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06-12-2021, 08:24 AM
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#1
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Guru
City: Oconto, WI
Vessel Name: Best Alternative
Vessel Model: 36 Albin Aft Cabin
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 3,145
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Lets talk about being STUPID again
I opened a thread a few years ago asking members to recall, for our amusement, the most stupid thing they had ever done on, or to their boat. I searched for the thread but couldn't find it so I'll start again with one or two of my own stupid mistakes.
While working on my genny, it would start and run fine but self shut down after about three or four minutes. It felt warm so I checked the coolant level. Low, of course. I grabbed the antifreeze jug and started pouring. It looked awfully clear. I thought it might have been pure water so stopped pouring after about a quart. I checked the jug, paint thinner! Damn! It was time to drain the system, the antifreeze was pretty old and dirty anyway but good lesson learned. Read the jug!
Also:
I was spray painting a small piece of something, a dark brown. Of course I got a tiny amount of paint on my finger. I keep a small spray bottle of alcohol in the galley. It is great for cleaning, sanitizing and cleaning my glasses with a soft cloth. I grabbed it to get the paint off my finger and gave a quick squirt. Damn again. It was the brown spray paint! Now instead of a tiny spot on my finger I had half my hand painted brown. Again, slow down, read the can!
In my own defense, I am not a drinker but am on some fairly potent medications which cause me to have a condition referred to as "Chemo Brain". I don't have cancer but the drug is very similar to chemotherapy. Just makes you a little stupid. Guilty as charged..
Anybody else care to fess up to being stupid or doing something less than smart? If we can't laugh at ourselves, who can we laugh at?
pete
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06-12-2021, 09:24 AM
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#2
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TF Site Team
City: MX, thru Canal to Bahamas
Vessel Name: Muirgen
Vessel Model: 50' Beebe Passagemaker
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 3,384
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Pete, went up to WA to move my boat to a new marina two weeks ago . . . did something REAL stupid which damaged the boat . . . not expensive to repair, but a little involved . . . Maybe in 6 months to a year I'll be willing to talk about it . . .
__________________
Vessel Name: Muirgen
Vessel Model: 50' Beebe Passagemaker
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06-12-2021, 09:38 AM
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#3
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Guru
City: Gig Harbor, WA
Vessel Name: MoonShadow
Vessel Model: Wendon Skylounge 72'
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 718
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A looong time ago I had a 1982 Hunter 33' sailboat. It was my first cabin boat. I traced a small leak to a crack in the hull leading to the shaft orifice.
I wriggled back into the lazarette space and carefully ground out the crack, drilled both ends and epoxied them. Space was very tight in there and I had to work one handed most of the time. Finally I was finished and tried to move back to admire my work and go home. Alas I had epoxied my hair and part of my scalp to the hull of the boat!
I wont describe the pain it took to unstick myself. The next owner must have wondered who was scalped down there!
~A
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06-12-2021, 09:47 AM
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#4
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Guru
City: Columbia City, OR & Mulege, BCS
Vessel Name: Imagine
Vessel Model: Farrell 34
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 846
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06-12-2021, 09:54 AM
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#5
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Guru
City: West Coast
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 1,789
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I launched my RIB without the plug in.
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06-12-2021, 10:45 AM
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#6
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Scraping Paint
City: Lake Stevens, WA via Honolulu
Vessel Name: 'Au Kai (Ocean Traveler)
Vessel Model: C-Dory 25
Join Date: Sep 2019
Posts: 450
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I mounted the 2.5 horse Suzuki outboard (for our dingy) outside the cockpit. I have a block mounted on the cockpit railing, port side. It "always" goes inside the cockpit. Almost always, anyway. We then towed about 25 miles to a marina ramp. Unbeknownst to me, as I towed at freeway speeds the prop on the 2.5 spun in the air flow (duh)...enough to put a 2" long gouge about 1/4" deep into our hull gelcoat. Looks like someone took an angle grinder to it. To make it worse, it's in the black trim color, not the more easily matched white.
