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Old 01-11-2019, 05:51 PM   #1
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Gotta love those PO's...

So after reading thousands of posts so far on Trawler Forum, a fairly common theme seems to be "the PO strikes again"... with some sort of ridiculous prior installation in all manner of areas of the boat.

What are some of the crazy things you've experienced that have been done by prior owners... and what did you have to do to rectify them...???

Posts with PHOTOS get extra credit...!!!
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Old 01-11-2019, 06:20 PM   #2
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Been a while, but one of the craziest things was the depthfinder was hooked up to power with speaker wire using wirenuts. Not the usual twist on method, but the wires were stuck into the wirenut then a zinc plated, flat head woodscrew was driven in to keep everything tight, then wrapped in a ball of electric tape the size of a walnut. Somebody did not have a clue.
Oh yea, on another boat, the PO used the wire within the fuel fill hose as the fuel line ground wire!
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Old 01-11-2019, 06:23 PM   #3
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On a previous boat, engine room fire due to undersized lamp cord running the water heater.
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Old 01-11-2019, 06:23 PM   #4
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Based on so many perfectionists here on TF, some POs are godlike....
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Old 01-11-2019, 06:41 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by High Wire View Post
Been a while, but one of the craziest things was the depthfinder was hooked up to power with speaker wire using wirenuts. Not the usual twist on method, but the wires were stuck into the wirenut then a zinc plated, flat head woodscrew was driven in to keep everything tight, then wrapped in a ball of electric tape the size of a walnut. Somebody did not have a clue.
Oh yea, on another boat, the PO used the wire within the fuel fill hose as the fuel line ground wire!
I guess when you lack the appropriate size wire-nut for your inappropriate wiring job, might as well push all-in on stupid...


Not sure I understand the "wire within the fuel fill hose"... ???
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Old 01-11-2019, 06:43 PM   #6
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Based on so many perfectionists here on TF, some POs are godlike....

I've already got my eye on a few boats/PO's here for when they finally put their rigs up for sale...

Some to buy and some to stay well away from...!!!
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Old 01-11-2019, 06:51 PM   #7
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On my current boat, the headliner in the salon was stapled up using 4+ staples per inch. The salon headliner is 10'x16' in 3 sections- literally thousands of staples.

The windlass wiring was 2 sections of 1/0awg, except for a
1' jumper wire in between which was 8awg.
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Old 01-11-2019, 06:56 PM   #8
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On a previous boat, engine room fire due to undersized lamp cord running the water heater.
Wow...
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Old 01-11-2019, 06:57 PM   #9
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Originally Posted by Commander Nomad View Post
On my current boat, the headliner in the salon was stapled up using 4+ staples per inch. The salon headliner is 10'x16' in 3 sections- literally thousands of staples.

The windlass wiring was 2 sections of 1/0awg, except for a
1' jumper wire in between which was 8awg.
PO's attempt at an in-line fuse...???
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Old 01-11-2019, 06:58 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Flybull View Post
I guess when you lack the appropriate size wire-nut for your inappropriate wiring job, might as well push all-in on stupid...


Not sure I understand the "wire within the fuel fill hose"... ???

He replaced the original fuel hose with wire wound exhaust type hose with the rubber peeled away to leave a couple inches to connect to the fittings. I guess he learned in a boating safety course that the fuel tank had to have a wire connecting the filler to the tank. Its just one of those things you find after you own the boat a while.
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Old 01-11-2019, 06:59 PM   #11
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He replaced the original fuel hose with wire wound exhaust type hose with the rubber peeled away to leave a couple inches to connect to the fittings. I guess he learned in a boating safety course that the fuel tank had to have a wire connecting the filler to the tank. Its just one of those things you find after you own the boat a while.
Ok... now I get it.

OMG!!!

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Old 01-11-2019, 07:00 PM   #12
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Originally Posted by Flybull View Post
I've already got my eye on a few boats/PO's here for when they finally put their rigs up for sale...

Some to buy and some to stay well away from...!!!
I can see that.....

When I am done boating....my boat is headed for a dumpster after I strip it.

