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THD

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We all have learned new skills, learned new uses for old skills and learned to solve myriad problems since acquiring a boat. Tonight showed how valuable that can be. We are anchored out is a quiet cove on the backside of Whidbey Island enjoying a beautiful summer eve with some good friends who were thoughtful enough to bring a very, very good bottle of wine with them. After dinner, we went to open the wine and could not find either the fancy $30 opener from Williams=Sonoma or the $1.98 corkscrew. We were at a loss, could not uncork the wine. Berl (also a boat owner) and I started looking around. Went down into the engine room and found the drill on the work bench. Got an auger bit the size of the neck of the bottle. We went up and drilled the cork out. One problem-we now had a bottle of wine full of cork shavings from the drilling! Went back down to the ER and found a new fuel filter. Pulled it apart, got some of filter material, filtered the wine through it, and in less than 30 minutes start to finish, we were sitting on the back deck watching the sunset drinking a very good wine!

Boat ownership brings out skills and problem solving abilities you never knew you had!
 
McGyver would have been proud!
 
Hmmm. You might say "polished" vino, no?
 
Next time buy wine with the twist off metal cap. Proven (shock - horror) actually better than corked anyway. They are taking on.
 
Well done, THD. There is always a way.

A shoe would work, but it may leave marks on the side of your cabin wall.

 
THD said:
We all have learned new skills, learned new uses for old skills and learned to solve myriad problems since acquiring a boat. Tonight showed how valuable that can be. We are anchored out is a quiet cove on the backside of Whidbey Island enjoying a beautiful summer eve with some good friends who were thoughtful enough to bring a very, very good bottle of wine with them. After dinner, we went to open the wine and could not find either the fancy $30 opener from Williams=Sonoma or the $1.98 corkscrew. We were at a loss, could not uncork the wine. Berl (also a boat owner) and I started looking around. Went down into the engine room and found the drill on the work bench. Got an auger bit the size of the neck of the bottle. We went up and drilled the cork out. One problem-we now had a bottle of wine full of cork shavings from the drilling! Went back down to the ER and found a new fuel filter. Pulled it apart, got some of filter material, filtered the wine through it, and in less than 30 minutes start to finish, we were sitting on the back deck watching the sunset drinking a very good wine!

Boat ownership brings out skills and problem solving abilities you never knew you had!
Click to expand...

You've never driven a sheet metal screw into the cork and then used pliers to pull it out?
 
I've found that 'one more margarita' helps to solve a problem....

We had anchored at Sucia Island in the San Juans and tossed out a crab pot. Stupid me, I didn't think to use a weighted line. As we moved about on the anchor the floating line got tangled in the rudders and props. I discovered this when I tried to pull up the crab pot and was about to don the wetsuit, mask snorkel and go under the boat to clear the line.

I decided to have 'one more margarita' before doing it and the solution came to me about mid-drink. Using the boat pole I snagged the line beneath the props/rudders. I then took the line off the cleat. I was able to gently pull on the 'downstream' end of the line and watched it snake through the props and rudders, freeing itself.

I know it was that 'one more margarita' that brought the solution to me. Ahhhh, the magical powers of tequila!
 
THD said:
We all have learned new skills, learned new uses for old skills and learned to solve myriad problems since acquiring a boat. Tonight showed how valuable that can be. We are anchored out is a quiet cove on the backside of Whidbey Island enjoying a beautiful summer eve with some good friends who were thoughtful enough to bring a very, very good bottle of wine with them. After dinner, we went to open the wine and could not find either the fancy $30 opener from Williams=Sonoma or the $1.98 corkscrew. We were at a loss, could not uncork the wine. Berl (also a boat owner) and I started looking around. Went down into the engine room and found the drill on the work bench. Got an auger bit the size of the neck of the bottle. We went up and drilled the cork out. One problem-we now had a bottle of wine full of cork shavings from the drilling! Went back down to the ER and found a new fuel filter. Pulled it apart, got some of filter material, filtered the wine through it, and in less than 30 minutes start to finish, we were sitting on the back deck watching the sunset drinking a very good wine!

Boat ownership brings out skills and problem solving abilities you never knew you had!
Click to expand...


No coffee filters onboard?We don't drink coffee but we still keep coffee filters for various other tasks.:thumb:



Oh,and I once patched a 4 foot hole in the hull with chew gum and a tooth pick before she went down.:lol:
 
Racor filters?? Ahhhh a fine vintage wine enhanced with Aquabloc chemical treatment, no thanks I prefer coffee filters or paper towel.

Must have really wanted that wine. :)





*Aquabloc II media is a blend of high grade cellulose compounded with resins and a special chemical treatment.



