Your Best Technique or Invention

Don't drill into your refrigerator to attach door latches or hold down brackets. I have a boater friend that turned his new refrigerator freezer into scrap metal. Seems the mfg are running freon lines around the door perimeters to alivate condensation, if you hole it they are not repairable.
Bill

Back on track... for RT - of course!

Use 4oz ZDDP in every oil change for classic gasoline engines having NO catalytic converter and WITH flat tappets! Then add another 4oz 1/2 way between oil change. Zinc has been greatly reduced or even completely removed from engine oils. It is a greatly needed barrier-film for older model engines. They were designed to run with zinc in the oil-lube

HiDHo said:

Don't drill into your refrigerator to attach door latches or hold down brackets. I have a boater friend that turned his new refrigerator freezer into scrap metal. Seems the mfg are running freon lines around the door perimeters to alivate condensation, if you hole it they are not repairable.
Bill

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I get a queasy feeling in my stomach any time drill, boat and/or motorcycle are used in the same sentence.

HiDHo said:

Don't drill into your refrigerator to attach door latches or hold down brackets. I have a boater friend that turned his new refrigerator freezer into scrap metal. Seems the mfg are running freon lines around the door perimeters to alivate condensation, if you hole it they are not repairable.
Bill

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Good point, Bill! I did mine with the knowledge that I might hit something, so I went slow. Fortunately, it was clear behind the two panels. I got lucky!

Polar bear tubes!

For those of you that use an ice chest for drinks etc this is a great idea! We've been freezing 1 gallon jugs, but this is pretty slick:

Cooler Tips

Rescue Tape is great for any form of pipe. We keep some at home as well.

Another product that I recommend having or having something similar to it is Stay Afloat.

Stay Afloat Emergency Leak Sealant

I've been told by experienced people I trust that it will patch as they say. There are some commercial products similar to that but I can't find them at the moment.

See, now that "Stay Afloat" looks to me to be exactly the same thing as a toilet bowl wax gasket, only at 10x the price.

I have a couple of these in large ziplocs and I'm pretty sure that they will work as well as, or better than, the expensive stuff.

Everbilt Bol-Wax Gasket-007004 - The Home Depot

HiDHo said:

Don't drill into your refrigerator to attach door latches or hold down brackets. I have a boater friend that turned his new refrigerator freezer into scrap metal. Seems the mfg are running freon lines around the door perimeters to alivate condensation, if you hole it they are not repairable.
Bill

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I had previously removed those metal caps to repaint them and knew there were no such evils lurking behind the surface but your point is a good one.

denverd0n said:

See, now that "Stay Afloat" looks to me to be exactly the same thing as a toilet bowl wax gasket, only at 10x the price.

I have a couple of these in large ziplocs and I'm pretty sure that they will work as well as, or better than, the expensive stuff.

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I think the Stay Afloat has more flexibility and more uses. They may be similar materials.

Greetings,
When we recently replaced our on board refrigerator (domestic, 110v dirt cheap compared to a "marine" unit) I specifically called the manufacturer to ask IF drilling holes in the sides of the doors would void the warranty. I installed, after receiving the OK from the maker, hook/eye devices similar to Mr. FW as posted in #243. The alternative would have been stick on hook and loop.
I concur, Stay Afloat looks suspiciously like a wax toilet ring...

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Mr. rc. GREAT idea for a thread. The first thing that comes to mind because I'm fooling with lines today is applying battery terminal heat shrink tubing to the ends of line in lieu of whipping.
ANCOR MARINE Adhesive-Lined Battery Cable Heat Shrink Tubing | West Marine

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Mr. RT, apologies if this has already been brought up, but I just started reading this worthwhile thread and will have to come back to it later. In any event, Rescue Tape does a great job of whipping the ends of lines. And as you may know, leaves no sticky adhesive residue when you want to remove it...

Moonfish said:

Mr. RT, apologies if this has already been brought up, but I just started reading this worthwhile thread and will have to come back to it later. In any event, Rescue Tape does a great job of whipping the ends of lines. And as you may know, leaves no sticky adhesive residue when you want to remove it...

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I have had no success with that. Have tried it numerous times and it comes off pretty quick although it looks great at first.

Marin said:

they'll go on and on with all sorts of rubbish that's irrelevant to the incident..

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hmason said:

Could you send me a PM describing what I should keep an eye on? Thanks, Howard

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My PM doesn't work, sorry.

Marin said:

My PM doesn't work, sorry.

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Let us know if your PM is inoperative. We'll fix that for you.

Purely speculation here but...Marin's GB and mine are right about the same vintage. Assuming he's running twins, that would likely put a glass-bodied Groco sea strainer right between the engines just as on mine. I've always thought that to be a somewhat vulnerable location should there be anything like an unsecured toolbox sliding around in a rough sea. I could see that taking an entire roll of Rescue Tape to repair; just guessing though.

