17th July 2024
Fare, Huahine, French Polynesia – Haamena Bay, Tahaa, French Polynesia via Pointe Tenape, Baie Faaroa, Uturoa Town, Tapuamu & Pointe Tenape, Raiatea & Tahaa, French Polynesia
When people reach retirement age they are usually ready for it. After 35 years of hard graft their bodies have started to wear out and intellectually they might not feel as sharp as they once were. After 35 years of faithful service the bracket that holds all our autopilot gears together decided that it was time for it to retire.* In its retirement however it would leave a gaping hole and its position would need to be filled.
In Raiatea we’d found an aluminium boatbuilder who we thought would have all the skills, all the plant and all the precision to allow us to replace our old ready to retire bracket with a shiny new one. First however we had to get the old one out.
Digging out our biggest spanners Iain contorted himself into unholy positions and took to the bolts that hadn’t been touched in 35 years. Slowly the vice grip that each one had was broken and they gave up their fight in confounding Iain, but the bracket itself wasn’t being so willing.
Even with nothing but age and stubbornness holding the bracket onto the boat it wasn’t moving. We tried hard stares, pulling by hand and even deployed the trusty rubber mallet, all but to no avail. It was time to get serious, so out came the splitting wedges. Gingerly knocking these between the stringer and the bracket we started to see a tiny gap open up, then bracket wobble and it finally give up its aversion to movement.
The scale of our problem quickly became apparent as the bracket saw the light of day. One corner had completely broken off, the weld along it’s entire length had failed and we could see new cracks, the thickness of the bracket, opening up around every existing hole. It felt like we’d dodged a bullet by finding the problem here without the drama or pain of having to hand steer for 1000’s of miles across an ocean.
Meeting MarinALU we were greeted with smiles, confidence and a world of aluminium. The job was tiny for them, right in their skillset and their brief was simple; make an exact copy of the bracket, but make it thicker and stronger. There was a snag, they couldn’t start for a week and that would put us beyond our FP tourist visa. We now had paperwork to complete to keep us legal.
Leaving the bracket behind and exploring the island our first port of call was the Gendarmerie. Bristling with guns, tasers and pepper spray the officer quickly told us we were in the wrong place. He then escorted us into the office of the high commissioner where we were greeted by desks adorned with flowers, walls covered in art and personality everywhere. The high commissioner took our request in her stride and after pulling together all the documentation from all the parties involved she assured us we’d remain legal.
With MarinALU making the bracket and the high commissioner keeping us legal we were free to go have have fun around the island. We found bays that were so flat that we could see insects sitting on the water and mud so thick Ruffian wouldn’t move an inch. We discovered free docks where we could fill Ruffian with fresh produce and gave access to thriving metropolises (thriving for an island where the population is measured in 100’s and not millions) and bays where the water was so clear there was no need to snorkel. This fun however had to come to an end as MarinALU had completed the bracket under budget and ahead of schedule.
The new bracket was resplendent in its shinyness and the welds looked like works of art, but instantly there was something wrong. Matching up the mounting holes they were all out by 3mm, but not uniformly, so back to the workshop it went.
With the holes now filled, redrilled and nearly in the right place Iain squeezed himself around the steering gear and marked up exactly where the holes had to be, so it was then back to the workshop to turn the holes into obrounds. Finally the bracket was mounted into the boat, but the steering was now fouled and so it was once again back to the workshop to look for a solution.
Then we realised old bracket had an angle of 87 degrees and the new one had an angle of 93. Without starting again, which everyone was unwilling to do, we shimmed the bracket lifting it to the right place. But now the brass steering mount was in the wrong location! So it was back to the workshop again to have old mounting holes filled and new ones drilled.
With a reworked bracket in hand Iain was sure that we were on the home stretch and it slipped into place perfectly. The gears meshed, the clearances were adequate** and the rudder moved freely. With just the autopilot chains needing installing we were on the home stretch, and Iain could see the light at the end of the tunnel. With the bracket having moved 2mm and the steering mount now in a slightly different position the chain was too long, so it was back to the workshop, again……
Aluminium and not chains were within the remit of MarinALU, so Iain started his search for someone who had the skills and tools to change the chain, there was no-one in the boatyard so he hit the tarmac on his Brompton. Using his best lateral thinking skills, he asked himself; What has chains? Bicycles and motorbikes! Arriving at an exclusive high end eBike shop on his trusty Brompton he pulled out the chain and the mechanic took to the challenge.
Starting with their biggest chaintool they slowly downsized until the chain popped open and the chaintool then broke, but remained stuck the chain. After a succession of hammers, punches and quizzical looks the chaintool was fixed and the chain apart, shortened and reassembled.
For one final time Iain squeezed around the steering ready once again for disappointment. The chains slipped on, the autopilot rams were manoeuvred into position and it all simply fitted together. After many hours of work we wish the old bracket happiness in his retirement and hope the replacement will give years of faithful service.
* Ruffian has a unique setup, where we have two autopilot rams, permanently installed, they attached directly to a geared quadrant, this means that if one on the autopilots were to fail we can switch to the other with a simple flick of a switch. But the system of gears and chains in all held in place with an aluminium bracket. It was this bracket which failed.
** The clearance between the geared quadrant and the steering mount is <1mm and the backet has to be with 1.5 degress of square to the rudder stock.
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