral piece that transfers the movement of the shaft (new vertical pipe) to movement of the blade. The threads will be glued together with epoxy and I might put a small amount of cloth around the elbow because I'm not sure how much strength this will actually have because this fitting was not designed for such an application. I also do not want the fitting to become unthreaded by the twisting motion of the tiller and resistance on the blade. The remaining piece of origianal rudder that is still there will be cut so that the lateral pipe rests on it evenly. I have copper strapping that I will then put over the top of the pipe and will screw it down to the original piece still there. This will hold it in place and provide some strength which will be needed to be able to move the rudder. I will then take two thin pieces of plywood that I cut out to match the original piece that is now missing and sandwhich over the lateral pipe being sure to leave a healthy lip over the remaing original rudder. I have four stainless bolts with large fender washers that are going to clamp this together. I am also going to screw in a bunch of galvenized screws into the two pieces of plywood from both sides because the resin holding the plywood together will surely be inadequite and the wood is going to want to seperate in a short while. The screws will mechanically hold the ply pieces together even if the resin dissolves. This should create a reapir that will be adequite to do some light sailing. I spent $38 at home depot the other night and I think I have everything I need to perform the repair. If it does work I saved my sailing season for less than 40 bucks. If it doesn't work, oh well, at least I had a cool problem to wrap my brain around and someone will know what not to do if this happens to them.

Feel free to light this idea on fire or blow it out of the water as I plan to do the repair Tuesday and have time to change course. This winter when I fabricate a new rudder from scratch it will be very strong and well made.