Ripped off in its entirety from:

http://www.word-detective.com/back-g2.html
Caught in the rigging.

Dear Word Detective: I'm curious about the word "jerryrig," as in to make do
with materials on hand. I recently saw it spelled "juryrig," but the context
seemed to be the same. Is the correct spelling "jerry" or "jury" and what is
the origin of the word? What, if anything, does it have to do with a rigged
jury? -- Jill Fitzpatrick, via the Internet.

Not much, if anything. Then again, some of the juries running around out
there these days could probably do with a little jury-rigging, perhaps a
little money under the table for paying attention to the simple facts of the
case. Between turning certain people loose in the face of mountains of
evidence and fining other folks millions of dollars for lying on their job
applications, juries are rather rapidly reaching a level of credibility
formerly attained only by UFOlogists and mail-order psychics.

In any case, the "jury-rig" (it is usually hyphenated) you're asking about
has nothing whatever to do with juries in the judicial sense. "Jury" was
originally a naval term for any makeshift contrivance substituting for the
real thing in an emergency, most commonly found in the term "jury-mast," a
temporary mast constructed in place of one that had been broken. There's
some debate about where the word "jury" in this sense came from, with the
leading (but unverified) theory being that it was short for "injury."

To say that something is "jerryrigged" is to mix idioms a bit, because the
proper term is "jerrybuilt." A "jerrybuilder," a term dating to 19th-century
England, was originally a house builder who constructed flimsy homes from
inferior materials. The "jerry" in the term may have been a real person
known for the practice, or may be a mangled form of "jury," as in
"jury-rigged." I tend to think that "jerrybuilt" arose separately from
"jury-rig" simply because their senses are slightly different. Something
that is "jury-rigged" is concocted on the spur of the moment to meet an
emergency, but something "jerrybuilt" is deliberately constructed of
inferior materials to turn a quick buck.

Er... it ain't Friday yet (here), but it should be by the time most of you
read this, no?
Cya,
Robert

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joy Hecht" <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, September 23, 2004 8:32 PM
Subject: pretend it's already Friday (was RE: Spare-tire Pan Bolt Spec

> English question:  Should this snip from the email below:
>
> :::Right now I have a
> :::jury-rigged wire holding things up
>
>
> say "jury-rigged" or "gerry-rigged?" or "jerry-rigged?"
>
> jury-rigged - as in rigging a jury
>
> gerry-rigged - as in gerrymandering, which would of course be quite
> appropriate for this list - Gerry, I mean, not elections.
>
> jerry-rigged - doesn't relate to anything, I think.  Jerry cans?  I don't
> know what they are anyway.
>
> Sorry, I'm sometimes a bit of a word geek...  In eastern Canada it's
> already
> Friday, I think, even though somewhere west of Minneapolis, where I am
> right
> now (in a rather nice state park at which I am the ONLY camper!), I
> believe
> it's still Thursday.
>
>
>
> Joy
>
> ****************************************************************
> Joy Hecht
> and Matilda, 1989 Burgundy Vanagon
>
> For musings about life and the vanadventures:
> http://users.rcn.com/jhecht/gypsy
>
> ****************************************************************
>
> :::-----Original Message-----
> :::From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
> :::Of gary hradek
> :::Sent: Thursday, September 23, 2004 10:06 AM
> :::To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> :::Subject: Spare-tire Pan Bolt Spec
> :::
> :::I believe busdepot may have something.
> :::gary
> :::http://www.busdepot.com/details.jsp?partnumber=N90920501
> :::Date:    Wed, 22 Sep 2004 22:48:58 -0400
> :::From:    Barry Muller <ekab_muller@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
> :::Subject: Spare-tire Pan Bolt Spec
> :::
> :::Hello All,
> :::
> :::The other day, while replacing the radiator on my '91
> :::Carat I mislaid,
> :::er lost, the bolt that holds the front of the spare
> :::tire pan to the
> :::frame.  Does anyone know the specs of that bolt?
> :::Right now I have a
> :::jury-rigged wire holding things up.  Sure don't want
> :::that to fail at
> :::highway speeds!
> :::
> :::Thanks in advance,
> :::
> :::Barry