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06-12-2021, 11:49 AM
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#7
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Veteran Member
City: Edgewater, MD
Vessel Name: Barbara Ann
Vessel Model: Ranger Tug R31-S
Join Date: Sep 2019
Posts: 40
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I over drilled a hole to mount some instruments on the side wall of my cabin. Turns out that the total wall thickness was less than 5/16" in that one spot. Oops. Successfully filled the holes with gelcoat, and no lasting harm done.
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06-12-2021, 11:56 AM
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#8
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Guru
City: Vallejo, California
Vessel Name: Mahalo Moi
Vessel Model: 1986 Grand Banks 42 Classic
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 2,093
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I bought a boat…
__________________
Ray
"Mahalo Moi"
1986 GB-42 Classic
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑβΕ
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06-12-2021, 01:11 PM
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#9
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Guru
City: Southport, FL near Panama City
Vessel Name: FROLIC
Vessel Model: Mainship 30 Pilot II since 2015. GB-42 1986-2015. Former Unlimited Tonnage Master
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 4,977
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Giggitoni
I bought a boat…
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PHUNNY! Heck, I bought another one after selling the first!
I think I mentioned this elsewhere, but recently, I decided to remove the useless (and potential cause of serious engine damage if allowed to corrode) air heater coils in the intercooler. They come on after start up of my 315HP Yanmar and were just a sop to the environmentalists to halt a couple of seconds worth of light smoke. I didn't clue into the fact that the heavy 12-volt power cable to the heater coil solenoid was connected to the same lug on the starter as the heavy cable from the start bank. Soooo, when I got to that part, I merrily disconnected the cable at the heater solenoid without any sparky incident and just let it loose to fall back. It did indeed fall back... to make sparky contact with the engine-mounted fuel filter where it promptly burned a hole in the thin metal casing resulting in the filter peeing a stream of diesel into the bilge. Can you imagine what would have eventuated had I been working on a gas-powered boat?
__________________
Rich Gano
FROLIC (2005 MainShip 30 Pilot II)
Panama City area
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06-12-2021, 01:41 PM
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#10
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Guru
City: Stuart FL
Vessel Name: Lucky Lucky
Vessel Model: Pacific Mariner 65
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 2,759
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You wouldn’t be here to tell the story.
__________________
Howard
Lucky Lucky
Stuart, FL
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06-12-2021, 03:43 PM
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#11
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Guru
City: Carrabelle, FL
Vessel Name: Morgan
Vessel Model: '05 Mainship 40T
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 2,160
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This was on my flats boat, not the big boat but still dumb.
About 6 years ago over the winter either a rat or a squirrel got in our carport and set up shop inside my flats boat. Chewed up a few cushions, three of my commercial pfds and quite a bit of other stuff.
About a year ago I was replacing the bilge pump float switch and while I had my head (and headlamp) down in the small access hatch inside the bilge I noticed that the little bastard had chewed on the fuel line that runs through there. Damage was isolated to about a 2' section, so I decided to splice in a new piece. Got about halfway through cutting through the fuel line and found out it was not a fuel line. It was the main wiring harness for the engine which is encased in black insulation. Looks just like fuel line.
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06-12-2021, 03:56 PM
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#12
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Guru
City: Queensland
Vessel Model: Milkraft 60 converted timber prawn trawler
Join Date: Jul 2016
Posts: 5,482
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Sailed a catamaran in over a bar late one night
Was pretty fatigued but had crossed it many times during the day so figured I knew it well enough
At night there was a red light on it, never noticed during the day.
Picked up a wave, surfed her in towards the red and a very sudden stop as we hit the beach.
Jumps off front and the red light was the tail light of a 4x4 parked on the beach with some guys fishing.
Luckily the cat was light enough (30ftr) that we could push the bow around and keep sailing her in.
Could have ended a lot worse.
