Most embarrassing DIY maintenance moment

[ontherocks83]

Originally Posted by Azul

Halloween 2004. I can post bikini pictures if this isn't Bimbo-ish enough.

The bimbo comments remind me of a great saying/quote: "For every gorgeous woman in the world, there is some guy, some where, that is sick of dealing with her s*&!.

Also if the bikini pics won't pass the sensors/mods then I'd be happy to selfishly and tirelessly start a list of members that would be interested in them, for you to PM with the pics

[Harter]

Originally Posted by Shrew

RE Torque wrenches. I had the EXACT same problem. Snapping bolt heads. Torque wrenches get ruined when someone is lazy and starts using it to LOOSEN bolts as well as Tighten them. Once you use the torque wrench to start loosening bolts, it's just a ratcheting driver from then on.


Lesson Learned.

just one thing about torque wrenches i have learned, you should return the torque setting to 0 after use,
head bolt on big block ford are no fun to extract And yes i have lots too.

[Mirage35]

A large electro-mechanical device I worked with (an engraving machine, if you must know ) wasn't operating properly. Manuals were in German so we worked our way around it with the schematics and a lot of guesswork.

After about 45 minutes with voltmeter and oscilloscope I remember saying "the only thing that could cause this is if the main switch is set to 'calibrate' instead of 'operate' (I'd figured out enough German to understand those).

Lesson learned, and re-learned many times since: Check the obvious first.

[bobnlesley]

A few years ago I discovered that our masthead tricolour light was disintegrating - probably UV damage - so I took it down and went looking for a replacement. Having discovered how expensive a new one was, I went back to the boat and made quite a good job of repairing/rebuilding it, other than for when I reinstalled the red/green/white plastic panes that the light shines through. I failed to consider that the unit was actually upside down when I was re-gluing them back into it. It could've been worse, whilst I had climbed back to the masthead before realising the error, I didn't actually go so far as to refit the light, hit the switch and beam my cock-up around the marina for all to see; the wife spread word around the club bar for me though.

I also got blamed - unreasonably - for an even worse one though:
I was advised that I could improve airflow/reduce condensation under our berth cushions by drilling holes through their solid plywood bases, into the lockers below (it worked!) and the task was carried out successfully a couple of days later. In the bar that evening where a few of us gathered each evening to discuss our day's progress, one of the other chaps also thought this was perhaps a good idea and arranged to borrow my drill-bits to do the same on his boat the following day. The drill-bits I was using and which he collected the following morning were those multi-sized core-drills with a selection of circular saw-like blades with a pilot-bit clamped in the middle and my drill-box actually contained two sets, one was suitable to cut through a 3/4" thickness and the other set could manage depths up to 2". Either set would've done his job, what caused the problem was his putting the 3/4" blades into the housing for the two-inchers, so the pilot-bit projected a good 2" beyond the edge of the cutter-blades. The whole yard was disrupted a few hours later by a tirade of expletives, followed by a prolonged howl of utter despair; we all rushed to see what disaster had occurred and arrived to find that as he'd drilled a line of holes close to the outside edge of the forepeak berth, the pilot-drill had also penetrated the hull at each location. What amazed us most was that he'd done it 14 times before seeing the error of his ways!

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by AnglaisInHull

A large electro-mechanical device I worked with (an engraving machine, if you must know ) wasn't operating properly. Manuals were in German so we worked our way around it with the schematics and a lot of guesswork.



After about 45 minutes with voltmeter and oscilloscope I remember saying "the only thing that could cause this is if the main switch is set to 'calibrate' instead of 'operate' (I'd figured out enough German to understand those).



Lesson learned, and re-learned many times since: Check the obvious first.

OK, I was going through the test pilot course for the longbow Apache and going through the schematics.
Seemed everything or almost everything required this "MIK switch" to be closed to operate.
I couldn't find any switch in the aircraft marked MIK, and trust me, I knew every switch.
Took quite awhile and asked most of the instructors where was the MIK switch. No one knew.
Took a call to Boeing to find out MIK is "Master Ignition Key". Yeah, OK, you have to have the Damn key on for the helicopter to work, but none of us supposed smart people could figure it out.




Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[belizesailor]

Got stuck head down feet up in a deep narrow locker once. Could not back up and out.

This was on a Wednesday in a mostly weekend marina. People didn't usually start showing up until Friday afternoon.

A little time contemplating being stuck in there until Friday afternoon finally provided sufficient motivation to struggle out.

[socaldmax]

Originally Posted by Azul

Halloween 2004. I can post bikini pictures if this isn't Bimbo-ish enough.

