Dumb things I've done on my boat.

[Tonic]

I thought this might be an amusing topic as well as somewhat informative.* I'll go first...

My boat came with a power-up/freefall type windlass (including the wrong size chain for the gypsey, as I found out).* After a less-than-satisfactory attempt at anchoring in a crowded moorage, and much jamming on retrieval, I decided that, in order to save both my marriage and the boat, I needed a self-launching system, remotely controlled, up and down system.

So...new windlass, remote switches at both helms, chain stop, bow roller, mooring bit, chain, etc, etc.* During this I had to make and install a new beefy backing plate for the windlass and mooring bit.* Here's where it (I) got stupid.*

I thought I was ready and applied a very liberal amount of marine caulk to the backing plate to bed it to the underside of the chain locker.* I then realized I needed to do one more thing and carefully propped the plate at an angle forward in the locker.* When I next wriggled my way, on my back, into the chain locker I somehow managed to forget what was where and firmly pressed my head, hair and scalp right into the gooey mess.* One of those immediate "Oh ****!* I wish I hadn't done that" moments.*

I forced myself to continue the install until I had all bolts tightened.* When I eventually emerged, my slip neighbor, who was helping me from above, found the sight of me quite amusing.* The top of my head looked like a lemon meringue pie.* I drove home and gave myself an emergency buzz cut in my workshop to get the worst of it.*

Just so you know...I would not recommend SikaFlex as a hair product.

Next?



-- Edited by Tonic on Tuesday 24th of August 2010 04:24:53 PM

 

[Woodsong]

hahaha- ok. that is funny. that will be hard to top!

 

[Tonic]

Sadly, I'm almost 100% certain it won't be the last stupid thing I will do.* I would, however, like to avoid the scenario in the following photo.* That was in yesterday's local paper and I found it on-line today.* How many times can you put on a brave "Yes, I'm an idiot" smile for the passing boats?

The caption even names the boat and the owner, which I think is just adding insult.* I'll blank that bit out.

"Dxxxxx Wxxxxx", a 43-foot, 2009 power boat, became stranded on Snake Rock at Matts Matts Bay, near Port Ludlow, WA. on Sunday, August 22, 2010. The boat is registered to xxxxxxx. and it's hailing port is Port Ludlow."

FYI, according to the newspaper, they did manage to float it off at the next high tide and have it towed in for repairs.

 

[Larry M]

Tonic:* Great picture!* How did he end up there?*

Not a good time to clean the bottom.

Larry/Lena
Hobo KK42
La Paz, BCS, MX

 

[Tonic]

Larry M wrote:

Tonic:* Great picture!* How did he end up there?*

Not a good time to clean the bottom.

Larry/Lena
Hobo KK42
La Paz, BCS, MX

The article was a bit limited, but they made it sound like he simply drove the boat onto the rock during a lowering tide when the rock was covered.* Looking at a chart and the photo (possibly taken from shore) I would guess that he was on his way out, unless he got spun around.* It does look like a nasty unmarked "protuberance" into the channel out of Port Ludlow, but still...it is charted and it was the boat's home port.* No word on who was driving.*

-- Edited by Tonic on Tuesday 24th of August 2010 08:25:54 PM

-- Edited by Tonic on Tuesday 24th of August 2010 08:27:42 PM

 

[hollywood8118]

That rock is in my back yard so to speak... every year someone does that very same trick..I am a bit suprised a "local" managed it!. A few years ago a buddy that was singlehanding his boat hit the same rock and fortunately didnt end up highand dry... just a few scratches and a bruised ego... this from a sailor that has circumnavigated and is currently crossing the pacific for the third time... so don't ever think it " will never happen to me".
For the record the rocks are not marked really as good as it should and it may have been foggy that morning....ouch!
HOLLYWOOD

 

[Marin]

The link to these photos and the article was posted on the GB owners forum the other day. One of the members had a good follow up comment. He says he always carries a can of bottom paint so that if he should ever end up in this predicament he can walk around the bottom of the boat dabbing paint on the bottom and acting like he meant to do this all along so as to touch up his bottom paint.

There was a lot of speculation on the forum as to how the boat managed to end up on the rock as it's apparently clearly marked, but to date I've not seen anything definitive.* The question was raised as to whether the boat might have been put on autopilot a bit too soon.

We heard on the VHF over the weekend that there was fog in parts of the Sound on some of the mornings although I don't know if there was any in the Port Ludlow area.

