Free Yacht Chapter 3: Fix Broken Stix and other Trix

On the maiden voyage of the free yacht I broke the tiller by standing on it. Sure it sounds dumb, but if I hadn't done that I'm sure something worse would have happened. That's the sort of relationship I have with tillers and rudders.

Continues the saga begun at How to Get a Free Yacht

epoxy pix by Nick Papadakis

Here's the broken stick we're going to fix.
If you like hospital shows, please note the comminuted fractures on the proximal end of the avulsed fragment.

continues the Free Yacht saga begun at How to Get a Free Yacht

Here's the table of contents of the whole saga:
Chapter 1: How to Get a Free Yacht
Chapter 2: Maiden Voyage of the Free Yacht
Chapter 3: Fix Broken Stix and other Trix
Chapter 4: Outboard Motor Mutilates Foot
Chapter 5: It's sinking and it's on Fire.
Chapter 6: How To Give Away a Free Yacht
Chapter 7: Get an Even Better One and Fabulize it.
Chapter 8: Celebrate Freedom
Chapter 9: Technicolor Dreamboat
Chapter 10: Privateer Knot
Chapter 11: Dismasted!
Chapter 12: Kiteboat!
Chapter 13: Mast Raising

Step 1 Clean Out the Injury

The splinters on both sides of the break prevent the pieces from fitting together properly.
So I cleaned up the mating surfaces with a crooked knife.

Comments

[prospector]

Great fix, it looks good! A hint though as you move along in yachting circles, you will find that most sailors who go to sea in small boats carry a spare tiller. An expensive spare tiller can be bought at West Marine for about $50 (for my boat) and will be glossy and have laminations and whatnot. A cheap spare tiller can be bought at Home Depot, but will be mislabelled as "Wheelbarrow Handles." It is handy that they only sell these spare tillers in sets of 2, and that the wood is rough hewn allowing you to sand it down to the right feel before you stain or varnish it. Also the Home Depot Spare tillers are long enough that you can cut them in half before attaching, which means you actually get 4 for the price of one!

[dmccormick1]

i agree with J.W.Mills, i fell over laughing at the mislabel...

[j.w.mills]

ROTF! Splat... Fell out of my chair! Good one Prospector!

Thats right use the mis labled stuff from the HomeDespot and your local hardware.

[Xtreehouse]

To anyone whom wants to give away a 220' sea worthy Yacht, Ship, Craft ect, or larger ;  Please Email me at [e-mail] , If theres one thing in life that I want to do before I go to the after life it is to live on the sea and travel till that day comes.. I wanna a Yacht !

[Xtreehouse]

To anyone whom wants to give away a 220' sea worthy Yacht, Ship, Craft ect, or larger ;  Please Email me at [e-mail] , If theres one thing in life that I want to do before I go to the after life it is to live on the sea and travel till that day comes.. I wanna a Yacht !

[Wasagi]

 "Don't ever use 5 minute epoxy for anything. It is unpatriotic, not waterproof, poisonous, bad tasting, and makes girls hate you."

as if the bad tasting and poisonous weren't enough to dissuade me, it's unpatriotic, and makes the girls hate me!

[GearsFC3S]

Is that a rum cask / beer keg installed on your forward deck?

[MT-LB]

i think he said it was a beer keg filled with diesel.

[benner81]

It's probably an inflatable life boat. I've seen them in packages like that.

[Whales]

Looks like a keg to me..

[benner81]

You might be right. I can't see that well.

[Kryptonite]

I think they're filled with fuel or gas, because Bobcats and Dingoes (the machinery!) use them to go forward.

[GearsFC3S]

I'm familiar with bobcat's(not so much dingoes), but I've never seen them with any kind of fuel cylinder on the back. I've used forklifts that used propane cylinders, but they look totally different.

Whatever it is, its definitely an old beer keg that could have been converted to hold diesel.

[Kryptonite]

Sorry, I meant forklifts. Hmm, I could have sworn they looked the exact same, because the ones I've seen upon the forklifts around here aren't your average propane cylinders...

[acer73]

Of course 5 min expoxy would make girls hate you

[mazeka.14]

Why??

[drbill]

Because.

[mazeka.14]

still dond know why...

[SaveFerris]

5 minute epoxy finishes in 5 minutes.

[man ray]

nice

[crickle321]

funny how it took 2 years from joke to punchline, heh.

[ChrisEnder]

Big tires are heavy so try and get the spare tires if you can. Make sure there is no hub (duh :P) and maybe even cut the tire in half before you rope it.

[anwaya]

You could also go to a "Just Tires" and ask them for old tires: they have to pay for them to be taken away, and are grateful if you can take them off their hands.

[Grey_Wolfe]

Make it look like Captain Ron's boat. lol. Still, not a bad idea.

[Lemon]

The boxing glove on the end of the bowsprit was a classic... ah, good times, good times... do you mind if i use that image as my MSN display pic? Your saga of your free boat is very well documented, keep 'em coming.

[TimAnderson]

thanks and please be the boxing glove bowsprit!

[SmokeyTheBear]

if your so woried about cost that you cant buy bumpers, why dont you get a moring insted of a slip then maybe you could save 200 bucks a month. asuming of course that there are morings availible in your localharbor, a big if though, the waiting list at my local harber has an ETA of 12 years

[radioeyes]

I'd say some artwork is in order the next time you paint. Looks kinda flat to me.

[The Full Belly Project]

I'm trying to make one of these into a an adapter to 12 V, any advice or thoughts?

[AnimalChin]

I absolutely love these Instructables. They're perfectly written, full of detail, have lots of great photos, and they're funny! Thanks!