Rudder problems #2

Ok, so after work I went straight to the boat and motored her up in front of the club house. The idea being to let her dry out on the falling tide so that I could remove the broken fittings and see what would need to done to get her usable again.

Even though we are coming off springs now there was still a lot of water. I'd expected to have hit the bottom about half way along the pier but I could have got nearly to the seawall.  In the end I dropped the anchor where I thought I should be then drove home for some dinner while the tide did its bit.

Back to the club with a full belly, I took advantage of the Hurleys tendency for the bow to drop and deliberately pulled the nose down to get the skeg clear of the water.  This gave me about another 20 mins of working time.

I took the broken parts to Brian's house as he has the skills and equipment that I lack for working with stainless.  After a bit of a conflab we came up with a plan however it wouldn't be until at least Sunday as Brian was preparing for a trip to the solent.  

Back on the beach and I took the opportunity to touch up the antifoul and contemplate my navel while waiting for the tide to come back.

Sat on the boat, I amused myself in my sloping world by have a pint and rocking out to the itunes disco... not easy with only 4' of headroom :)

Eventually, about a quarter past midnight there was enough water to motor back to the mooring. I seem to be getting the hang of the seagull outboard, I'm finding it easier to start and timing when to cut the engine before the inevitable crash is becoming more intuitive.  I find cutting the engine early then using a paddle to dierect the tender the last few feet works well.

Nearly afloat.. clubhouse webcam captures me on the iphone :)