Triteia Hauls Out at Keehi Marine Center on Oahu to Repair the Broken Rudder

[@MikeMcCollough]

Thank you for this video. A long story for another time. After watching this video I decided I could do the same thing with my detached from shaft rudder assembly on my ‘63 Pearson Triton. I removed the assembly from the boat, I had to remove the prop shaft to do this. The prop shaft and the rudder shaft conflicted with each other at the bend in the rudder shaft. I had six straps cut from a 1 1/2” x 1/4” SS bar. I cut each to be 8”. I took pair and drill 3 1/4” holes into each pair. For each pair I created a bed in the rudder to hold them in the upper part of the rudder. The beds had to be done so the straps would align to the rudder shaft. The strap’s beds were parallel to each other about an 1 1/2” apart and perpendicular to the shaft cavity. I dry fitted everything together using clamps. I took the straps clamped to the rudder shaft to a welder who welded the 3 shaft pairs to the shaft. I placed the welded assembly back in the beds in the rudder making sure the rudder shaft was bedded into its cavity. I clamped each of the 3 pair’s two far ends, the end furthest from the shaft, of the welded strap/shaft assembly in place on the rudder. I drill 9 1/4’ holes through the rudder such that the holes in the strap pair were aligned. I then bolted this assembly together and dry fitted it onto the boat. After satisfied with the fitting, I disassembled the shaft assembly from the rudder and epoxied up all of the bare wood created in the rudder. After drying I assembled the two part together and filleted/filled the gaps around the straps with thickened epoxy. Once dryed I placed the assembly back on the boat, add it epoxy primed and then barrier coated. I am sailing again, thank you.

[@pinktiger9705]

New to this channel. Finally an unpolished sailing channels. Was getting tired of the hyper-commercial floating baby nursery channels.

[@captainmike808]

No doubt!

[@svseaquest9328]

omg , I soooo agree! Great channel ,honest and no fluff...........

[@oceancowboy6981]

Amen I love this dude very humble and simple these are the only videos I enjoy to watch and subscribed 👍⛵️🤠

[@rabblerouser1117]

Totally agree.

[@AWBepi]

The thing I like most about this channel is The best is yet to come.

[@vinegar_joe]

Interesting vid re rudder repair. fwiw, when I removed the rudder on my Alberg 29, I needed the bottom of the keel to be two feet off the ground in order to drop the rudder completely out of the hull. Also, had to remove the prop (which was okay as I replaced the cutlass bearing while I was at it). lastly, have to tell you how impressed I am with the state of Triteia..everything (but the current state of the rudder) looks so solid, professional, top shelf, and logical - what a great boat you have created. v.joe

[@richardp1522]

James: Hello from Alberta Canada. The repair looks great so far no doubt once the welds are completed Triteia will be whole again. Very ingenious repair design. Once we see the damage that was done makes your completion of the crossing using a drogue all the more amazing. All that water basically in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and Triteia gets nailed by an unknown object unbelievable. Good luck with the welding confident it will go as planned. Will be great to see her back in the water and on the way to the South Pacific. Looking forward to next week.

[@SailorJames]

🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@johnrwhite4479]

I’m In Tampa florida great watching all your vids !

[@paulbyas6833]

Great job my man 💪

[@dale6349]

Beautiful lines

[@kimberlywood-saltybutterfl262]

Love the footage of the haul out and the repair!

[@mymobile5014]

Resourceful idea. Glad you're getting it all sorted.

[@sparksandwheels2024]

Sweet! Glad to see the repairs coming along nicely! All looks good so far and waiting to see what the finished repair looks like. What a beautiful short trip over to pull the boat out and thank you for taking us along for the ride brother! Happy sailing!

[@MOSSFEEN]

MIGHTY WORK James

[@protonneutron9046]

You have very good mechanic skills. Thanks for sharing it is very interesting.

[@naturebuoys]

Great episode! Grabbed a tea and curled up inside my sailboat for the night.

[@deborahmontgomeryastrology6682]

Aloha love seeing our other islands, Covid has us on the Big Island, always wanted to sail around the world

[@BillChild2njoy]

I Great episode and Glad your happy with the work on the rudder getting done..I have this crazy idea to book a passage from Camaries to the Caribbean as my last great sailing experience. I have cancer under control but inoperable so I bet in a few years I'll never be able to do this.. besides I'm almost 70 but feel I enjoy it just fine without doing lots of sail or anchor raising

[@TinCupChalice40]

I was parts manager for Catalina yachts for five years I don’t know how it is now but when Mr. Butler was alive you could’ve called the company we would’ve had a Rudder made for you in three days and shipped out to you. But without Frank Butler at the helm anymore I don’t know if customer service is the same I miss him he was like a second father to me

[@chmodman]

I had an issue with my Catalina C250 and I brought it to Catalina's factory. Frank Butler personally came out to look at it and authorized a free repair on the spot. I was so impressed! He was a legend in the Sailing community.

