On Board with Mark Corke

Port Clyde Maine

    I've just come back from few very enjoyable days cruising Penobscot Bay in Maine. The weather was great apart from last Sunday when we had pea soup fog. One of my stops was at the dock below the General Store in Port Clyde where they must have the cheapest diesel in Maine at $2.25 per gallon. Normally diesel for boats is more expensive than the stuff I put in my truck from the gas station and at the time that I write this my local Sunoco station is selling diesel for $2.60 so this makes the price that we paid even more of a bargain.

    The docks are new this year as you can see in the picture above and you can tie up for 20 minutes or so so you will have time to grab a sandwich and coffee from the very friendly staff in the store. They also have 16 visitors moorings and I know that I shall be taking advantage of one of those before the season is over.

    One of the other reasons that I want to go back is that Port Clyde Kayaks is next to the general store and they run guided tours. Run by a very friendly chap called Cody I plan to join one of his tours and do a spot of close in cruising along the very impressive coastline. I've always enjoyed a spot of sea kayaking and this may just be the start of my preparations to go back and see if I can beat my own Guinness world record for the double crossing of the English Channel - we shall see.

  

Epoxy tiller repair

    The tiller handle on Mallard has seen stirling service but it was starting to slop a bit and although in no danger of coming adrift from the top of the rudder it was not offering the positive steering control that it once did. What had happened was that over the years the bolt hole through the top had fretted out a little and was allowing the tiller to wobble within the cheeks so I decided that remedial action was needed to address this problem and restore the steering to it's former positive, un wobbly self.

    Here's how I did it and you may find this technique useful with a little adaptation for your own projects. Indeed this drill and fill procedure works equally well on fiber glass and other materials.

    After removing the tiller from the boat I used a Forstner bit to drill out the hole. The bolt is a quarter inch diameter so I used a 1 inch bit to open up the hole to allow for a good bit of epoxy to be poured in. Note that I am using a G clamp to hold the tiller to the work bench, this makes for more accurate work as it allows two hands on the drill and prevents any vibration and other unwanted and unnecessary movement.

    The good thing about Forstner buts is that they give a perfect hole with no tear out even on difficult timbers like teak.

    As the hole was going to be filled with epoxy I laid it on the bench with a layer of polythene underneath so that it would not stick to the bench. Also providing that the plastic is in perfect contact with the wood it leaves a smooth clean surface requiring little if any extra work.

    After priming the hole by brushing on some neat epoxy some fillers were added to the remaining mix which was then poured into the hole until level with the top surface. You will need to do this slowly to allow any air bubbles to escape. Then when the epoxy had cured overnight the quarter inch bolt hole was re drilled through the center of the now hard epoxy and the tiller reattached to the rudder. The job took a total of about 3 hours and I now have a tiller that no longer wobbles.