See, I keep telling you people that boating up here is dangerous as hell and to not come up here unless you want to end up like this guy.* We all do it on a regular basis.... in fact some rocks and reefs you have to make reservations to hit.


-- Edited by Marin on Tuesday 24th of August 2010 09:11:38 PM

 

[Peter B]

Was that why you removed your autopilot when you bought your GB, Marin. Here I am hanging out to get one, and Datenight, I think it was, just installed one he has had ready to go in for 6 yrs, and you took one out. Others swear by theirs....so what gives....?

 

[JD]

Peter B wrote:

Was that why you removed your autopilot when you bought your GB, Marin. Here I am hanging out to get one, and Datenight, I think it was, just installed one he has had ready to go in for 6 yrs, and you took one out. Others swear by theirs....so what gives....?

On the previous boats I have used mine all of the time.* It will remain to be seen how often I do so on the next one.

But one thing I always do is, even in local waters, after I set the course on "Otto" I start at the end point and back track to the present position to see if I'm going to go any place near a depth that is not to my liking.* Then I check the chart plotter on a regular interval to see that we are still on the*course I set in.** It has worked so far but I'm sure my time will come.

*

 

[Pineapple Girl]

Tonic thanks for starting the post!* Great story.* Totally sounds like something I would do.* I always end up putting my hand in wet paint as I am painting, things like that.

One time we were taking our sailboat out of the slip and one of our friends wanted to tell us something so we started backing up toward the side tie finger next to his boat.* We were trying to slow down as we got to the finger but for some reason???? the boat was not slowing down even though we had shifted into forward.* We backed into the finger fairly hard.* Yeah since the boat was actually*still in reverse.* Oops.

 

[Marin]

Peter B wrote:

Was that why you removed your autopilot when you bought your GB, Marin.

No.* We didn't even know the boat had an autopilot until we went to California to inspect, sea trial, and survey it.* It hadn't been listed on the equipment list.* It was an older Benmar unit and it didn't work.* The selling broker estimated it would take about $500 to fix it.* But it would still be an ancient, 1970s-era*autopilot so it would just be a matter of time before it failed again in some new way.* In it's day it was an excellent unit--- we had one on the sportfishing boat I went out on a lot in Hawaii.

At the "encouragment" of our broker, the seller dropped the price of the boat by the estimated amount to get the autopilot fixed, but we didn't bother fixing it.

Its old age and iffy condition*plus the fact that the control unit--- the big box that sends the steering commands mechanically to the wheel--- hung down in the engine room and made getting around the front of the engines very difficult was what persuaded me to get rid of the whole works.* We pulled it all out and it sat in a box in the garage until a fellow on the GB forum heard we had it and asked if he could buy it for parts.* So I gave it to him.

However..... for driving the boat around in our waters I don't have any use for an autopilot anyway.* The*GB we chartered before buying ours had one and*we never used it.* Other than Bellingham Bay, where we hold the same course for some five miles, we're always twisting and turning through the islands.* Also with all the debris in the water here--- eelgrass mats, logs, old pallets, stumps, deadheads, branches, crab pot buoys and whatnot--- we'd be punching out of the autopilot almost constantly to make little deviations to avoid hitting stuff.* Or driving the boat aorund it with the manual over-ride.* And since the light and wave conditions are often such that we don't see these things until we're*on top of them, we often have to react very fast with the so-called "Titanic maneuver" to avoid them.* (It didnt' work for the Titanic itself but it's a valid avoidance maneuver.)* So we haven't bothered looking into a replacement.

And I like driving the boat by hand as does my wife so we don't miss having one.* I only had an autopilot in one of the planes I've flown over the past 40 years or so--- in a Rockwell 114 ex-factory demonstrator we had in Hawaii---- and I only used its autopilot enough to learn how to use it.* Otherwise I've always flown by hand, even the all-day slogs in a Beaver up the Inside Passage.* I enjoy it but that's just me.* I have nothing against autopilots and if we had a boat that could run into all the crap in the water around here with no damage*and not suck up eelgrass in the raw water intakes*an autopilot might be more appealing.* Or for open ocean cruising, where an autopilot would definitely be a major bonus if not a requirement.

But for us,*our boat, and our waters, it's an uneccessary device.* We'd rather put the money in the fuel tanks.

-- Edited by Marin on Wednesday 25th of August 2010 08:01:22 PM

 

[Datenight]

Yes Peter it was me who just installed the autopilot. I also installed the radar and chart plotter of the same vintage. It was a four hour trip in pea soup to Point Judith, RI last summer that convinced me to do so. We did that with an ancient Garmin 125*GPS sounder backed up with a handheld Garmin 76,*5 knots max speed, liberal (can I use that word?) use of the horn and an announcement of speed, position and course every 10 minutes over the VHF. The equipment is several generations old now but we are amazed at what it can do. We use the radar every time we go out to get used to it*for the next time we are caught in the fog.

