Glad you made it home safe Dunc. Sounds like things might have been a bit trickier had the trusty SwissTool not been along for the ride!
Thanks
but theres more to it then that
Heres the post I just put on britishblades
Last sunday I was involved in a little adventure
We took two boats ( both 5.4m Avon Seariders ) 8 miles straight out to the notorious Haisborough sands to do rough water handling .We arrived at the south marker buoy and one of the boats decided to loose all steering ( we later learned the cable had snapped ) . Although it wasnt a huge sea it was choppy with 5 to 6 feet waves which wasnt much fun with no steering . Well the steering linkedge needed to be unbolted so the engine could be manually steered and with no spanners that fitted onboard it was the Swisstool that got the job done .At the time I was on the other boat feeling quite pleased with myself that I was on the good boat :rolleyes:
We started to make our way back home keeping close by the other boat when a huge amount of water suddenly entered the boat I was in :O in fact it filled it to the brim and I and another guy was washed to the back and one or two items floated out . The chap on helm immediately put full throttle on to raise the bow and drain the water out .I couldnt work out why the water was entering the boat in such huge ammounts , it was as if we had stuffed the bow into a large oncoming wave and submarined it , but we hadnt :S Then it done it again :O this time the guy on helm got washed past me and as he had a kill cord round his leg it cut the engine too . Anyway we got her started again and then the problem was plain to see , the rubber inflatable tube ( sponson ) had parted with the fiberglass hull at the bow and ran about 3 feet down the port side , so everytime we hit a wave water just flooded in at the gap .So both boats limped back and we all made it back safe and sound with plenty of bruises.I then decided I had had enough of boats for the day and retired to the pub for a much needed pint
Sorry to rattle on , didnt think it would end up this long :rolleyes: So once again the Swisstool has proved itself .
Now for the pics :rolleyes:
Our boat will be off service for a couple of days while we wait for a new steering cable .She's rather old now
Cant wait for our new one to be finnished .
Dunc