Reminds me a bit of the time I was cruising along and the
throttle handle came off in my hand...my own damned fault
of course.

As for carrying tools & such "even on an new boat" I am reminded
of what a pilot friend once told me: The most dangerous time to
fly an aitcraft (from a mechanical perspective) is just before or
JUST AFTER maintenence is due. Obviously, if you are nearing
a maintenence period then something is more likely to be going
wrong. But also just after work is done there is a high likelyhood
that something was not hooked back up correctly or some tool was
left behind in a bad spot or some fluid was not replaces, etc., etc.

Seems that would apply to anything "new" too. New is probably
one of those times when the problems & bugs will show up.

Thanks for the story. Entertaining and made me give a little
thought to what could go wrong with my steering.