Chapter 17: Finish

Warren explained to me, after they chained the rudders so they couldn’t move, he examined the broken ram, hoping a quick simple repair might be possible. No such luck! The examination discovered the seal was blown and there is no replacement seals for the old ram. They were ordered but never arrived.

The only possible repair is replacing the ruptured ram with the new ram. It is a slightly thicker ram and piston shaft. A pivoting linkage on the jockey bar, the connecting bar that synchronizes the movement of both rudders, includes in the pivot a threaded collar socket to fit over the end of the shaft. Warren spent days in advance and anticipation grinding down the end of the shaft on the new ram so it can fit snugly in the socket designed for the skinnier old ram.

Because he had no threading dies sufficiently large, threading the new shaft is out of the question. He ground the end enough to slip inside the threads. To fix it in place, he spent days drilling two holes through the end of the shaft to allow cross pinning it with hardened three eighths inch diameter bolts. What he can’t machine in advance, is drill matching holes through the terminal socket. It is in constant motion used by the rudder system and can not be removed.

After diagnosing a blown seal and binding the rudders to not move, the damaged ram was removed and also the socket pivot. Meanwhile, Speedy is being steered with only the small inadequate barely functional rudders on the push boat in the stern notch. Better than no steering. Repairing the primary rudder system is urgent.

Warren had an idea. While Fred, Tiger and Warren wrestle with installing the new ram, and drilling holes through the end fitting, he asks Enrique and Linda to disassemble the old ram bottle to get to the broken seal. On a hunch he tests a five inch rubber hose gasket from a camlock fitting for five inch fuel hoses. It appears it will seal. One part is missing, a stiffener ring to brace the rubber seal so it won’t roll over. Warren asks Enrique to attempt to make a stiffener ring. Enrique carves one from thin plexiglas using his pocket knife. The old broken ring from the blown out seal was his model.

Warren has two solutions to the steering problem being worked on at the same time. Not a competition, just a practical cover all options strategy. A glitch could occur while installing the new ram increasing delay of repair, that time wise made reinstalling the old ram again, the preferable option. Assuming the old ram is successfully repaired. The situation resolved with the new ram installed and functioning.

This was the report Warren gave me during the gale. Biting out his words inbetween grunts as his body is thrown against the restraining straps during the slams, pitch ups, twists, wallows, and free-fall dives of the boat bucking in the heavy seas. Very uncomfortable ride! Eventually, the storm passed.

We survived and self rescued from a major mechanical failure, the broken steering ram, and accomplished it in very rough weather. After the storm new problems present themselves. The lift boat Appeal to Heaven has a pronounced list. Either she is leaking, or water got in possibly through a broken window or sprung door, or internal tanks or piping is allowing liquids to shift around. All of these scenarios are alarming The seas remain too rough to launch the RIB though seas are greatly reduced in size. All we can do is watch through binoculars and hope we can soon get men aboard to pump her out and correct her problems before she capsizes or sinks.

We have heavy vibration from our shafts. The cutlass bearings, already badly warn when we first acquired the boat, took a real beating during the gale. They should have been replaced in dry dock but I was over-ruled. Severe vibrations can break reduction gears, crankshafts, cause stress cracks in the hull plating, even cause us to break in half and sink! The vibration worries me. I predicted it would become a problem. There is little comfort in I told you so.

A relatively minor problem, an annoyance really, is many of the Sloan valves on our dozens of toilets are leaking, creating puddles. Tiger quickly fixes those in a few hours. New seals. We didn’t have new OEM seals, but we have a box of heavy rubber gloves. Tiger discovered he could cut fingers off the gloves and make Sloan valve seals from them. I’m blessed with crew and officers that can improvise. Thinks outside the box.

At the earliest weather permitting opportunity, we sent Tiger and Fred aboard the Appeal to Heaven. It was an anxious hour before I received a radio report. There are several hull cracks around the leg wells. The pumps can stay ahead of the leaks, but it will require constant pumping and attention. Tiger and Fred are returning to Speedy, and Tiger requests Angie gather together some clothes for him and her and swap with Fred. Angie and Tiger will ride the tow the rest of our voyage and prevent the liftboat from flooding. Fred will return aboard and resume watches with me on Speedy.