Congratulations to Roger Millin for predicting exactly that in his comments yesterday.
Here's the rest of the tale in pictures:
 |
| Manoeuvring into position |
 |
| Inserting the bow onto the trailer |
 |
| Raising the boat on the trailer |
 |
| Out of the water |
 |
| Can you see the problem? |
Unless you are Mr Millin, you probably can't spot the bend, but looking at the bottom edge of the rudder shows the degree of the problem; it's supposed to be horizontal. Application of a bottle jack and wooden blocks between the bend and the end of the swim forced the stock straight again.
The guys next applied first WD40 and then Copaslip to both the upper and lower bearings. The lower one has always been a bit tight, to be honest. Simon the engineer did indulge in a bit of the tradesman's favourite game: "What cowboy bodged this up for you?" etc. etc. He reckoned that if the bottom bearing had been looser, the rudder would have lifted out of the cup, instead of bending.
No matter, once it was all done, Sanity Again was put back in her proper element:
 |
| On her way back down |
 |
| Simon in Roman Emperor mode |
This morning, we settled up with Colin, and were agreeably surprised by the bill. We have a £200 excess on our insurance, and we won't be claiming; the bill was well inside that for a haul out, one hour's work with the boat on the trailer and re-launch.
We've boated on to Nantwich, so are back on schedule. The steering is if anything freer than it was, though I don't recommend this approach to easing a stiff tiller…
Getting here just after twelve meant that we found a mooring with no bother. We've done a bit of shopping, especially at Clewlow's the butchers and pie shop.
Hunter's Pie and salad tonight, and Scotch Eggs tomorrow.
Yum.
/nobigdeal
3 comments:
Good to see it wasn't too bad. Hope that's your one for the summer.
Bob
That's a very impressive tractor/trailer set up they've got there Bruce and much tidier looking than some other boatyard offerings. It suggests a good professional approach to the whole of their workmanship.
I reckon that you managed to sit SA on the cill with the rudder exactly straight (fore and aft) and hence push the stock forward in a straight line bend. That's really hard luck, but I've no doubt Sheila has told you to keep a better look out in future. You just can't get the steerers these days! ;-))
Roger
Yeah, neat isn't it? The hydraulics mean that the boat stays level all the way up the slip, too.
Sheila's not said a word of reproof, to be fair to her.
The heavy wooden fender or babby on the SU locks has a notch in the centre to take the stem of an uphill boat, and the rudder settled itself in there, thus the exact fore and aft orientation.
Heigh ho, it's made me very twitchy about easing her down these Chester Canal Locks, some of which are really very tight for a 70 footer.
Take care
Bruce
Post a Comment