Gadget thingies.......

[itsonlymoney]

Just got thinking about all the gadget thingies you can have onboard. I wonder what the most useless gadget to have onboard is, please no replys like "apart from the Mrs" cos I would NEVER say or think such a thing.
Here goes I will start us off.

No its no good I cant think of any but I bet YOU can.

Ian

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[mainshiptom]

My boat has city water intake, when in dock water pump switched off and water flows in from extrnal tap, so you can shower as long as you like or more like wash the dishes for as you long as she likes.

Tom

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[jhr]

Surely the whole point of owning a boat is to be able to blow lots of money on expensive and useless gadgets, to add to those that have been pre-installed for your delectation by the manufacturer?

Top of my list would be carpeting in the cockpit, as featured on most small sport boats. OK, I know it's not a gadget, but I can't see the point of it myself: so far as I can tell, all it does is to trap dirt and stop you cleaning the cockpit properly, whilst preventing you from getting quick access to the engine when something goes wrong. I took ours off the boat at the beginning of last winter and have never put it back.

I also wish that I'd never bought anything labelled "telescopic". Both of the things I've bought - brush and boathook - have seized solid after a month or so's use, presumably because they have come into contact with salt water. /forums/images/icons/crazy.gif

I actually find Mrs jhr quite useful as an emergency fender. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

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[MedDreamer]

Actually Ian I think we are pretty good at not cluttering our boat, I can't think of anything on board that I would not want.

I suppose at the moment my anchor rope is the most useless thing as there isn't an anchor on the end of it!

I hope the things I have on board that I don't need (and could therefore be deemed useless) are the fire extiguishers, life jackets, lifebuoy and flares.

Martyn

Actually, having thought about it I still have a copy of the Windermere bye-laws on my boat and a brush handle wirthout a head that fits.

It always amuses me the number of boats on Windermere with chartplotters and radar. Where do they think they are going?

Martyn




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[MedDreamer]

My boat came with a carpet for the Swimming platform! Now that was useless

Martyn

<hr width=100% size=1>Living the dream

 

[MedDreamer]

Strange Orange Plastic things

Both this boat and my previous 2655 came with a few bendy plastic orange cap/plug type thingys. They look like stoppers for something, are round and about 2" across and fit quite nicely into the slot in the cockpit sole where the table leg fits.

Now they may actually be quite important - exhaust covers perhaps, but as I don't know what they are for they are technically useless. Being a man however I have kept them in case they come in useful sometime.

Can anyone enlighten me?


Martyn

<hr width=100% size=1>Living the dream

 

[SparklyBlueThing]

Shagpile

What's everyone got against carpet? My sportsboat has a carpet... but its got a bit threadbare... so last week I bought 3 Flokati (white and very fluffy) rugs that come all the way from the land of Iykeeeyah. Laid out end to end from the engine cover into the bowrider they look very nice, in a James-Bondish kind of way, thank you!

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[Alistairr]

Re: Shagpile

Hear here!!!

Well said./forums/images/icons/wink.gif.



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[jhr]

So, Mr Bond...........

Are you sure the rugs are flokati, and not the pelts of several of Blofeld's hapless cats? /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

BTW, flokati rugs are good in their place (we have a couple of them on our otherwise uncarpeted bedroom floor at home, suitably secured against slipping) but I wonder if the cockpit of a boat is the right location. In my experience, when they get wet, they get all lumpy and smelly and, although they can be rejuvenated in the washing machine, they then clog up (a) the washing machine filter and (b) - if you are really lucky - your drains.

I have nothing against carpeting in the right place but, imho, the cockpit of a sportsboat isn't it, though I am prepared, in the interests of marital harmony, to allow a thin layer of carpet in the cabin. I know how to spoil a girl..........

<hr width=100% size=1>Je suis Marxiste - tendance Groucho

 

[jhr]

Re: Strange Orange Plastic things

Aha! I suspect the strange orange plastic things are there as an emergency gag for SWMBO, in case she ever gets tempted to try and replicate her role in the car, as a back seat driver. /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

Hope Mrs jhr never sees this - and previous - posting, or I may be singing alto in the choir. /forums/images/icons/crazy.gif

<hr width=100% size=1>Je suis Marxiste - tendance Groucho

 

[jhr]

Re: Shagpile

Better than leopardskin, I suppose /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

<hr width=100% size=1>Je suis Marxiste - tendance Groucho

 

[DavidJ]

Without doubt my Maplin weather station for £15. Can't help but look at it and it is always wrong.

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[boatone]

those round flying saucer type television aerials

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[Jim44]

You mean like a childrens patio set, two chairs and a brolley. Would not take the boat out without it !!!!! Never have seen it used yet

Still trying to work out why SHE bought it, when we have seating and a table already built-in.





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[extravert]

I can plug my phone into my boat instruments. This allows me to record boat data as I go along all day. Then when I get home I can download it onto a computer, and relive the experience all over again. Useless or what?

<hr width=100% size=1>Summer is what you expect - rain is what you get.

 

[SparklyBlueThing]

Re: So, Mr Bond...........

The rugs come in handy for ejecting unwanted passengers, a bit like the ejector seat in Sean Connery’s DB5. Here’s how it works: Wait for unwanted passenger to stand on the specially slippy part of the rug, then hit throttle hard. Result: Unwanted passenger does a graceful somersault over the back of the boat landing harmlessly in the drink.

Simultaneously exercising a smooth turn to port can add a twist to the exiting body’s trajectory, but it’s tricky to get right.

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[SparklyBlueThing]

Re: Shagpile

Funnily enough... the seat vinyl is a bit cracked in places, so I was thinking of getting some stretch covers run up. Dunno about leopard skin, but there are some rather tasty dalmation prints about... or maybe a piebald pony print...

Anyone know a good supplier of furry dice?

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[DogStar]

Re: Shagpile

Is the name of your boat "Bett Lynch" by any chance?

I have an old DF (Direction Finder) antenna going through my wheelhouse roof. Its a 2ft metal hoop on the outside on a spindle that has a hand wheel and compass rose on the inside, against the ceiling. I can see how it would have worked.. if the huge old radio unit it must have been attached to was still there. It only use is as a handy web frame for intrepid spiders.

<hr width=100% size=1>I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy!

 

[boatone]

Re: Direction Finder Mk 1

now that really was radio navigation at its most exciting. Actually used one of those for real and very effective they were too........very interactive /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif
....cant possibly designate that as a useless gadget.....have u thought of mounting tv antenna on it so you can aim from indoors?

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[DogStar]

Re: Direction Finder Mk 1

Heaven forbid! If I had a TV aboard, that would definitely have qualified as my most useless gadget! I had thought of keeping a big bucket of soapy water handy for when the wind is astern, so I can send a stream of huge bubbles sailing over the water..

Seriously, though, it could be made to work again, couldn't it? Aren't there still a few radio beacons transmitting DF signals? Or did I imagine hearing that? It does make a lot of sense, just turning the wheel until it the signal is at its strongest....

<hr width=100% size=1>I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy!