MacGyver anyone?

[Randyonr3]

So in a recent thread it was brought up about being self-sufficient enough to make-do or to improvise to keep the boat opperational until proper repair can be accomplished.
Sounded like a good place to post your "What I Have Done" to make things work.

For myself, somehow I sheared off the head of a plastic throu-hull leaving a 3/4 inch hole about 2 inches above the waterline.. Didnt notice it until I was going around the boat in the dink while at anchor..
I fixed it with a couple fender washers, a bolt and an old mud flap off a truck that I found on shore.. cut a couple 2 inch circles out of the mud flap, punched a hole for the bolt in the center and sandwitched it between the fender washers for a plug..

So what was your greatest fix............

[sparrowhawk1]

Well I'll have to think a while for greatest but my latest is I lost the sleeve to my plastic oarlock base on my walkerbay and took a handle from a five gallon bucket (basically a heavy walled tube that I had in my junk drawer) drilled it out to the diameter of the oarlock. ( its outside diameter matched the hole in the oarlock base) it works perfectly the other sleeve is a little loose from wear I might replace that the same way

[sparrowhawk1]

In the top 10 of my MacGyver repairs. having a spun hub on an old prop and using a bolt to repair it. The lock nut is there for fine tuning so that its flush with inside collar, I could have taken a little bit more time and hack sawed the bolt and filed it down to the proper length but sometimes quick and dirty is more productive

[belizesailor]

Lots of 'em. Two years ago I built a manual alternator regulator out of a stereo system potentiometer and some spare resistors. I thought that one was pretty good. Even managed not to fry the pot and reinstalled it in the stereo system after installing a new regulator.

[IdoraKeeper]

Wedged myself into the engine space and jumped a stuck starter solenoid with a screw driver....had to do it...we were way out in the outback at the time...it was time to get off the hook. That solenoid has never stuck since. Have since installed a bypass switch just in case it happens again.

[bvimatelot]

Generator on a large cat I was taking across the Atlantic lost its impeller: spares for everything else - except for that of course!

I by-passed the impeller and connected it to a spare bilge pump which I then connected to an unused seacock. Open the seacock, turn on the pump, let it pressurise a bit then start the genny. Quite proud of that one!

[UNCIVILIZED]

A friend went to see if my raw water intake hose was clear, as my engine was running hot, and the tide was pushing us towards the rocks (ZERO wind). He managed to snap the hose barb in half, us in a deep water channel.

So wielding; a wire brush, 5-min epoxy, & paper towels (for glass cloth). I glued it back together, screwed it into the through hull, attached the hose & told him to "press play". She fired up & ran fine, thankfully, as we were @ 50yds & closing from those pinnacles.


Or does disassembling a jammed winch on a Maxi during a tacking duel, slipping in a new gear to replace the busted one, & twisting the locking ring onto the drum, just as the guys (all 6 of them) fired up the pedestal grinders, count?
- It surely was fun watching the owner lose his mind as I worked ;-) As in priceless.

[Neptune's Gear]

In SE asia, lost the circulation pump on my Volvo P. Modified the engine to raw water cooling with no spares, just what was on the boat. New Circ pump ordered, but took a month to arrive. Raw water cooling worked fine, so it did not effect our cruising too much.
Lots of other stuff, isn't this just a part of cruising?

[levm]

Alternator stopped charging on the Onan geni, new alternator will arrive in two weeks.
Left the non working alternator in place so the accessory belt is running, hooked a small battery charger to the 110V output to charged the geni's' battery.


May the good winds always be with you

[Reefmagnet]

The boom bale for the mainsheet failed about 6 months ago. I made a replacement out of 4mm spectra to get us home. It works so well, I've left it in service.