Just happen to see your video. Made me smile and remember all the crazy things I encountered when I bought my first sailboat with no experience. I learned so much in the last 14 years and now on my 3rd boat a 39 foot one that I sailed to La Paz Mexico from San Pedro. Remember it’s 4 hours of bliss while sailing and 15 minutes of Terror at some point. Ha ha. Enjoy your new boat

I think I spotted your problem. Your rudder has been installed the wrong way around. I have just looked at your haul out video. When the boat came out of the water the rudder was correct, later in the video your rudder was backwards. This is probably the reason the tiller tried to snatch out of your hand as the water was trying to push by the rudder. Let me know if you agree. Excellent vids. All the best, Paul. 👍🏻⛵

When drilling start the drill bit rotating before you touch the surface....😊 keep pumping out the vids...

well done brother, good to see someone else learning as they go AND being an average Joe ! love it! still awaiting my project boat, will be good for stress relief therapy LOL.... am watching several cheap boats at moment, just had major life changes (wifes health) so no surplus cash. but there are a few with trailers that ppl only want $300 to $500 for, awaiting where someone wants it gone for 100 or less ( 24 ft o'day is on that list!l mao..new fan here and btw,,,,at almost 60 I can telll you with clear hindsight. you will NEVER be able to replace those practices and games and quality time. I missed MANY,,too many. I PROMISE you it will pay off a hundredfold when theyre older, our "Baby" is just 29 hahaa,,,but brought things to my attention a while back that I took for granted or as trivial. but to the kids, it means the world.....God, Family, work, country... seems like ya got it locked up brother !! peace and God Bless

Right after the tiller broke off, it seems to do a complete 180. All the (5) nuts are back on the port side. What's confusing is What was holding the (upside down) tiller high enough to clear the seats, if the tiller bracket hinge bolt hole was on the forward side? I would think the hinge bolt hole would need to be Aft in order for the tiller to stay high enough to clear the seats. I am definitely overthinking this! lol Thanks Matt For some reason I thought you were keeping her in Ventura. I have a close friend with an old Columbia 29 in this (CI) Peninsula marina, but he's hauled out up at Derecktor this week.

Good video, learning as we go!

seems like your rudder was pointing the wrong way around. Notice the tiller is turned upside down just before it breaks. Getting forward motion suddenly puts a lot of pressure on the rudder trying to get pointed the right way (back away from the boat) - you of course pulled back on the tiller but it had weakened and broke...

You're doing great. I had one break on me and I was able to jam the broken end in to get back. You might check to see why the tiller broke (rotted or just weak) and maybe drill new holes in the old one for a backup. I didn't see anything you did wrong and it probably gave way before you corrected. Any trip you make it back without loss of life or limb is a successful outing.

Know what you mean Bro

Attempting to repair the tiller was not the best idea. Buy a couple used … always good to have a backup

Try tightening the bolts without any washers… see if the bracket closes up on the tiller stock

Wood rot.

I can't speak exactly what's going on with your rudder. However, I would suggest NEVER drilling on the cockpit sole, without something to stop that bit from going through. You have enough holes in the boat. Otherwise keep working it. So having had an older boat, concentrate on the following in this order. Structural (address rot, leaks, and ANY potential for sinking, including through hulls), mechanical, standing rigging running rigging, and THEN aesthetics. Everyone wants to polish and make look nice first. Remember, if you are cleaning or waxing or compounding, take FIVE BIG STEPS away from the boat. If you can't see it, no one else can either.