Christmas launch/test - steering fail

paulbrown22 · 24 December 2016, 12:48

My Ribtec has been off the water for quite a time whilst the deck was being replaced. The boat yard did a wonderful solid job on the GRP side, but left the engine and electrics for me to finish, so I've spent odd hours over the summer when not out sailing slowly putting it back together and testing it all out.

Finally launched it today after probably a year on land, engine working beautifully, and reversed off the trailer nicely. Then everything went pear shaped as I tried steering, and I unexpectedly went all over the place. Presumably the boatyard connected the hydraulic steering bank to front when they replaced the console. I bled the steering and had tested lock to lock on land, but because I can't see the outdrive from the helm, hadn't realised the steering was actually reversed… Very confusing trying to drive back to front, especially as it was blowing 20kn as well!

Thankfully I managed to get it back on the trailer straight, and now back on land to check/fix the steering. Hopefully just two hydraulic hoses to swap over, a fill/bleed, and I will actually be able to give it a go after Christmas - I don't think people will be impressed if I suggest testing it tomorrow!

Hope everyone has a good Christmas.

Regards,

Paul

paulbrown22 · 24 December 2016, 16:07

20 mins of contortion in the console the hoses are swapped and the system topped up and bled. Now it all seems to work perfectly, and is directionally correct!

Spent the rest of the time burying under the new floor for the fuel gauge wires which were clearly cut and not spliced back. Having finally found and freed them, I have another little job for the Christmas period :-).

paulbrown22 · 26 December 2016, 12:59

Fuel gauge was rewired Christmas morning whilst other family members were out visiting various people. It was blowing 25+kn though, and raining a bit, so not very pleasant conditions to launch the RIB and test her.

However, today the sun is shining and there's very little wind, so launched this morning and had a great run around Poole Harbour. Picked up 150l diesel at Salterns (as CPL at the bridge seems to be closed while the old bridge is being worked on), did a few circuits of the harbour and popped to Studland and back, and put it back on it's trailer in time for lunch!

As it's first proper run in over a year, and various bits of work done on it over that period, very happy that everything seems to work perfectly now. I shall look forward to more usage over the next few months.

kubcat · 26 December 2016, 13:28

I also had a boat with reverse steering, and yes, it is rather confusing.

Fantastic to see the boat running beautifully.

treerat · 26 December 2016, 13:58

Been there and done that - only issue was I had to be afloat for 4 hours as part of a safety cover!!

Seemed normal by the end of the session.

paulbrown22 · 26 December 2016, 17:19

5 minutes was enough for me! I was slowly getting used to it, but still very hard to fight the instinctive manoeuvres you've carried out all your life. Given it was the first time the boat had been run in the water for quite a while, in case there were any other problems I didn't want to risk going anywhere with backwards steering.

We had a similar thing a number of years ago on the sailing yacht, where the feathering propellor had been reinstalled with reverse pitch... Fine whilst we were in open water crossing the channel where we weren't using it (or just leaving it set in gear for periods), but making a late night entry into Cherbourg at 23:00, it did take a few seconds to realise why, having put it in reverse to steady us in the berth to secure lines, my bow was actually gently pushing against the pontoon instead!

Let's hope that's all behind us now. A little deck cleaning on the RIB this afternoon, and checked all the fluids, and we're ready for a final run tomorrow before I head back to work. Sadly I'm out in Moscow over the Nacho run otherwise I'd be joining that.

paulbrown22 · 27 December 2016, 17:32

A perfect run today out in Poole Harbour. No wind, and the harbour and sea were absolutely calm. Had a great run around the harbour and up to town quay, and then popped out to Studland and Old Harry. Superb conditions, I did take a bit of video that I'll try to edit later. Now sadly back on the trailer at home, as I'm out for a few weeks, but happy the boat is all working again as it should!

Very much looking forward to more trips over the coming months.

Mode · 29 December 2016, 20:23

Looks great - which Ribtec model is that?

Glad the steering goes the right way now as well! :-)

Mode

paulbrown22 · 03 January 2017, 08:37

She's a 9m Ribtec with Yanmar 315/Bravo 3 combo. I did try to get more details when I bought it, but Ribtec were taken over by Ribeye, and sadly in the transition, all the old Ribtec build records seem to have gotten lost, so they couldn't tell me much more about it.

Steering is definitely all corrected now, a little video of the test run here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL6O8RN9zas

.

Mode · 03 January 2017, 13:45

Looks great! Lovely day for it!!