Rob
37' Sedan*

 

[Egregious]

Let me count the ways:

I backed up over a bow line in an old Larson with a 115 Johnson.* That effectively locked the engine in the lower position.* That is where I learned to always carry a sharp knife.

When driving with my brother (brother was driving) UP the river with the tide FALLING,* we ran aground and quickly discovered we were not getting the boat off the bar.* We swam downstream (tide was falling so it hurried us along) and caught the attention of a fisherman who took us to the nearest marina where we called our Dad.* That taught me to always explore unknown areas on a RISING tide.

On a bare boat charter in the BVI, we neglected to shorten the dinghy painter.* Had to back up and it got sucked into our prop.* I ended up under the boat with a snorkel mask and a dull knife from the galley.** Now I carry a sharp knife where ever I go.

I can go on and on, but have learned a lot from many mistakes.

 

[Anode]

Dumb things I've done on my boat.

Brought it to the house and took it all apart.*
It has consumed my life for the last 2 1/2 years.

Just joking.....it's part of a dream/plan and something I always wanted to do.

 

[Marin]

Anode wrote:

*
Dumb things I've done on my boat.

Brought it to the house and took it all apart.*
It has consumed my life for the last 2 1/2 years.

Chip--- You are in good company.* Almost all the commercial lobstermen on Prince Edward Island do exactly what you did other than the "take if all apart" bit.* This gets the boats out of the water (which freezes) and lets them perform maintenance and whatnot during the winter.* They use real simple boat trailers to haul them around.

I took these shots last year on PEI.



*


-- Edited by Marin on Thursday 26th of August 2010 12:13:19 PM

 

[skipperdude]

Marin,
You made me homesick.
I grew up on the northern peninsula of NFLD. been to P.E.I. many times. I have Family who are Lobstermen on P.E.I.

SD

 

[Marin]

skipperdude wrote:You made me homesick.

Here, I'll make you feel worse......

And to really make you feel homesick I'll PM you a link to a slideshow I put together of the best shots from our trip to PEI last year......

If you get CBC where you live now there's a neat TV series called "The Republic of Doyle" that had its first season this last winter and has been picked up for a second season filming now to start airing in January 2011.* It's a detective show in the sarcastic humor mode of "Magnum PI,." etc. but with better accents, better actors, and terrific scenery.* It's filmed in St. John's, Newfoundland and the shots of the town itself make me want to go there.* It's currently in re-runs on CBC.* We pick it up on Comcast cable on the Vancouver station.* The show has a website where you may be able to view episodes although not in HD.




-- Edited by Marin on Thursday 26th of August 2010 02:05:53 PM

 

[skipperdude]

Thanks,
What I wouldn't give for a plate of fish -N- Brews. No Newfie store in Alaska.
Do you know the web address. If filmed in St Johns I have family living there. I will call my Uncle this evening. Please send the slide show . Love to see it

SD

Sorry about hijacking the thread. I'm done now I'll get it on the PM.
out

-- Edited by skipperdude on Thursday 26th of August 2010 03:36:16 PM

 

[Tidahapah]

OK I'll come clean.
many years ago I got home from sea and was pretty anxious to get ouut fishing for a couple of days.
Loaded the boat, a couple of mates and off we go.
Let go fwd , let go aft, give her a gutfull to blow all the flotsam away as I depart the berth.
Loud yell hold her, hold her, some dip s...t forgot to unplug the shore power.
Anyhow the plug let go, the power pole bent and my power cable always curled up nicely after that.
Marina Manager wanted me to pay for the damage and I told him that's what insurance is for.

I think I may ahve a couple more back here somewhere.

Benn

 

[C lectric]

I guess we 've all done something interesting???
Years ago I was showing guests , my outlaws, around the harbour. I could see something funny on the water ahead but didn't recognize it, not the usual debris or logs . Ploughed through thin ice for a few hundred feet before I realized, got slowed and turned about. Mad panic lifting hatches before I realized the ice was very thin, just made a lot of noise. Sheesh.

To top it off when backing into my shed, the line I hadn't secure properly went overboard and fouled the prop. Sure did impress the folks. Oh well, now if I see something ahead I don't recognize I don't just plough on athough my current boat is a whole lot slower.