Stupid things you have done in boat repairs.

[jimi]

Cut a hole in a navpod for a plotter using the template upside down.

 

[Robin]

Cut a hole in a navpod for a plotter using the template upside down.

Only Ok on a Bavaria sans keel??

 

[jimi]

.. then cut the radar cable and carefully reattached the terminal to link to the plotter before realising I had forgotten to put the cable through the hole

 

[Robin]

our 'professional' installer fitted the new radome the wrong way round so it was looking backwards. It could have been corrected electronically at the display but every time there is a reset, it would have needed re-doing to compensate for the 180 deg error. I had to insist ( as in refusing to pay) that he physically rotated the scanner, something he was trying to avoid as he didn't like mast climbing.

 

[Nostrodamus]

Cut a hole in a navpod for a plotter using the template upside down.

Jimi... personally I think that is just one down from a Darwin award and you are the clear leader

 

[bikedaft]

I used to antifoul under the cradle supports by dropping thetwo forward ones with the aft ones in place, painting and then reversing the process by dropping the aft ones to paint under them but forgot to replace the forward ones first. Fortuntely it was a W333 which had a very wide bottom on the keel as the boat sat there quite happily. thereafter I always added a couple of extra struts but the yard heard of my first efforts (who snitched?) an banned owners from lowering cradle pads, fortunately they allowed me to do the pad areas thereafter with the boat sitting in slings overnight prior to launching next morning.

Associated boo -boo is to remember to put a sheet of polythene over any pads before replacing them against the hull as even paint seemingly dry to the touch is still soft enough to stick under 'load.

That gives me the shivers

Easy to do, but thought a lot of boats would fall forwards or aft a bit eg if alongside a pier ( tho clearly not yours!)

 

[Robin]

That gives me the shivers

Easy to do, but thought a lot of boats would fall forwards or aft a bit eg if alongside a pier ( tho clearly not yours!)

we were in the yard on our cradle with a strut under the bow and one under the stern, it was the side supports we dropped in pairs. long keelers with a cut away forefoot( feet?) would possibly tip forwards. the long fin keel on a westerly 33 however is very wide and flat at the bottom. Our current boat has a winged keel and also might be ok but we had it professionally antifouled and they did the cradle patches and wing keel bottom in the boatlift slings.

 

[bikedaft]

we were in the yard on our cradle with a strut under the bow and one under the stern, it was the side supports we dropped in pairs. long keelers with cut away forefott 9 feet?) would possibly tip forwards. the long fin keel on a westerly 33 is very wide and flat at the bottom. Our current boat has a winged keel and also might be ok but we had it professionally antifouled and they did the cradle patches and wing keel bottom in the boatlift slings.

Got you (stopped shivering!)

One of the many daft things i have done is struggle for an evening fitting beautifully curved car front suspension arm lower arms (curved to allow steering) but alas mixed up my left and right. Car had a turning circle of about 100feet...

 

[jimi]

my dad got something wrong when he rebuilt his car's gearbox .. he had 4 reverse gears and one forward.

 

[Seajet]

Once when on a holiday cruise in my Carter 30 I was becoming annoyed with a jamming seacock - why, I can't remember.

My crew is a very good engineer, so I bought a new seacock, assembled all the tools including a tapered plug.

Then I went over the side, and inserted the plug in the skin fitting at the waterline; communicating with bangs on the hull, he then took of the seacock and put the new one on; the drill was if a serious leak appeared, motor flat out and beach her.

We were on a deep water mooring in Fowey...it all went fine, but I still cringe and wonder why I did it !

 

[C08]

You gents might like to prevent a nasty accident here, by correcting a classic stupid assumption I'm about to make...is it okay, using a cola bottle to store acetone? No, seriously?

I'm going to move the Coke label and put big skulls & bones, and DO NOT DRINK under clear tape all round. But is the plastic bottle itself likely to wilt with acetone inside?

With all due respect this is an accident waiting to happen. It is very easy to just pick up a bottle and drink, particularly if you are thirsty and something with a very unique coke bottle shape is even worse. My friends father died having drunk battery acid from a lemonade bottle-and yes it was labelled.

 

[mjcoon]

my dad got something wrong when he rebuilt his car's gearbox .. he had 4 reverse gears and one forward.

Was it an Italian car? (Sorry, old WW-II joke!)

Mike.

 

[C08]

Replaced wheelhouse window with Poly at the front and Acrylic at the sides and finished it this weekend. All went well sealing and retaining screws fitted without a crack or slipped drill mark. Wanting to get the whhelhouse painted along with a an edging of paint on the windows to cover sealant visible through the window material I used water based exterior paint, as I had it and I am a bit sensitive to paint fumes. Unfortunately the next morning with a heavy dew I had milky dribble marks from where the dew had leached out a bit of colour and i also have adhesive residue marks from the masking tape I even though it was only on one hour!
Unfortunately I had to head off home and was not able to clean up the windows then so i have to work out what will clean off adhesive from acrylic and polycarbonate without chemically damaging the windows and also how to remove the water marking with a little paint in again without marking the material. I could just use window polishing goo but my fear is that any flecks of paint will be harder than the window, particularly the poly and scratch it-or i could just carefully use a stanley window scraper and then polish off. Any bright ideas on this will be much appreciated.

 

[itchenseadog]

Replaced wheelhouse window with Poly at the front and Acrylic at the sides and finished it this weekend. All went well sealing and retaining screws fitted without a crack or slipped drill mark. Wanting to get the whhelhouse painted along with a an edging of paint on the windows to cover sealant visible through the window material I used water based exterior paint, as I had it and I am a bit sensitive to paint fumes. Unfortunately the next morning with a heavy dew I had milky dribble marks from where the dew had leached out a bit of colour and i also have adhesive residue marks from the masking tape I even though it was only on one hour!
Unfortunately I had to head off home and was not able to clean up the windows then so i have to work out what will clean off adhesive from acrylic and polycarbonate without chemically damaging the windows and also how to remove the water marking with a little paint in again without marking the material. I could just use window polishing goo but my fear is that any flecks of paint will be harder than the window, particularly the poly and scratch it-or i could just carefully use a stanley window scraper and then polish off. Any bright ideas on this will be much appreciated.

Try white spirit for masking tape residue. dont use a stanley blade as I know to my cost when fitting a window for a client !

 

[Greenheart]

With all due respect this is an accident waiting to happen. It is very easy to just pick up a bottle and drink, particularly if you are thirsty and something with a very unique coke bottle shape is even worse. My friends father died having drunk battery acid from a lemonade bottle-and yes it was labelled.

That was my concern, and I reckon you're right. I'll decant the bottle-full back into the 5-litre can, after refilling the preposterously small 250ml can of acetone I bought last year.