* https://www.parker.com/literature/.../fdrb365uk.pdf
 
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Once the cork particles go into the wine, the bottle is finito. That is why you do not have to accept a bottle of wine at a fine restaurant when the server goes through the cork with a corkscrew.
 
That's why I take a Racor to the restaurant...the Aquabloc saves the bottle....:D
 
ancora said:
Once the cork particles go into the wine, the bottle is finito. That is why you do not have to accept a bottle of wine at a fine restaurant when the server goes through the cork with a corkscrew.
Click to expand...

Not really. if the cork is clean and uninfected it should not have much if any effect on the wine. There are rare exceptions of course. But for the most part you just want to remove the bits of cork ASAP and then drink the wine.

And I would stay away from using Racor filter elements as cork bit strainers. :D
 
Well, no ill effects yet from the filter, although the sunset was amazingly intense! But there definitely was no water in the wine!
 
ancora said:
Once the cork particles go into the wine, the bottle is finito. That is why you do not have to accept a bottle of wine at a fine restaurant when the server goes through the cork with a corkscrew.
Click to expand...

What am I missing here? A bottle of properly stored wine would have been on its side, and the wine would have been in contact with the cork.

So why does a piece of cork floating in the wine ruin the bottle?
 
That was a NEW, UNUSED filter, right?
 
GFC said:
What am I missing here? A bottle of properly stored wine would have been on its side, and the wine would have been in contact with the cork.

So why does a piece of cork floating in the wine ruin the bottle?
Click to expand...

In the vast majority of cases it doesn't. But if the bottle was stored improperly and the cork gets mold on it that can contaminate the wine. It's my understanding it can be more of a concern with certain whites.
 
GFC said:
What am I missing here? A bottle of properly stored wine would have been on its side, and the wine would have been in contact with the cork.

So why does a piece of cork floating in the wine ruin the bottle?
Click to expand...

I don't think you're missing anything. It doesn't affect the wine at all, but some don't see it as "proper" to have cork bits removed from your wine.

It takes more than a bit of cork to put me off a nice red.
 
Peter B said:
Next time buy wine with the twist off metal cap. Proven (shock - horror) actually better than corked anyway. They are taking on.
Click to expand...

Am I the only one that has screwed a bottle opener through the plastic twist off cap? :blush:

That's harder to get apart than a cork!
 
rwidman said:
You've never driven a sheet metal screw into the cork and then used pliers to pull it out?
Click to expand...

Never heard that one before, but it is now firmly in the auxilliary tool kit! (Solution before was to break the neck and run the wine through an old t-shirt.)
 
Just take a screwdriver and push the cork into the bottle - then use the screwdriver to hold the cork out of the neck while pouring (so it won't block the flow of wine). Trust me, this works - learned from experience:banghead:
 
jwnall said:
Never heard that one before, but it is now firmly in the auxilliary tool kit! (Solution before was to break the neck and run the wine through an old t-shirt.)
Click to expand...

And they say you can't learn anything on a boating forum! ;)

I probably came up with that one many years ago. If you can't pull the cork out directly you can wedge the pliers against the top of the bottle. Just picture a corkscrew in your mind. Now picture it next to a sheet metal screw (#12 or so).
 
Capt.Bill11 said:
In the vast majority of cases it doesn't. But if the bottle was stored improperly and the cork gets mold on it that can contaminate the wine. It's my understanding it can be more of a concern with certain whites.
Click to expand...
A "corked" wine is one where the cork is infected usually before it is used, (simple research says it is something called TCA), the off taste goes into the wine. Cork as such is ok, though old corks can fail.There is debate in Australia about whether to bottle Penfolds Grange under cork or metal cap, reportedly because of uncertainty about cap life over the long years a Grange can live, but I gather also because of market perceptions.
Grange costs about $600 a bottle, other high end wines like Henschke Hill of Grace are getting up there too. Some markets think a cap means cheap wine, but that is not necessarily so. A cap seal eliminates the risk of corked bottles which can average one bottle in a box of 12. I prefer buying wine with caps than corks, it is now the norm here, though for exports that may vary.
 
I would think some of those fancy impeller removal tools I have seen posted here cold be utilized with some slight modification...for the price some fetch...cork adapters should come standard...:thumb:
 
Try a good box wine. No corkscrew needed and plenty of wine to share with friends!
 
CoolBeans said:
Try a good box wine. No corkscrew needed and plenty of wine to share with friends!
Click to expand...

Kinda goes hand in hand with the theme of the thread....

figure things out when they go wrong or head them off at the pass....

My go to counter top box wine is the Fanzia Merlot in the 5 liter box...
 
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