Best jury rig story that got you home

[Sea Wolf]

Roger-

I seem to remember discussing this before.

The "S" hooks are illegal in many states, and just plain inadequate and dangerous if you really think about it.

I've always replaced mine with threaded, locking links in heavy applications, both at the hitch (safety chains) and at the bow eye / winch connection, where a winch ratchet failure would leave your C-Dory on the Interstate or similar.

Those of us with roller trailers can't take these bow safety chains off until the hull is safely touching the water.

For lighter, less stressed applications, such as a small runabout, fireman's hooks are a simpler, faster hooking alternative.

'Twas fun reading your fishing adventures! Joe.

[Sea Wolf]

Roger-

I seem to remember discussing this before.

The "S" hooks are illegal in many states, and just plain inadequate and dangerous if you really think about it.

I've always replaced mine with threaded, locking links in heavy applications, both at the hitch (safety chains) and at the bow eye / winch connection, where a winch ratchet failure would leave your C-Dory on the Interstate or similar.

Those of us with roller trailers can't take these bow safety chains off until the hull is safely touching the water.

For lighter, less stressed applications, such as a small runabout, fireman's hooks are a simpler, faster hooking alternative.

'Twas fun reading your fishing adventures! Joe.

[Blueback]

The post on “jury rigs” have made an old barnacle on a lee shore feel right at home. It was like I had pulled up my chair to the galley table with a bunch of old salts spinning yarns about high sea adventures.
So I must do my part here. Many years ago I was signed on to a coastal passenger-freighter, steaming from Vancouver to Alaska and all the little way points in between. This was an old Clyde-side triple expansion 2700hp steam propulsion engine and I was a 22 year old marine steam engineer who was in charge of the engine watch when this took place.
We had just entered the Millbank Sound (approximately 70 nautical miles south of Prince Rupert, BC, Canada). It was just breaking daylight when the bridge lookout noted an America fish boat in distress, so we altered course and came slowly up to her side. She was so low in the water that our wake could have put her under. It seems they had hit a dead head and holed the bow. She was wooden hulled with a little floatation capacity, or she would have gone down already.
We could have taken the four frightened men on board and let her sink, but hey, the jury rig idea came up. We weren’t equipped like a C. Guard vessel but there had to be a way and there was.
On the tween deck, above the engine room sat an old diesel emergency fire pump. This was placed above the engine-room on the bases that an engine-room fire could drive out the engine room personal, with no lower deck access to the regular fire pumps.
The obstacle to over come in the five minutes or so left before the fishing vessel sank was how to get this pump to draft from the FV hull. We uncoupled the steel flanged suction side of the pump and was able to fit and clamp a 6 inch rubber flex hose (God knows who found that, I don’t) to the pump intake. The Mate jumped off our tween deck and secured this in their fish hold. In the mean time our seamen ran and opened all our deck fire hydrants as that was the X connection to this pumps discharge. I was priming the diesel pump and with the OK, fired her up. Hell we looked like a fire boat as that old sucker could pump. When there was sufficient freeboard on the FV, our Mate and our seaman secured a mattress on the outside of the bow over the hole; then more calking from the inside. In the mean time the Canadian Coast Guard had been called. When the CCG arrived, we left and things looked in to be good order.
That night we where having a few drinks in the Canadian Navies wet canteen in Rupert and drinks arrived at our table paid for. There were some big grins from a table in the corner, yah it was the crew of the FV. They came over and said, you Canucks stopped and save not only our skins but are boat too. For the time we were there we could buy our own drinks.
It called brotherhood of the sea eh.

[dogon dory]

Sorry, Folks - Post Deleted By Author

[TyBoo]

[Otter-BelleHavenMarina]

I'd buy a round just for the story! Warning - this is a little off topic, but the C-Brats site had its orgins in of off-topic musings of Tyboo and RedFox, so I think I'm on solid ground here!

It is nice to be thanked for a good deed (I recently got a warm note from a woman who had an accident during rush hour one morning - she wasn't hurt but she was shaken up and she was very grateful that I sat with her until the police arrived), but it's even better to have an opportunity to say thanks to the ones who helped. 15 years ago I was living in a three-story wooden building in New Haven that had been converted to apartments. A fire broke out in one of the apartments while no one was home. The New Haven FD did their thing very professionally and it was contained before our whole building went up. A few days later I went into a local pizza place and saw a table of firefighters finishing their meal. When their check came, it was just a note saying thanks from the folks at 472 Orange Street. Maybe that happened to them all the time, but they seemed genuinely touched. It sure felt good to me.

[Blueback]

Thanks Mike and others for your interest shown.
I have been under the radar, just reading and enjoying C-Brats, so it was long over due that I contribute a little here.
Volunteering about a 1k of hours a year for salmon enhancement projects does suck up a lot of free time thought.
Why not start a new thread called Sea Tales (or ?) as I would bet there are some dandys out there.
Geoff on Blueback