Nightmare trip

Just got back from the Dominican Republic with my newly purchased 61 Cockpit Motor Yacht.
Lost steering off of Puerto Rico in the middle of the night with the rudders locked over to port, 25 knot winds and 6' seas. Managed to crab walk the boat into the entrance channel at Ponce, but got pushed out of the channel and hit a wreck. I was alone and dropped the anchor, and at first light got towed in. Pictures show the mess from grounding. Luckily I had a spare set of props and the sea tow operator had a 63' CPMY that had been destroyed in Maria.Three days later and a big $$$ swap I left for home in St Maarten.Attachment 33207Attachment 33205

Glad you are still afloat and not dead out there. Sounds grim.

OUCH!!

Any ideas as to what caused the loss of steering at sea? I guess with 25knt and 6' seas there is not much you could do about it alone.

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Originally Posted by rustybucket

OUCH!!

Any ideas as to what caused the loss of steering at sea? I guess with 25knt and 6' seas there is not much you could do about it alone.

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Just about any Hatt in our age category has lost steering it seems. I know I did once--fortunately in the harbor and calm. Might be good to have a plan to address ahead of time the old copper lines plus any flex hoses you have on the ram. Often the autopilot can get your rudders back to center. Rescue tape can stem the flow of hydraulic oil to help auto or manual centering.

We lost it once because there was an air gap at the helm. It turned out the gauge on the bleservoir was defective. It read proper PSI but there was zero air pressure. I was lucky to catch it while docking in the Bahamas and figure it out. Took a bicycle pump to it and we were good to go with a little bleeding at the helm.

Hey Rourkeh!

This is Julian Jr,,, glad to hear you made it home okay.. Hope you post up pictures of your refit process.

Take care!
JCG

My boat has a locking devise on rudder tie rod to lock straight ahead, not sure if original or work of a PO. Keep 4' pipe wrench to move rudder into position of lock. I have easy access on my boat. Not sure how throttle steering would handle rough weather.
Glad you and the boat made it with only some bent parts.