Autohelm Issues

Well tomorrow came and after a good breakfast, we thought about our problem with the autohelm.  We were not willing to cruise much farther without it and needed to figure out our options.  After talking with our friend Jess who had experienced a similar issue, David dug into the aft end of the boat.  This involved pulling everything out of the aft lazerette and climbing in there.  I've spent some time in there when we installed our stern ladder and it's not a place to hang out and relax.  Anyway, with a line of inquiry supplied by Jess, he found the problem.  Apparently a fitting has been slipping down from its correct position and with all the pounding from the trip across it came completely out of alignment.  It was not a super simple fix but it is now fixed.  We had been trying to figure out how we'd afford a new one so we're both happy sailors!  We plan to motor down to the Clearwater YC and sit for a few days, do laundry and use someone else' water to shower.

Going in deep.

Lots of stuff fits in there.  This is only some of what came out.

Working in tight spaces, a lot by feel only.

Levering the part back into alignment.

Just in case you wanted to see what it looks like all back in alignment.