Usless items you have bought?

[Nostrodamus]

Various “yacht” book that advertise themselves as indispensible.
I like to go out sailing but following the books advice I would make various checks on everything mechanical, the boat, passage planning, weather, etc, etc .
Four hours of checks and planning just to get to the fuel pontoon!

 

[Conachair]

Not only useless but downright dangerous.

A calendar.

 

[RivalRedwing]

Cruising books for areas that I thought would be nice to visit (but never have)

 

[Seven Spades]

A stainless steel outboard lock.

I bought stainless steel lock because the pervious version rusted being painted black steel(came with the boat). Problem solved.. not a bit the lock mechanism used was also made of steel not brass to it rusted solid and I have to drill it out a complete wast of £50.

Outboard is not kept in locker.

 

[Csail]

A leadline. Still in the sealed bag I bought it in 6 years ago.

A rope cutter (the sort that fits next to your prop). To my knowledge it has never seen any action, but has cost me lots of money (original purchase, maintenance and repair).

Fishing gear. Never caught any mackerel. Obvious that's because we're always going to fast for the fish to keep up!

They would out run most boats!

 

[Csail]

Sea searcher magnet and drouge.

 

[Elessar]

like an idiot I cut the hole to fit it in so it has to stay - but its only use is to fill the hole.

it never ever displays anything useful like in this advertising shot.

 

[Ubergeekian]

Go downstream to the estuary, then you can get some value out of it by asking for a radio check.

Better still, wait for someone else to ask for a radio check and then give a quiet, muffled, indistinct reply.

 

[Touchwood]

A nice black alloy tiller extension.....

Not sure it really qualifies as there's nothing wrong with it - just I never got round to fitting it to the Mirror dinghy I had when I bought it, or any of the subsequent dinghies I owned. It moved house with us in 1987, kicked about in the garage/utility room/loft for many years, found its way recently into SWMBO's "to be thrown out" pile, but I rescued it. It's now propped in a corner in the dining room. One day........

 

[Angele]

How do you calibrate your depth sounder then??

'twas done for me when I bought the boat new. I asked them how they did it and they said they just drove her gently onto the mud in Chichester Harbour and then set it to read zero!

I don't make a habit of running aground, so I can't tell for certain whether it is still correctly calibrated. The lowest I have seen it read is 0.3m and in those cases I knew the depth would be marginal (e.g. going up to the Folly on LW springs). Anyhow, if it is under reading that is the way round I would prefer.

Once these things are calibrated, I don't think they need to be regularly redone in the way that logs and wind indicators do.

 

[Malo37]

An electric dinghy inflator - impulse purchase, 1/10th of the size it appeared in the ad, has to be connected directly to battry due to current but only has 2m leads. Usless

 

[prv]

An electric dinghy inflator - impulse purchase, 1/10th of the size it appeared in the ad, has to be connected directly to battry due to current but only has 2m leads. Usless

I'll have it if you don't want it

Pete

 

[Twister_Ken]

I'll have it if you don't want it

Pete

Why? Have you got an electric dinghy?

 

[Woodlouse]

I've never found a decent deck brush that doesn't break within the first few uses, or leave bristles around the boat.

Shurhold is your friend.

 

[Nostrodamus]

Various apps for the I Phone.
I then put the phone somewhere safe so it will not get we or damaged and never use any of the apps. They did look useful at the time though.

 

[prv]

Various apps for the I Phone.
I then put the phone somewhere safe so it will not get we or damaged and never use any of the apps.

I rely massively on the tide app. Obviously I have an almanac on board too, but since getting the app I've never used the book for tides while sailing. Only exception is for planning stuff weeks in advance, which the UKHO won't let the app do.

Pete

 

[Scotty_Tradewind]

o.k.items but useless to me...

I ordered some quality s/s jubilee type fastenings on line.
Thought I was getting 250 mm circumference didn't I !!?? Numpty!

 

[DaveS]

o.k.items but useless to me...

I ordered some quality s/s jubilee type fastenings on line.
Thought I was getting 250 mm circumference didn't I !!?? Numpty!

I take it you now have a stock of 250 mm diameter clips? Irritating, I agree, but if you now have clips about three times as long as you need, can't you just cut off two thirds of the tails?

 

[prv]

if you now have clips about three times as long as you need, can't you just cut off two thirds of the tails?

The screw threads often don't run down the whole thing, so if you cut them too short you just end up with a plain steel band.

Pete

 

[smth448]

I'm amazed. All these replies and only one vote for antifouling.
Surely it has to be the most useless stuff any of us have bought over the years.