[@TinCupChalice40]

@@chmodman Kurt, that was not unusual he did stuff like that all the time. I kid you not, if you bought a boat and it was missing a single stainless steel screw he would have all dept mangers including myself (like, what did I have to do with it..lol) into his office and would chew us all out and demand the screw was sent to you immediately. Meanwhile I would look at all these dept managers and think…”how much money in wages are being spent here right now”..lol. He didn’t care about the money he cared about the customer there was no other man like him. he was an honor to work for and a great role model to live your life by

[@billhanna8838]

Similar thing happened to me on a 36 fter , I put a couple of swim steps on the aft end of the rudder as well to help getting in & out of the water , come in handy over time , nice job

[@randymcmeekin1955]

Great work James. Love this channel!

[@papilloncycles3463]

Really great to see your repair in progress, as a mechanic by trade, and marine repair something I am unfamiliar with, it is cool for me. Thanks!

[@2112acj]

This is great. Thanks

[@manfredschmalbach9023]

Good to see You going strong, James.

[@johnrwhite4479]

I use to live right behind Lahi- lahi- point the house directly across the street two story house on corner directly across the cabanas ! Kerrington highway is behind us !

[@donnakawana]

Hey there, happy to see ya pulled outta the water an getting the rudder fixed.... Happy to see your Moxie.. Inspired by you hon!! Thanks for sharing your life with us and Fare winds and following sea's ✌🏼💗😊❣️

[@SailorJames]

🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@scollins731]

Great video James. Progress is looking good.

[@dannyb3664]

Nice work bro, Thanks for the great content

[@sailingsitka]

Amazing job on the rudder man, that ain't going anywhere.

[@Mxbdt]

Hey that was alot of work for a 12 hour shift. I would have been looking forward to that shower.

[@TinCupChalice40]

So you didn’t have any blisters? That’s GREAT!!

[@chrismitchum452]

Right on Brother. Glad to see your finally getting the rudder fixed. i can only imagine your relief right now. toked to see your next multi day passage. Keep Kicking arse my good man! \m/

[@mikeokeefe2014]

I get excited and dream of this adventure soon ..my first sailboat ... and worry about a serious expense like this or worse ..over packing parts and tools ...

[@SailorJames]

It’s a very real aspect of going cruising that no one can escape. I know sailors with factory new million dollar boats that had crucial failures that stopped them in their tracks. It’s just a reality of sailing long distances.

[@Xscrap0042X]

First video I ever watched of yours was the one where you came to Hawaii. Loved your stuff ever since. I live in Kona on the big island, but wish I had an opportunity to meet you while you are here!! I'm currently injured so not working atm, but I love anybody who has dreams and goals and aren't afraid to chase them. I will gladly become a Patreon and help out the best as I can! 😎 I still can't believe that happened to you a thousand miles from shore, but I'm really impressed with your ability to overcome it. And I can't believe the way those ratchet straps looked whenever you took them off!! 😳 You'd never know that what it was if you didn't tell us lol. Because of you, I also have dreams of now of Hopefully owning a sailboat someday.

[@SailorJames]

🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 thanks for following along

[@sailingseahawk2012]

I know how anxious you must be my friend! I just splashed mine after two weeks on the hard and the up and down the ladder thing is finally over!

[@Duxa_]

Thats a pretty solid repair, I dont know why people think its sketch... its stronger now than it ever was. My only concern would be overbuilding the rudder to the point where if you do hit something I would rather rudder snap than some other more crucial part of the boat (like the hull get a crac). (im not convinced this was you hitting something because you would have hit it with your keel and keel is fine, I think this is just force of the ocean doing its thing on a half a century old boat).

[@SailorJames]

There was a red mark on the keel and on the rudder and a chip in the rudder, I for sure hit something

[@Duxa_]

@@SailorJames Ah then yeah, that makes it certain. Such a big ocean, even if you dumped a whole ship worth of containers into it they would be a grain of sand in a pool. Neptune was testing your worthiness, and you sir, passed with flying colors. Great job on recovering, and then the fix on the haul out.

[@cosmodog4845]

Good enough job you’ve done James.

[@protonneutron9046]

I remember hauling out every spring to ready for the summer sailing season in NorCal.