Yeah, we're gonna need bikini pics, there are too many feathers in this pic.


I hope your tan has improved since then!

[socaldmax]

When I was a 13 yr old kid, we lived in Sicily for a couple of years and we had to buy a number of the big/heavy transformers to use our 110v appliances on 220v. These transformers had European sockets on both sides, and an array of input/output options. At the advanced age of 13, I tried to explain to my stepdad (strong like ox, smart like marble) how it all worked to no avail.

Somehow he plugged the input side into 110v, the output side into 220v and used a male/male jumper on the output side and touched both terminals.

The 440v output hit him pretty hard, knocking all 6'4", 265 lbs of him back about 8 ft into a wall. Fortunately, his neck wasn't broken and it took every fiber of my being not to burst out into laughter since he was very abusive.

After that incident, I was in charge of all maintenance, electrical and even slightly hazardous chores around the house, like filling the kerosene heaters with JP5, refilling his Zippo lighter, starting the charcoal grill, connecting the transformers or rebuilding my bike.

[weavis]

Originally Posted by socaldmax

When I was a 13 yr old kid, we lived in Sicily for a couple of years and we had to buy a number of the big/heavy transformers to use our 110v appliances on 220v. These transformers had European sockets on both sides, and an array of input/output options. At the advanced age of 13, I tried to explain to my stepdad (strong like ox, smart like marble) how it all worked to no avail.

Somehow he plugged the input side into 110v, the output side into 220v and used a male/male jumper on the output side and touched both terminals.

The 440v output hit him pretty hard, knocking all 6'4", 265 lbs of him back about 8 ft into a wall. Fortunately, his neck wasn't broken and it took every fiber of my being not to burst out into laughter since he was very abusive.

After that incident, I was in charge of all maintenance, electrical and even slightly hazardous chores around the house, like filling the kerosene heaters with JP5, refilling his Zippo lighter, starting the charcoal grill, connecting the transformers or rebuilding my bike.

But........... thats how they do things in Sicily.

[Mirage35]

Originally Posted by socaldmax

When I was a 13 yr old kid, we lived in Sicily for a couple of years and we had to buy a number of the big/heavy transformers to use our 110v appliances on 220v. These transformers had European sockets on both sides, and an array of input/output options. At the advanced age of 13, I tried to explain to my stepdad (strong like ox, smart like marble) how it all worked to no avail.

Somehow he plugged the input side into 110v, the output side into 220v and used a male/male jumper on the output side and touched both terminals.

The 440v output hit him pretty hard, knocking all 6'4", 265 lbs of him back about 8 ft into a wall. Fortunately, his neck wasn't broken and it took every fiber of my being not to burst out into laughter since he was very abusive.

After that incident, I was in charge of all maintenance, electrical and even slightly hazardous chores around the house, like filling the kerosene heaters with JP5, refilling his Zippo lighter, starting the charcoal grill, connecting the transformers or rebuilding my bike.

Wow! I heard of an incident like this back when I was in university and working around high-powered lasers.

One of the lab techs accidentally backed into the terminals of a charged capacitor that was used to fire a big system. He broke his arm when he hit the wall on the other side of the lab; don't remember what happened to his butt!

Think once, twice, three times when playing with electricity.

[Harter]

Originally Posted by ontherocks83

I was changing out the rear pinion seal on my jeep in my garage and to fit under the car I backed the rear wheels onto ramps. I removed the drive shaft, took off the pinion bolt, and pried out the flange while partially laying under the differential. Because the back of the car was jacked up, as soon as the flange came off, I and my new garage floor immediately became covered in that wonderful smelling thick gear oil. I had to cut off my shirt to get it off, but hey atleast I saved money doing it my self right

I want to share a small story about working under cars and trucks I have one I heard of and one across from my house.
if you are doing any think under a car or truck PLEASE PLEASE block any tires on the ground, don't rely on the rams to keep the truck or car in place,
Gut across the street, out working too many hours and tired, His transmission was not shift into gear, He came home around 11.00 pm. jumped under to see what was going on. with a wrench he move the shift leaver, Then He was dragged down the street in to a service truck, He had no way to escape from under his truck, Dragged about 150 meters.maybe 250 meter.

I dont use ramps I use jack stands . I jack up my suv or truck and make sure it cant move, no ramps Please, imagine that feeling, working on boats planning is need, pulling a motor, cleaning the bottom with diving gear on, changing rigging,
If you are not sure about what you are going to do talk to others, see what they have done, how they have did it, That`s been my method all my life,
I have all my body parts and a lot of luck on my side,
I am 56 years old. And time I need to learn something new I find a person to show me, to this day I am like that.
everyone out there, please take care. accidents don't happen they are caused
Terry

[Harter]

Originally Posted by AnglaisInHull

Wow! I heard of an incident like this back when I was in university and working around high-powered lasers.