The parts are worth way more than the total package

Bought it at the price and condition I knew the outcome. And after 20 years, 50,000 miles, snowbirding.....it was what it was, became what I needed, and died an honorable death. Only an idiot in my mind would have tried to bring this boat to yacht standards..but I stay within ABYC standards and my insurance company just accepted my self survey.

Or I might get much of what I paid for it back, but not what I put in it....in labor mostly.
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Old 01-11-2019, 07:07 PM   #13
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I still need to discover the craziest thing the PO of my boat did as I find one each year.
As an example last spring while redoing my plumbing I discovered that the fresh water pump was wired with 4 pieces of different wires size on a 3 feet length, to save on wire cost he spent money on crimping lol. But all this makes me smile more than anything else, nobody is perfect and I am pretty sure that the next owner, if any, will say that same from me.

L
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Old 01-11-2019, 07:10 PM   #14
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PO wiring nightmares - soon to be a thing of beauty. But to be real, once this is done I am sure there will be someplace for the next owner to point fingers at this PO. So it goes. Nobody is perfect...
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Old 01-11-2019, 07:48 PM   #15
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I’m with you Lou . I’ve fixed a bunch of stuff from previous owners . Not sure who did what . But I ain’t gonna dog them here cause heck they could be a new prospect when I’m ready to sell . I’m sure the next owner if any will cuss some of my repairs as well. I’m no shipwright but I do the best I can do. The only repair I think we’re obligated to discuss with a new owner is wherever we used 3m 5200. Each tube should come with little stickers that say “3m 5200 here leave it be”
Now THAT'S funny... I don't care who you are...!!!


As far as "dogging" anybody out here... that is not the point of this thread. Although some of this is truly comical, it seems most mentioned to this point are electrical, and many of those have been dangerous.

I think bringing them all to light is a great learning experience on what NOT to do for many who may be less-than-experienced in some of these areas.

Never know... a mention of one of these may ring a bell for some owner that didn't realize what he also had on his boat is a real issue.

We could be saving lives...!!!
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Old 01-11-2019, 08:23 PM   #16
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Originally Posted by Flybull View Post
What are some of the crazy things you've experienced that have been done by prior owners... and what did you have to do to rectify them...???

Posts with PHOTOS get extra credit...!!!

You will love this thread; the OP did a great job not just repairing a lot of nonsense, but copiously illustrating the insanity. I was catching up on it this morning:

http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s...opa-26950.html
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Old 01-11-2019, 08:28 PM   #17
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You will love this thread; the OP did a great job not just repairing a lot of nonsense, but copiously illustrating the insanity. I was catching up on it this morning:

http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s...opa-26950.html
I actually went through the whole thread last night..!!

Thanks for sharing!
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Old 01-11-2019, 08:31 PM   #18
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The PO of my boat was 88 years old and suffering dementia. Not a single system worked correctly and many didn’t work at all. The boat was priced accordingly. In the end almost every cause of system failure was due to the PO disassembling something and failing to reassemble it correctly. Either that or some one was sabotaging in his boat.

The most annoying thing he did was to repair hose leaks by slitting 6” of hose and clamping it over the original hose. The ones on the engine were easy to spot. The ones hidden deep in the cabinets on AC cooling lines were only found after water started running across the kitchen floor.

The funniest one was the univalve in the hydraulic steering. For what ever reason he disassembled the univalve and reassembled it incorrectly. Result was the boat would only turn to port. It didn’t bother him, when he wanted to turn to starboard he just turned on the autopilot and spun the knob clockwise.
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Old 01-11-2019, 08:51 PM   #19
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Wait a sec! Y’all are making fun of the PO??? You’re the ones who bought a boat with hosed up systems! It should be the other way around the way I see it!
PS... our boat was a huge POS when we looked at it and we still bought it.
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Old 01-11-2019, 09:05 PM   #20
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Not our current boat - that PO was meticulous, a robotics engineer, we love that guy. But the previous owner of our previous boat - I could tell about a dozen hilarious system and maintenance and repair stories - like every single bulb, interior and exterior, from nav lights to salon reading lights, to the refrigerator bulb, was burned out. The fixtures all worked fine with replacement bulbs, but every single bulb had burned out and he had about 10 flashlights in the salon. But to me the oddest and most memorable quirk was not a system issue - it was the large pink underwear collection we found in the aft berth.
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