[@rebelarcher5450]

Good stuff , the tang should make it rock solid . Did you treat the rudder that is sitting under the tang in anyway ? coat of epoxy etc ? Maybe you could have dropped your tender down and paddled / rowed over to your friends adjoining marina to take a shower , no locked gates on the water .😉😄

[@RudixSA]

I agree, hopefully the wood was sealed under the tang, else I predict trouble in the future.....

[@davidlapointe4710]

As someone whos going through a nasty rudder repair I feel you

[@sailingsolo5290]

3.5 months wait list. Wow. I hauled out in 1990 at alawai ,back when it was a boat yard and chandlry. It was cool.

[@captainmike808]

The old boat yard is an empty lot now. Someone purchased it to build a wedding chapel 12 years ago but to this day, the lot is empty.

[@sailingsolo5290]

Been hauling out in phuket for the past 17 years. Sometimes in langkawi malaysia. Phuket has 10 boatyards plus.

[@saylaveenadmearedead]

And the food's not bad either....

[@sailingsolo5290]

@@saylaveenadmearedead It gets old after years ,but phuket has everything. Thai food is still cheap. 2 bucks.on the street and 3 bucks in a restaurant fills you up with padthai or a curry over rice.

[@billfletcher5495]

Nice job.

[@alcooper944]

Hi James thanks for the vid , would like to know the brand of your solar panel rail mounts they look the goods

[@SailorJames]

Thanks 🙏🏻 if you go to my Renogy solar panel video ( Installing New Renogy Solar Panels on Triteia ⚡️Doubling Our Solar from 200 watts to 400 watts! kzbin.info/www/bejne/pZymoKJ3ZpVrm8k ) and look in the description you will find all the parts listed and a pdf showing my setup

[@RomboutVersluijs]

@@SailorJames and changing only the board part or is that not possible? Wondering why the complete system needs to be replaced when fitting a new rudder

[@kenplummer4644]

Heading to Hawaii in August, leave some sun and fair weather foir me................

[@goofy4birds]

are you going to waterproof the wood? no epoxy or sealants?

[@janotse]

The brass tune you had going - Is that the brass band from Black Cat/White Cat, the Emir Kusturica masterpiece?

[@oyster_3694]

Looks great! I wonder if the plate will cause any inefficiency in the prop?

[@markgamble7699]

Wondering the same thing… Hopefully it will be fair sails…

[@ahaveland]

Should be able to grind down the leading and trailing edges after welding to make them more fair and hydrodynamic.

[@SailorJames]

The boat is faster than ever under motor and under sail, so it doesn’t seem to effect it

[@ahaveland]

@T H It's only what I would do because it is in the path of high speed water from the prop, the flat facing edge would create turbulence, redirect the flow and knock off a few percent of thrust. Every little bit helps, and if you can get a bit more efficiency for a tiny bit of effort, then why not?

[@boathemian7694]

How’s the dark hull in the tropics? We had a couple of black and dark green boats that were crazy hot

[@denp54z]

3 months and look at your new steel straps wow !

[@jakeroth5809]

Repairs look strong I don’t think you are not going to have separation from the rod and the wood looks real good

[@edwardfinn4141]

James thanks for doing this video, I have an Alberg 35, with the same rudder, just a little bigger. Thanks for your well documented rudder failure and temporary repair . So, I added some metal strapping to my rudder, reinforcing it, similar to your original repairs , so I’m very interested in your ongoing repair. Rather then removing material from the rudder - making it weaker, I thought you might heat up the new plates and bend them inward closer to the shaft Thus not removing material and weakening the original rudder wood… Is the rudder material wood.? Did you see any evidence of galvanic / dissimilar metal issues between the bronze rudder stock and the original through bolts… Perhaps the original cause of the rudder failure was dissimilar metal corrosion between the bronze rudder and the much smaller bolts… I see you used bronze threaded rod to replace those bolts👍👍 Is it good practise to weld to bronze pipe? And I’d keep those hairpin brackets you just took off They look pretty strong to me… Thanks again.

[@wildandbarefoot]

You need to do some Patreon maintenance. Update fees and set New target. ..400 patrons should be good. Keep faith bruther you'll get there.

[@RomboutVersluijs]

I did not expect them to lift it up with a strap under the keel. Guess they don't put it around the backside so it won't slip off

[@johnrwhite4479]

Erik I was there at keehi marina in 1992 was helping a good friend work on his sailboat named ( the compass crew ) owned by Bill Hancock And during the two weeks dry docked we did major work sanding the copper bottom regenerating it and adding more copper sealant ! Next to us was a massive Very huge two masted ship maybe three masted ? Which the owner had died before it could be repaired it needed a new shaft for the propeller ? Keehi marina confiscated the ship and put it up for sale just to cover the cost of dry dock I’m curious if it’s still there ? I’m doubtful it is but they were selling it for $50,000 which was unbelievable price but they only wanted to get rid of it because the cost to drydock a ship that size is much more ! Curious if it’s still there ?

