Really clever idea!

[peghall]

One of the people on sailboatowners.com said he "stumbled across this photo and had to share it"...and I think it's worth sharing again:

[belizesailor]

+1. Thats a fine idea!

[Fence Man]

That's cheating.

[Tillsbury]

I’d have two more hex bits than I have if I’d thought of that the other week...

[a64pilot]

I’d do that, and watch whatever bounce like on a trampoline and into the water

[peghall]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I’d do that, and watch whatever bounce like on a trampoline and into the water

Someone on sbo.com suggested that putting a towel in the umbrella would eliminate the bounce problem.

--Peggie
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't completely understand it yourself." --Albert Einstein

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I’d do that, and watch whatever bounce like on a trampoline and into the water

Yep. That's how it goes with me. I swear I could be below decks, drop an essential screw and it would somehow bounce up the companionway and into the water.

Although, once coming back from the Caribbean to FL I got water in my starter (don't ask) and hoped I could take it apart, clean, dry and maybe crank the engine again.

Got the starter off, sat down on the edge of the cockpit (with the drains plugged) to disassemble. Got to the rotor, slid it out and about hundred million ball bearings jumped out and scattered everywhere. I figured I was dead but started hunting bearings and managed to find every one and actually got the starter back together and working. I figure I used up my whole lifetime of loose parts karma in that one incident.

An old friend of mine used to rebuild all kinds of mechanical gadgets. Anytime he was working on a bit with small, irreplaceable parts he would tape over the drain and work in the bathtub. Of course he was a bit strange in other ways as well.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by peghall

Someone on sbo.com suggested that putting a towel in the umbrella would eliminate the bounce problem.

--Peggie
"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't completely understand it yourself." --Albert Einstein

For it to work for me I would have to line the umbrella with extra sticky, double sided tape.

[charliehows]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I’d do that, and watch whatever bounce like on a trampoline and into the water

see... thisaway you get some entertainment before the plop.

[atoll]

i doubt that umbrella is strong enough to catch either one of those guys......
they should be wearing life vests in case they fall in.

[CaptTom]

All the parts on MY boat are way too smart to fall for that trick.

They'd bounce off the gunwale, or a railing, or my foot, and do a perfect 10.0 swan dive into the water. I think I've seen them turn around to laugh at me as they sink.

I've never seen them bounce up the companionway hatch (maybe those are the ones I never found?) but they do seem to crawl to the most inaccessible parts of the bilges, or into the tiny crevasses between large, immovable items like engines and tanks.

Lately, my most adventurous parts have been the tiny slotted screws in electrical connections. Since you often have to hold the screw with one hand, the wire with another, and the screwdriver with a third, I generally run out of hands about 2/3 of the way through. And of course, the connections are always in a location where only one hand fits anyway. The manufacturers can't use Phillips head screws, because then you'd only need two hands, and you'd have a fighting chance of getting the screw back in before losing it.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by CaptTom

Since you often have to hold the screw with one hand, the wire with another, and the screwdriver with a third, I generally run out of hands about 2/3 of the way through. And of course, the connections are always in a location where only one hand fits anyway. The manufacturers can't use Phillips head screws, because then you'd only need two hands, and you'd have a fighting chance of getting the screw back in before losing it.

You do know the trick of putting a glob of some appropriately thick and sticky goop on head of the screw to get it to more or less stick to the tip of the screwdriver? I usually grab whatever is handy like thick grease, Vaseline, lanolin or similar. Works best with Phillips head but reasonably well with slotted screws as well.

Installing new wires or replacing old ones to my electrical panel is one of those only one hand fits jobs and this is about the only way I can get a screw into the breaker. Of course this job requires one hand for the screwdriver, one to hold the wire and another to hold the other wires out of the way so I still run out of hands.

Also, for those infrequent times when something manages to fall into the bilge under the engine instead of over the side get one of these. One of the most often used tools on my boat.

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Yep. That's how it goes with me. I swear I could be below decks, drop an essential screw and it would somehow bounce up the companionway and into the water.

Although, once coming back from the Caribbean to FL I got water in my starter (don't ask) and hoped I could take it apart, clean, dry and maybe crank the engine again.

Got the starter off, sat down on the edge of the cockpit (with the drains plugged) to disassemble. Got to the rotor, slid it out and about hundred million ball bearings jumped out and scattered everywhere. I figured I was dead but started hunting bearings and managed to find every one and actually got the starter back together and working. I figure I used up my whole lifetime of loose parts karma in that one incident.

An old friend of mine used to rebuild all kinds of mechanical gadgets. Anytime he was working on a bit with small, irreplaceable parts he would tape over the drain and work in the bathtub. Of course he was a bit strange in other ways as well.

Tried to put smiley faces on but something has gone wrong. Now it's just awkward. Any way..............

[Kenomac]

An excellent idea, thanks for sharing.

[Wotname]

So an umbrella is useful on a boat, now about that wheelbarrow...