One of the lab techs accidentally backed into the terminals of a charged capacitor that was used to fire a big system. He broke his arm when he hit the wall on the other side of the lab; don't remember what happened to his butt!

Think once, twice, three times when playing with electricity.

I have one relating to this too, Not my doing at the time because I have no knowledge about 5 wire 3 phase power, 220 volt, I an a long time reader here and I have learned a lot just reading.
So on this one, generator quite, This is on a oil rig, There was a new shipped out to get us back up and running, The drill wired the rig into the replacement generator, now 5 wire 3 phase is not to be played with unless you know what you are doing, its 3 hot 220 wires(big one) one ground, return wire and ground wire, Well guess what, They flipped on the power and ever light up the derrick burned out, all 110 volt of course, guess who had to go and bring even light back to the ground and fix them,
Yes I did and was not happy about it, 23 4 foot forensic explosion proof lights one at a time,
I am sure it there was not bad luck I would not have any luck at all,,, LOL

[exMaggieDrum]

This isn't really DIY since I was the "pro" working on this little sailboat of a famous author in our town. He had an open cockpit with a long lazette under the starboard seat. I had to trace some wiring in there so I pulled out all the sailbags, life jackets, boat hook, extra lines, etc. and got down in to work. The seat "lid" fell down while I was in there and the latch went down on the lock hasp so it would not open. So I am down there in the dark on a marina pier with just a few boats and almost no one going back and forth there. I did have a flashlight for all the good it did me.

So I proceed to yell and holler hoping that someone would hear me and help me out. I yelled for about 20 minutes until the owner shows up and helps me out. I was more than a little red-faced over that one. I can say for sure that the owner was not too impressed, although I did fix his problem whatever it was.

Moral of story: ALWAYS secure hatches if they can fall down on you. They have been known to crack skulls and break all the fingers in your hand.

[socaldmax]

Originally Posted by exMaggieDrum

This isn't really DIY since I was the "pro" working on this little sailboat of a famous author in our town. He had an open cockpit with a long lazette under the starboard seat. I had to trace some wiring in there so I pulled out all the sailbags, life jackets, boat hook, extra lines, etc. and got down in to work. The seat "lid" fell down while I was in there and the latch went down on the lock hasp so it would not open. So I am down there in the dark on a marina pier with just a few boats and almost no one going back and forth there. I did have a flashlight for all the good it did me.

So I proceed to yell and holler hoping that someone would hear me and help me out. I yelled for about 20 minutes until the owner shows up and helps me out. I was more than a little red-faced over that one. I can say for sure that the owner was not too impressed, although I did fix his problem whatever it was.

Moral of story: ALWAYS secure hatches if they can fall down on you. They have been known to crack skulls and break all the fingers in your hand.

This story reminds me of something that happened on my sub in port.

A good friend of mine named Ed was the below decks watch, which is a rover who makes rounds every 1/2 hr and logs in all of the bilge levels, tank levels, air bank psi, etc. He has to climb down a few ladders and go into a few unmanned spaces.

There are hatches at the top of these ladders and for the sake of weight and strength, they have a support rib that crosses in the center that tapers down at the ends, basically making a fairly sharply pointed X in the center.

Late at night, probably about 0200, he lifted up a hatch, latched it (he thought) but some fabric blocked the latch. Just as his head was about level with the deck, the hatch came down full force and the sharp X cross brace hit him right on the top of the head, knocking him down into the space with the hatch shut above him. He was unconscious somewhere between 1.5 and 2 hrs, nobody noticed him missing at that time, but he came to by himself.

They took him to the hospital and were amazed at how little damage there was to his skull considering the weight and force of the hatch. He was off duty for about 4 days recovering. We were glad there weren't any lasting injuries!


About a month later, they were removing large, heavy sail plates from the side of the sail about 18' up the side when they lost control of one that weighed about 40 lbs and the sharp edge of it came down and struck him on the head and bounced off into the water. It knocked him out for a couple of minutes and again, he went to the hospital. The doctors reported that he did indeed have the strongest skull they had ever seen, but if we were going to keep trying to kill him like this, at least put a helmet on him!

Of course we changed his nickname to "Ed the Head."

[mygirl]

You can do some calculations and put a weight on a bolt or something like that to calibrate it. I'm sure it's on YouTube