__________________
Everything on a boat is broken, you just don't know it yet
Full time cruising is repairing boats in exotic locations
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06-12-2021, 04:24 PM
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#13
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Guru
City: Columbia City, OR & Mulege, BCS
Vessel Name: Imagine
Vessel Model: Farrell 34
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 846
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Years ago, thought I was doing pretty good to dodge a tugboat in the fog off Anacortes.
Then the barge looms out of the fog off the port beam!
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06-12-2021, 05:05 PM
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#14
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Guru
City: Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Vessel Name: Xanadu
Vessel Model: Mainship 37 Motor Yacht
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 2,471
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I love threads like this. Always makes me feel better.
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06-12-2021, 06:53 PM
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#15
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Guru
City: Kitimat, North Coast BC
Vessel Name: Badger
Vessel Model: 30' Sundowner Tug
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 5,946
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We used to tow our dinghy until I found out a quick burst in reverse will suck a line with a bunch of floats on it down into the prop.
Our daughter asked, "So why do we tow it anyways?"
"It's convenient" I said in a shrinking, nowhere to hide kind of voice.
__________________
"The most interesting path between two points is not a straight line" MurrayM
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06-12-2021, 08:49 PM
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#16
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Guru
City: Owings, Md
Vessel Name: Graceland
Vessel Model: Mainship 34 MK1
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 1,380
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I closed my seacock to the engine to replace zincs and forgot to reopen it then my sister and my new brother in law stopped by my slip and I offered to take them for a ride. I was halfway down my fairway before it dawned on me. STUPID. I flew down the flybridge ladder and opened that thru hull in record time.
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06-12-2021, 08:56 PM
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#17
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Guru
City: Rochester, NY
Vessel Name: Hour Glass
Vessel Model: Chris Craft 381 Catalina
Join Date: Aug 2019
Posts: 7,539
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gdavid
I closed my seacock to the engine to replace zincs and forgot to reopen it then my sister and my new brother in law stopped by my slip and I offered to take them for a ride. I was halfway down my fairway before it dawned on me. STUPID. I flew down the flybridge ladder and opened that thru hull in record time.
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I've got a personal rule on stuff like this: if I'm doing anything that makes an engine not safe to start, I trip the ignition breaker (in the engine room) so that if I forget, I can turn the key all I want and nothing will happen. Then I have to go down to the ER and should notice or remember the concern.
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06-12-2021, 09:56 PM
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#18
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Member
City: La Conner, WA
Vessel Name: JOY
Vessel Model: GB 32 ~ Hull 595
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 7
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Despite a less-than-ideal forecast, despite an excellent set in a bullet-proof anchorage, I pressured my captain to weigh anchor in order to "keep to the schedule." Major fail. I spent the next three hours on my a** in the saloon, back braced against the icemaker that was trying to fly across the boat and barfing into a salad spinner. The Captain? He was at the helm, whistling the theme to Gilligan's Island. A plaque stating "The Captain's Word is Law" was mounted above the helm shortly after.
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06-12-2021, 10:38 PM
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#19
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Guru
Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 565
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I left the dock last week, there was a quick bit of wind, and the boat wasn’t handling well as I left the slip. Reverse was not responding, neither was forward ....
I looked at the shifter, and yes, there was the blinking light indicating it was locked in neutral! I got that undone as fast as I could, and was able to get out without ramming anything. Then the wind really came up, so getting turned around in the fairway wasn’t fun!
I’m not sure that it was me who left the shifter in that condition, but I sure won’t forget to check it from now on!!
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06-13-2021, 09:44 AM
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#20
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Guru
City: Owings, Md
Vessel Name: Graceland
Vessel Model: Mainship 34 MK1
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 1,380
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I got a brand new one that I nearly forgot. My son, youngest daughter and I went bottom fishing for some perch and spot yesterday. We did a few drifts in an area with a few crab pots (crab traps) and my daughter snagged a crab float line, I couldn't see the float and ignored the golden rule of never putting the boat in gear if you know you are near one but can't see it. I was immediately treated to the thumping sound of a float slapping the hull. I tried reverse and mercifully the float and line came free. You don't get that lucky everyday. I got another free pass playing the game of STUPID.
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