The oddest thing...

[Tony]

OK y'all,
For the sake of my incredulity, I gotta rant, but that got me thinking...what's the oddest thing YOU'VE seen a PO do?

Last night I pulled off the bow pulpit of our new-to-us Catalina 22. It was bedded in...wait for it...WHITE PLAYDOUGH!! I'm not kidding. I wasn't any kind of caulk. The edges had dried and were crumbly and under the sockets the stuff was WET and as pliable and putty-like as the day it was applied (whenever that was). Nothing smells like old wet playdough. I saw it, tested it's puttyness and as soon as the smell hit my nose there was no mistaking it! Guess I'll be recoring the forward deck at some point! ARGHH!!

Anyway, care to beat that?

[Rachel]

Not that I'd put Play-Doh past a PO, but I wonder if it could have been Dolfinite? That stays soft (but might dry out at the edges). Trying to think if Play-Doh smelled like Dolfinite and can't remember.

I know this is cheating, because I didn't buy the boat, but since I'm already responding...

I looked at a Rhodes Ranger in Maine wherein the owner had "repaired" the soft decks by re-glassing.... right over the stanchion bases.

I'm gonna love this thread <grin>

Rachel

[Jason K]

My stupid PO trick this month is definitely the sheave issue. It was decided to simply bypass a seized sheave, which caused the old wire halyard to carve a groove in the mast, which promptly ate my new Warpspeed halyard on its first hoist, which necessitated dropping the rig to repair.

[Duncan]

Well, there was the "gimballed" automobile battery charger (hanging by its top strap, and swinging side to side), under the cockpit seat. He'd also disconnected the leads to pass them through a small hole in the bulkhead. The ground wire had no removeable terminal, though, so it got cut, then a twist and a half to reconnect it, with a little electrician's tape to make it all "professional".

Similarly, there were half a dozen 12V circuits added by stripping six inches of the main positive lead coming into the switch panel. The leads were all artfully braided together, then the whole mess was wrapped in tape.

Or the lethal "shore power" system. Among other things, it depended on an extension cord which had four sections of broken wire/missing insulation.

The best things I can say about the electrical system are that 1) no one died, 2) I only had one fire, and 3) it's all gone now.

[Tony]

"...I only had one fire..."

Wow, if that's the best I wonder what the worst was??!

[jollyboat]

Tony,
The wet and gooie aspect of your 'play dough" discovery is not that 'uncommon' as many times in the bedding process, if the hardware is tightened too much before a proper seal can be achieved with the compound, the exposed bead of both curring and 'less curring' bedding componds will seal out air and moisture from under whatever hardware is being bedded down, this in effect is like going from the tube or can into another - so the bedding compound that is not exposed never has a chance to cure. I highly doubt that your "play dough" really is PD. Play Dough is water based and would not last long enough for you to find it as you have - with odor. There are all kinds of bedding componds on the market so who knows what you have there. Dolphinite is a good guess as Mike discribed. Could also be a similar interlux pruduct that I have seen that is also white.

[Duncan]

"...I only had one fire..."

Wow, if that's the best I wonder what the worst was??!

Haha, the worst was a lot of "sailor words" spoken as I stood facing the quarterberth, counting down before I let go with the extinguishers.
The smoke thinned quickly, though, so I never had to pull the triggers.

It was only the insulation on one wire that actually combusted, but you can probably make out some of the melted stuff from this photo:



The Twelve-Volt Bible is now my catechism, and it turns out that BestBoatWire.com has a nice load of heavy gauge tinned copper available at a discount right here in Montreal.

Anybody wants some, pm me, and I could get a bit extra while I'm at it.

[Tony]

if the hardware is tightened too much before a proper seal

Brian,
Yea, it may not be PD, however it didn't stick to the deck at all, and sure smelled like PD :-) No matter, I'll be rebedding the foredeck gear with 4200 tomorrow or tuesday.

[Tim]

Spelling Police

Please: it's Dolfinite. Not Dolphinite.

[Duncan]

Spelling Police

Please: it's Dolfinite. Not Dolphinite.

Why, because it's got a picture of a dolfin on the label? ;)

[Ceasar Choppy]

Suddenly, the two 20lbs horizontal propane tanks bolted to the cockpit sole (we called them afterburners) don't seem as bad as what I've read here...

Another PO great was that the electrical system was wired so that if more than two lights were turned on at a time, the breaker would trip. He was really proud of that. This was apparently his way of regulating electrical usage with 4 kids aboard.

All electrical connections were soldered and wrapped with 50 lbs (ea) of gooey black electrical tape. I have sumarily banned black electrical tape after doing a complete re-wire a few years ago.

[jollyboat]

DAMMIT MAN - In some coastal regions they spell Dolfinite with a "PH" and Pizza as Peet-za.