Gadgets and bits you bought but never fitted

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

Over the years I have bought lots of bits and pieces for various sailing yachts I have owned. I still have in my garage bits for engines, rigging, and all kinds of accessories and sails that I have never managed to install, for a number of reasons. Am I in the minority or you lot are as bad as I am?

 

[Poignard]

Probably as bad.
Pride of place goes to an anchor chain stopper.
Oh, and the SSB receiver.
And.......... so on...

 

[LadyInBed]

About ten odd years ago I bought a VHF with a red button, on offer in Guernsey, as my old one sans red button was getting a bit old.
It never got fitted - the old one is still going strong.
I understand that you can no longer do a conversion course!

 

[RupertW]

About ten odd years ago I bought a VHF with a red button, on offer in Guernsey, as my old one sans red button was getting a bit old.
It never got fitted - the old one is still going strong.
I understand that you can no longer do a conversion course!

I had one of those morse controls with a red button in the centre for neutral - but the plastic red bit was worn through and the handle a bit chipped and scarred, so I bought brand new Morse control for over £100. Tried to get the old one off the boat but it was seized so, just temporarily, I swapped the little red plastic button over and used a black permanent marker to cover up the scars on the main handle. That was 5 years ago.

 

[johnalison]

I can't offhand think of any gadgets lying unused, but some years ago we became apprehensive about our marina neighbour's lack of competence and bought a dirty great ball fender to deploy off our quarter when off the boat. Unfortunately, it was so large that there was no locker it would go in, and it wouldn't even pass the door to the forecabin and had to be taken back to the car each time we wanted to go out. I'm not sure what purpose it serves in the garage, but it looks nice.

 

[pvb]

When I bought my current boat in 2014, I had a crazy idea that it would be great to have LED "mood lighting" around the floor area of the main cabin. So I bought some multicolour LED ribbon stuff, with a remote control thingy, and tested it. Wow, it worked fine, but installing it was going to involve crawling around glueing the stuff to the bottom edge of the furniture, so I put it away in a locker, where it still remains.

 

[zoidberg]

Gadgets and bits you bought but never fitted

Have I ever!

I have a polytunnel, 32' x 19' x 9', just about bulked-out wi' the stuff. Yon 'Tom' offered to bring a parcel van and help me clear it out. He seriously under-estimated the volume.

I have 5 outboards at one point. Seven anchors. Old and new rigging screws, and wire sets. Chain. More chain. Rope. More rope. What would you like?

 

[Birdseye]

Over the years I have bought lots of bits and pieces for various sailing yachts I have owned. I still have in my garage bits for engines, rigging, and all kinds of accessories and sails that I have never managed to install, for a number of reasons. Am I in the minority or you lot are as bad as I am?

If you are, its a minority of 2.

 

[Sandy]

Over the years I have bought lots of bits and pieces for various sailing yachts I have owned. I still have in my garage bits for engines, rigging, and all kinds of accessories and sails that I have never managed to install, for a number of reasons. Am I in the minority or you lot are as bad as I am?

Thankfully, I don't have anything onboard that does not have at least two uses. If only the kettle would boil water and make the tea.

 

[mjcoon]

I can't offhand think of any gadgets lying unused, but some years ago we became apprehensive about our marina neighbour's lack of competence and bought a dirty great ball fender to deploy off our quarter when off the boat. Unfortunately, it was so large that there was no locker it would go in, and it wouldn't even pass the door to the forecabin and had to be taken back to the car each time we wanted to go out. I'm not sure what purpose it serves in the garage, but it looks nice.

Probably needs a grandchild to turn it into a globe, or a cartoon of a grandparent...

 

[RAI]

I confess to a sextant that has barely ever been out of its box. It was however a gift from a yachtie who had owned it unused for 30 years. I've added another 18 years of unuse.

 

[bitbaltic]

I’ve bought one or two odd bits (new deck fillers because I had damaged the caps for the old ones, only to find they were essentially impossible to remove, which resulted in a long and eventually successful search for the plastimo caps at which point I bought six) but useless things can easily enough be rebayed.

still waiting to fit the automatic bulge pump I bought three years ago but one day....

 

[Tam Lin]

I was given a tide clock as a present. It is still in its box.

 

[Kelpie]

This thread would be a wonderful starting point for a swap shop. I wouldn't say no to a new morse lever or an SSB receiver...

I've managed to collect three identical outboards. One came with the new boat, one was my old one whose carb had gone walkabout. I spotted a non-runner for £50 spares or repair and snapped it up hoping to get the carb off it. Before stripping it I gave it a quick go in a wheelie bin... and it ran. Needed a new plug to work reliably, but after that was as sweet as a nut. Great result, except now I still needed a carb...

Unused stuff that was bought brand new includes a roll of that non slip matting for tabletops, and a silly folding stove-top toaster that doesn't seem to work any better than a dry frying pan.

 

[robmcg]

still waiting to fit the automatic bulge pump

Another waste of time Ann Summers purchase? ?

 

[bitbaltic]

This thread would be a wonderful starting point for a swap shop. I wouldn't say no to a new morse lever or an SSB receiver...

I've managed to collect three identical outboards. One came with the new boat, one was my old one whose carb had gone walkabout. I spotted a non-runner for £50 spares or repair and snapped it up hoping to get the carb off it. Before stripping it I gave it a quick go in a wheelie bin... and it ran. Needed a new plug to work reliably, but after that was as sweet as a nut. Great result, except now I still needed a carb...

Unused stuff that was bought brand new includes a roll of that non slip matting for tabletops, and a silly folding stove-top toaster that doesn't seem to work any better than a dry frying pan.

I once viewed a boat that had that non-slip matting left under placemats for ?years and the combo had bubbled the veneer off the table probably due to relentless condensation.

I’ve got the silly folding toaster though and it seems quite good!

 

[bitbaltic]

Another waste of time Ann Summers purchase? ?

Impossible to waste time or money on that ?

 

[Porthandbuoy]

I bought a Lofrans Royal manual windlass. Never got round to fitting it due to limited space on the foredeck and regret not doing so every time I have to retrieve the anchor by hand.
I've a plastic tub full of 1GM10 water pump impellers as I change them annually and always keep the old ones as 'spare'.

 

[RupertW]

Thankfully, I don't have anything onboard that does not have at least two uses. If only the kettle would boil water and make the tea.

And that’s the other side of the coin. I have multiple backups for one use. For example I wanted a boat with two heads in case one broke, I have three ways of keeping food cold (engine belt driven fridge plate, 12v plate and an ice maker through inverter, three ways of heating water (mains, engine and solar), two linear autohelm rams, 3 fluxgate compasses, and 7 spatulas.

I know the boat would be a lot bigger and a lot faster if I didn’t.

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

This thread would be a wonderful starting point for a swap shop. I wouldn't say no to a new morse lever or an SSB receiver...

Swap Shop is a great idea and I am sure a lot of us will welcome it.