Here's a handy tip

[Scotty_Tradewind]

My elderly friend, now suffering a little from memory loss couldn't start the motor to get out of the harbour.
After hours of trying he called a mechanic and still it couldn't be started.
My wife who is a complete mechanical luddite said in all naivity, "you have switched the main engine isolator switch on I suppose?"....... woops!!

 

[dt4134]

When you've got a jammed spinny halyard and send a bow monkey up the mast to spike the shackle, remember to let him down again, otherwise the next beat might be interrupted by a voice from the heavens saying "Oi, what about me".

 

[RobF]

When fitting a new outboard motor with shiny new alternator for some battery charging, ensure that the alternator is more than 4cm from the fluxgate compass for the tiller-pilot. If you don't, the tiller pilot will send you round in circles every time you start the engine

 

[DownWest]

Don't leave your young brother on the helm while running with too much sail up off Beachy Head.....not if you don't like seeing the cabin windows turn green and then scraping breakfast out of the forepeak...

When refitting the gearbox, do not be surprised how much oil it needs if you forget the drain plug...

 

[GrahamD]

When you go down below to pack a spinnaker in a hurry because it needs to go up again quickly, and you remove your lifejacket to enable you to do the job more easily, check the spinny bag before you pass it back up on deck. Lifejackets can fly.

 

[bromleybysea]

What a wonderful thread! Mine is- make sure that the outlet seacock is open before you pump the heads on a new charter. The sight of the skipper appearing in the cockpit covered in sh*t does nothing for the crew's confidence! And a raw carrot is a poor substitute for the safety valve on a pressure cooker. And you really do need to pierce the lid of a tinned sponge pudding before you put it in the oven! ( the last two were crew members on OYC ketches, but still bring a tear to the eye of an old OYC mate.)

 

[westernman]

My elderly friend, now suffering a little from memory loss couldn't start the motor to get out of the harbour.
After hours of trying he called a mechanic and still it couldn't be started.
My wife who is a complete mechanical luddite said in all naivity, "you have switched the main engine isolator switch on I suppose?"....... woops!!

On the fuel berth, I could not start the engine. It had always started immediately at the turn of the key - but it just did not want to go.

Eventually it fired up with the throttle open halfway. After parking in the berth, I went to turn the engine off and found the stop handle was still pulled halfway out!

 

[Scotty_Tradewind]

When you've just redone a whole lot of caulking on the teak foredeck, tell/warn swmbo. Otherwise you'll be the one that gets the blame if she's walked all over it and there are now black shoe marks all over everything.... Just happed this w/e

 

[westernman]

Here's a tip that a mobo owner I spotted last year might like to pass on:
When leaving a pontoon with a burst of power & waving to your friends, it is a good idea to unplug your boat from the shore power first

Too late. Already done that. Good job nobody was in the water at the time the broken live end dropped in.

 

[emandvee44]

My wife is very efficient on board our yacht, but does not always tell me what jobs she has in hand.
Kettle de-scaling fluid makes horrible tea.

Michael.

 

[chewi]

When you go down below to pack a spinnaker in a hurry because it needs to go up again quickly, and you remove your lifejacket to enable you to do the job more easily, check the spinny bag before you pass it back up on deck. Lifejackets can fly.

+1
so can vhf radios if you're not lucky enough that they speak to you from the turtle first.

 

[DownWest]

My wife is very efficient on board our yacht, but does not always tell me what jobs she has in hand.
Kettle de-scaling fluid makes horrible tea.

Michael.

Yes, I had two cups with curdled milk, before it dawned on me. But I was the one who had put it in. Wife topped that by putting Roses Lime Juice in the steam iron. Never got the smell out.

 

[Touchwood]

When attempting to free the yacht from an inconvenient mud bank with a short handled mop as the only implement on board to push off with, lower the sails first. Otherwise when you succeed in pushing off and (inevitably) fall in at the same time, the yacht will sail merrily off with an inexperienced and panicking crew member at the helm, towing you behind it trying to shout instructions through mouthfuls of Norfolk Broads mud. Anyone witnessing this will inexplicably be reduced to tears of laughter.

 

[westernman]

When attempting to free the yacht from an inconvenient mud bank with a short handled mop as the only implement on board to push off with, lower the sails first. Otherwise when you succeed in pushing off and (inevitably) fall in at the same time, the yacht will sail merrily off with an inexperienced and panicking crew member at the helm, towing you behind it trying to shout instructions through mouthfuls of Norfolk Broads mud. Anyone witnessing this will inexplicably be reduced to tears of laughter.

I would love to see some photos!!

 

[Scotty_Tradewind]

When you refit all of the four hatches with plenty of sealant and think you've done a great job, test they are watertight.
Play a hose over them BEFORE you pack up for the night and sleep under them in a storm!

 

[flaming]

When you approach an unknown harbour, and there's a moored dredger filling almost the entire channel, and you very carefully and gingerly pass the wrong side of the big rock mounted channel markers on the way in, finding plenty of water....

Don't assume, on deciding not to stay in said harbour and leaving 5 minutes later, that those markers were "for big ships" and you can safely charge out at 5 knots on the same track you came in on.

Someone will have put a very solid rock ledge in your way. (And no, it wasn't shown in enough detail on the chart, or picked up by the sounder on the way in...)

 

[jhr]

One for moboers:

Outdrive exhaust bellows can be easily and conveniently removed for replacement if you start the engine with the outdrive lifted up, and a bit of welly on the throttle.

 

[flaming]

If your spinnaker pole protrudes over your bow, then be careful leaving the jaws open during racing.

Guardrails of other boats are just as good as ropes for making the jaws snap shut, and joining two boats in this way does not end well....

 

[Twister_Ken]

If your spinnaker pole protrudes over your bow, then be careful leaving the jaws open during racing.

Guardrails of other boats are just as good as ropes for making the jaws snap shut, and joining two boats in this way does not end well....

If, at a mark rounding, your are thumped by a spinnaker halyard flying loose, do not grab it and attach it to your guard rail. It might not be from your boat.

 

[emandvee44]

If you are dismantling a winch for maintenance while on the water, tape an old plastic bag or sheet of polythene outboard of the winch and to the guardwires to catch the bits !

Michael.