Which one job do you hate the most (revisited)

demonboy

demonboy

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A month or two back I posted up a survey on the liveaboard forum asking people which one job they hate the most. I got some great responses but not enough votes on the survey to make it meaningful. I'm still considering writing an article out of the results so if you haven't yet voted I'd be very grateful of your mouse-click.

SURVEY HERE

Thank you!
 
Intermittent faults where you have to take the whole boat apart and then to find out it wasnt what you thought
 
I just ran the cable for my new GPS antenna through my lazarette which involves curling up in the cockpit and working both arms and shoulders through a hatch about 300x400mm. Every time you need to lay hands on, say a tool you haven't already pre-placed or an extra cable tie you have to go through the whole contortion again. At my age I should really train up a grandchild for such tasks...
 
Makes getting at my deck/hull fastenings in the anchor locker seem fairly straightforward - I'm sure to be talking about it during the next visit to the boat in June /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Until I got my Pela oil-changer it used to be the bi-annual oil change.

Now I suspect it's trying to correct the wiring problems caused by the builder's appalling method of wiring the boat (using car-wiring tab connectors). The wiring is all in the most inaccessible positions, usually gel-coated in and I can't see, can't get in to handle and (having arthritis) can't manipulate the it.

Second to that is correcting leaks in the high-pressure water system.

However the feeling of triumph, when one succeeds is tremendous!!!

Guess what I've been doing during the last 2 weeks.
 
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I just ran the cable for my new GPS antenna through my lazarette which involves curling up in the cockpit and working both arms and shoulders through a hatch about 300x400mm. Every time you need to lay hands on, say a tool you haven't already pre-placed or an extra cable tie you have to go through the whole contortion again. At my age I should really train up a grandchild for such tasks...

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I've tried. They seem singularly uninterested after the age of 7 and under that they're very willing but not particularly safe.

Having done so many (cable from stern to athwartships nav station) I've now a fairly effective, if curse-inducing, system involving a permanently rigged messenger line through the conduit - only drawback the conduit now needs changing, being of insufficient X-section. How about a local WLAN? Tick-Tack are tiptoeing towards it.

Interesting post many years ago, from someone doing precisely what you were doing, who'd had the cockpit locker trap him when it fell shut.
Fortunately he had his mobile phone, so he was able to phone his wife, to phone the yard manager, who came down and let him out.
 
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I just ran the cable for my new GPS antenna through my lazarette which involves curling up in the cockpit and working both arms and shoulders through a hatch about 300x400mm. Every time you need to lay hands on, say a tool you haven't already pre-placed or an extra cable tie you have to go through the whole contortion again. At my age I should really train up a grandchild for such tasks...

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Older boats - squeezing head first into an under cockpit 1/4 berth ... then finding a) you can't turn or get arm at the work b) as you say forgot a tool or item !!
 
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Interesting post many years ago, from someone doing precisely what you were doing, who'd had the cockpit locker trap him when it fell shut.
Fortunately he had his mobile phone, so he was able to phone his wife, to phone the yard manager, who came down and let him out.

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A locker yer can get yer whole body into? Luxury! When I were a lad we 'ad to keep us winch 'andles down t'back of oor troosers.... etc.
 
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Your link gives survey results, not the survey form.

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I'm such a dunce, of course it does! Doh! Apologies. Thanks for the replies everyone.
 
Going aloft.
Last season I lost the end of a foresail halyard because a friend pulled the wrong end. Finally ashore this winter I went up and re-threaded it through the block. I lashed a ladder against the shrouds. It was only about 20 feet off the ground, but I was shaking from the experience.
 
Taking apart and putting together again the Henderson mV pump for the toilet because I always heard a hissing sound from it as if air escaping.

After the third time (replacing parts, adding vaseline, testing every time with water, emptying etc.) I tried hearing through a tube to identify where the sound came from.

You guessed it, from the hose loop behind the upholstery which made the air suction sound as if coming from the pump. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
My worst so far was servicing the rope clutches on my Westerly Storm. Looked simple enough...

First, remove the headlining panels which allowed several acres of rotten foam backed vinyl to fall off and envelope me in its sticky embrace.

Second, chisel away the layers of fibreglass bonding the aft bulkhead in to gain access to the nuts /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Third, try to undo nuts with socket wrench whilst holding screwdriver in slot of screw inside the clutch. This would be easy with an assistant but I didn't have one so it was a nightmare. The screws had been ground off with an angle grinder as well so getting the nuts off the chewed thread was nearly impossible. Throw the wash from passing boats into the mix and it's enough to make you start smoking again.

And then to dismantle them, replace broken casings, rebuild them and then re-attach them to the boat which was as bad as getting them off with some silicone sealant and problems with different screw lengths thrown in.

Ah well at least they look nice and shiny again and were hardly worn after 20 years /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
 
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