I haven't posted anything since my big Heceta hunting trip in late July early August.
But that isn't because I wasn't using the boat.
I went out on a few day fishing trips, but they were disappointing and nothing to make a blog post about. We got some fish, but not as many as I would have liked.
On 09/29/2023 we had a 2-day good weather window, so I planned to go out for an overnight trip.
This was the first and only time that I can remember that I've had to abort a trip.
The way my slip is positioned I have to move forward a bit out of the slip and then immediately swing to starboard to go out of the fairway and out of the harbor.
That day there was a slight breeze pushing me out of the slip, but that didn't bother me at all as I have left the slip in those conditions many times before. But this time as soon as I tried to swing to starboard, I just could not get the bow to swing over. The bow thruster was working but just didn't seem to have enough oomph to do the job.
I have twin engines, so I tried to pivot the boat by putting the port engine in forward and the starboard engine in reverse, aggressively, but that also did not work.
I tried at least 5 or 6 times, but each time failed to swing the bow to starboard. In the process of these attempts, I slammed the port corner of the swim step against the dock incurring some damage.
I suspected some kind of mechanical failure in the steering system, so I decided to abort the trip.
In my previous boat, a 32' Bayliner also with twin engines, the rod that connects the 2 rudders broke. This created some very wonky steering as one rudder was responding to the helm and the other one was just flopping around at random.
When I got back in my slip I went below and checked everything out and could find no mechanical issues. The next day the weather was much calmer so I took the boat out and checked out everything and could find no problems. In the end I chalked it up to a weird combination of wind and tide that combined to prevent me from swinging to starboard.
In restrospect, I could have turned to port and tried to back out of the fairway, which would have been a challenge. But I think I made the right decision to abort because I sincerely suspected mechanical failure in the steering system. You don't want to head out on a long trip when you suspect problems like that. Better to be safe than sorry, I think.
Now I am just waiting for another 2-day good weather window so I can get out there. This time of year, the weather is typically nasty most of the time, so I may have to wait a bit.
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