[@SailorJames]

It wasn’t there during my haulout 👍🏻

[@johnrwhite4479]

@@SailorJames Erik thanks for the response ! I’ve been in search for that ship ever since with no luck :( I was given a tour of it when I was there and tried to purchase it but couldn’t gather the financial support at the time so back to square one ! Thank you so much for repliying and hope and pray all is well and safe travels to you on your journeys !

[@chmodman]

Hi James, did you inspect the lower Pintle & gudgeon? I suspect when the upper gave out it probably put a lot of torque on the lower connection and would not be surprised it caused some damage that would lead to an early failure. Just a thought.

[@SailorJames]

I inspected it when I pulled the rudder in the water , no damage

[@sailnsurfthurman9263]

Built like a Tank man. Have you setup a way for a secondary for your next voyage if needed? Not that you will need it

[@SailorJames]

Yes I am installing a new hydrovane

[@Coleen_West]

Such a nice bluewater sailboat -- QUESTION -- We were always told that true bluewater sailboats had skeg/keel hung rudders for durability and safety and that spade hung rudders were dangerous (which we believe to be true). However, nearly all rudder repair videos on youtube are skug/keel hung rudders that failed for one reason or another. It seems like the spade rudders are rarely having problems. Not sure what is going on but shouldn't you never have a rudder problem on a Alberg? This is a friggen Alberg and is the gold standard of bluewater IMO. What gives?

[@captainmike808]

“ Diesel Tangs “ 🤙🏼

[@gbayfan3]

Curious how they are going to weld without setting the wooden rudder on fire. Assuming the next video may answer that.

[@SailorJames]

It only burned a little bit 😂

[@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665]

@@SailorJames Happy it wasnt phosphor bronze.... I used a piece about the size of one of those cheek plates to build a crossbow many years ago...got a tattoo artist mate to engrave the Bronze plates.

[@boathemian7694]

What’s with the weird trailing edge of the rudder?

[@AtortAerials]

I was thinking the exact same thing. That seems like such a crucial part of sailing and looks pretty darn beat up to my eyes at least….prop too is that normal to look so corroded? Hawaii is so $$$$$ ugh! 🤪

[@SailorJames]

That prop is 2 years old with zero corrosion

[@AtortAerials]

@@SailorJames I have no idea just visually that doesn’t all look new and shiny which I’m sure it doesn’t have to in order to be functional. I’m hardly a sailor so also clueless. 🤷🏾‍♂️

[@jamesowens2781]

I love Hawaii but everything is shipped in cost way too much. Glad you got rudde repaired. Or at least started.

[@SailorJames]

So crazy expensive

[@TheKetsa]

This rudder original design is not an engineering marvel...

[@fhsmith4]

Why did Boats US not tow you in to harbor?

[@xfoxtrotwiskeykilo995]

Lots to think about floating in a life raft . . .

[@SailorJames]

🤡

[@goofy4birds]

you need to drop it and grind out the bad spots, I bet there is interior water damage. There is a reason that failed, looks like root

[@SailorJames]

There is zero rot in this rudder

[@vedranknezevic4756]

How much it cost to take out and to put back

[@toddtavares7386]

James, are you going to completely strip the entire rudder and coat it all with resin or epoxy paint and epoxy seal the holes??

[@SailorJames]

No, that would be a bad thing. This rudder has been in the water for almost 60 years and is well saturated with moisture and perfectly fine with no soft spots or rot. Sealing it up with epoxy would trap the moisture and do more damage than good. Ships were made for centuries out of wood so she is fine as she is with fresh bottom paint

[@daveg4963]

Gold plugs are sick!

[@svoctopus4888]

I guess the answer is;"I'm going to rebuild a new rudder in Indonesia". 1.) Why not replace ALL the bronze thru rods on the rudder now? 2.) And why not add a ring of bronze all the way around the rudder? Anyway. Your next rudder will be great. Use stainless for the next one incased with S glass and epoxy.

[@douglashill9844]

Jack stands (not stilts).

[@SailorJames]

It was a joke partner, relax a little

[@xfoxtrotwiskeykilo995]

Had to watch a second time , you are making a huge mistake ! I wouldn't sail to the end of the dock with that rudder ! I thought zingaro was bad , good thing your alone . smh

[@SailorJames]

😂😂😂😂 🤡