Back in Cartagena 38 20.449N 000 28.932W
Persephone... Cruiser/Racer
Nigel & Karen Goodhew...
Mon 10 Sep 2018 13:47
I started to form the view that there might be something awry with our steering. A kind of slip, where the steering “ bit” haphazardly and then after a slip, caught the water properly. I tried to visualise what it might be that caused this sensation, fearing some catastrophic failure in the rudder blade as if it was rotating around the steel shaft.
So I popped the pilot on and opened up the lazarette locker to take a look. And what did I find? The quadrant which transfers the autopilot loads onto the rudder shaft, was bending, with one side of the stainless steel fabrication already fractured. So it was straight back to hand steering, and if we had entertained other plans, we dismissed them and headed into Alicante, where we were allocated exactly the same berth we had in July......
When I stripped down the rudder quadrant, I found the clamp around the top of the shaft to be rather loose, and this was the most likely cause of that uncertain feeling in the steering, particularly in lumpy sea.
We have found a welder, and are waiting for the quadrant to be returned to us as I write, so hopefully we will be headed off tomorrow. But it has been rather nice walking through the city of Alicante this morning, a place we have come to know quite well.
And outside the harbour, friendly winds are blowing from the north east...just what we need for a swift ride back to Gibraltar.
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