Boydster said:

Assuming he's running twins, that would likely put a glass-bodied Groco sea strainer right between the engines just as on mine..

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Is that glass or plastic... I recently had a plastic sea strainer bowl develop a leak... I used JB Weld to seal it until the replacement came in...worked great and it's now in the spares bin
Too bad Marin got tongue tied...so unlike him...I have and use rescue tape but it's not the answer for everything...works on some not on others. Comment not very helpful if you haven't a clue about the application. Bubblegum or epoxy works wonders in some cases...waste of time on others????
Don
'08 MS 34HT
"Bacchus"

Moonfish said:

Mr. RT, apologies if this has already been brought up, but I just started reading this worthwhile thread and will have to come back to it later. In any event, Rescue Tape does a great job of whipping the ends of lines. And as you may know, leaves no sticky adhesive residue when you want to remove it...

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Bernz-O-Matic propane torch head. Screws on small canisters I use for BBQ. Quickly, permanently melts nylon line end-threads solidly together; no need to whip... at all.

Don't let the still melting nylon liquid touch you - by far worse than hot grease. Couple of tries and you become a pro to produce really nice fused together line ends.

OK, how on earth can someone come on a forum like this, say he had a near sinking, but then say he doesn't want to a share what happened?

Why say it in the first place?

Did he realize he made a mistake in mentioning it in the first place.

Or is he just milking the thread for maximum exposure?

menzies said:

OK, how on earth can someone come on a forum like this, say he had a near sinking, but then say he doesn't want to a share what happened?

Why say it in the first place?

Did he realize he made a mistake in mentioning it in the first place.

Or is he just milking the thread for maximum exposure?

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Doesn't matter. He doesn't want to talk about it. He was just putting in a positive vote for Rescue Tape. The rest of it "never happened".

hmason said:

I have had no success with that. Have tried it numerous times and it comes off pretty quick although it looks great at first.

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Heat shrink tubing works much better for that.

Boydster said:

Purely speculation here but...Marin's GB and mine are right about the same vintage. Assuming he's running twins, that would likely put a glass-bodied Groco sea strainer right between the engines just as on mine. I've always thought that to be a somewhat vulnerable location should there be anything like an unsecured toolbox sliding around in a rough sea. I could see that taking an entire roll of Rescue Tape to repair; just guessing though.

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Boydster, I may not understand the configuration, but why would a broken strainer be a threat that would require rescue tape to prevent the boat from sinking? Isn't there a seacock in that line?

Boydster said:

Purely speculation here but...Marin's GB and mine are right about the same vintage. Assuming he's running twins, that would likely put a glass-bodied Groco sea strainer right between the engines just as on mine. I've always thought that to be a somewhat vulnerable location should there be anything like an unsecured toolbox sliding around in a rough sea. I could see that taking an entire roll of Rescue Tape to repair; just guessing though.

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Just to be clear ( pun intended) the clear bodies are plastic not glass.

The engine strainers are normally in between the engines on a GB. But in most cases the flooring comes almost to the top of the strainer as I recall. So they are some what protected from something like a tool box hitting them if I'm remembering this correctly.

Are yours more exposed?

angus99 said:

Boydster, I may not understand the configuration, but why would a broken strainer be a threat that would require rescue tape to prevent the boat from sinking? Isn't there a seacock in that line?

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Yes there is a valve that would/should stop the flooding as long as it was working. But if a seacock broke off at its base you could use a wooden plug and perhaps Rescue tape to stop the leak.

angus99 said:

Boydster, I may not understand the configuration, but why would a broken strainer be a threat that would require rescue tape to prevent the boat from sinking? Isn't there a seacock in that line?

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There is and you could arrest the incoming water of course but you'd be dead in the water as fas as cooling goes. Like I said, just guessing.

The big bronze Groco sea strainers we had put in our boat when we brought it up from California in 1998 are glass, not plastic.

menzies said:

OK, how on earth can someone come on a forum like this, say he had a near sinking, but then say he doesn't want to a share what happened?

Why say it in the first place?

Did he realize he made a mistake in mentioning it in the first place.

Or is he just milking the thread for maximum exposure?

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Good grief.

8 years and 13,000 contributions should buy the man a little respect and slack.

He likely has a far better reason for choosing to not talk about it, than you have for obsessing over it.
I guess.

Marin said:

The big bronze Groco sea strainers we had put in our boat when we brought it up from California in 1998 are glass, not plastic.

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Really? Worked on a lot of strainers since the late 70s and I don't ever recall seeing a true glass bodied one that I recall. Can't even imagine why they would have made one like that. Seems like an accident waiting to happen.

But hey, I certainly haven't seen everything. Thank goodness.

If I was choosing strainers, glass models would be allowed on my vessel.