Dumbest thing you ever did?

[sully75]

One thing I learned last summer, when you push in the head plunger and it pushes back at you, you are going to end up with an awesome story.


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[sully75]

I would also say if that happens to you, "venting" the holding tank by slowly unscrewing the pump out hole cover is definitely not a great idea.


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[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by sully75

I would also say if that happens to you, "venting" the holding tank by slowly unscrewing the pump out hole cover is definitely not a great idea.


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Beats the heck out of exploding the tank though, I assume the venting session washed off?

[lifeofreilly57]

Wow, too many dumb things to even remember them all so I'll just keep it amusing.
I was returning to home port from an extended summer cruise when the engine quit while heading under a bridge, I had checked the fuel gauge earlier and it read 1/4 tank, plenty for where I was going (it was an old manual float gauge mounted on the tank). After trying to restart the engine I checked it again, this time I banged on the tank and low and behold the gauge went to E, DOH!
No problem, I'll sail to the nearest fuel dock.
I was with my first wife 14 year old daughter and pooch at the time, my first wife had a low stress threshold and decided to hide down below, so my daughter and I did the sailing. After circling through the mooring field in front of the fuel dock for 30 minutes I thought I had given my daughter straight instructions on what to do, she'd control the main sheet while I steered, when we got close to the dock she'd drop the main and I'd jump on the dock with the stern line. OK, easy enough.
When we sailed up to the dock I jumped on the dock, the dog followed, that's when my daughter became distracted by the cute teenage boy standing on the dock, needless to say she never did let go of the main and the boat continued to sail on without me, at that point I had to run full speed down the dock and leap the 8' back into the cockpit (not gracefully) while the dog watched happily from the dock. Good thing I was 30 pounds lighter back then.
Fortunately the second try was much smoother.
If your going to look like a total twit just make sure to have a good sized audience.

[jkindredpdx]

Too funny Reilly!!

I have another not necessarily dumb... But many many years ago my nephew was shoving off... Walking the boat to the end of the dock, hands on toe rail, feet on dock, gap between dock and boat widening, hands on toe rail, feet on dock, nephew splash in water.

Needless to say, now a days we all stand on deck.


JimK

[Cadence]

I'm glad I never did anything dumb. I guess I can be like some others and remember others dumb things. I thought it said, " I've done.":-)

[dannc]

Originally Posted by socaldmax

...

The entire control room erupted in laughter and the Nav. turned beet red and stormed off!

So whatever happened to the LCDR?

Later,
Dan

[Capt Phil]

Over pressurizing head systems by pumping until you collapse is never a good idea. We were anchored next to good friends who were aboard a smaller power boat and were enjoying sundowners on their after deck when the spouse informed the skipper that the head would no longer pump.
He immediately jumped up, being a relatively newly wed, and disappeared below appearing in the salon with his tool bag saying there was only room for one in the confines of the head and he had it covered!
Aswecontinuedto enjoy his booze and hiswife'scompany there was a strange muffled explosion from somewhere below and my friend appeared covered from head to waist in fecal matter, toilet paper, used tampons and various other detrious matter. He walked across the salon, across the aft deck over the swim grid right into the ocean.
He stripped off his clothes in the ocean, left them there and asked for abar of soap.
After helping him clean up the head and adjacent companionway, we all cleaned up and retired to our boat where the 4 of us stayed for the rest of the weekend while he returned periodically to keep scrubbing down surfaces and the bilge to get rid of the overwhelmingly smell.
All in all, a memorable weekend for all the wrong reasons! Phil

[socaldmax]

Originally Posted by dannc

So whatever happened to the LCDR?

Later,
Dan

Nothing happened to him from that alone, we all transferred and I lost track of him. Normally he'd go to shore duty as the XO of a small shore command and return to another boat as the XO, but I don't think his FITREPs were good enough to sustain the normal progression.

[hlev00]

Originally Posted by sully75

I would also say if that happens to you, "venting" the holding tank by slowly unscrewing the pump out hole cover is definitely not a great idea.

Okay. So here goes entry number two to this thread...

At the end of a week long cruise, our holding tank was pretty full. The pump was a little stiffer, but still pumping. No "convenient" place to empty the tank and we only had to get the boat back to the marina the next day, which we did.

The charter agreement said that we could return the boat without refueling or pumping out the holding tank for an extra $25 charge. Being the cheapskate that I am, I wasn't about to give up 25 bucks for something I could easily do. We pulled into the fuel dock where the pump-out was and topped off the diesel. Next it was time to empty the holding tank.

The cute young women at the fuel dock put on her gloves and started to remove the deck plate to the holding tank. It squirted around the edge a bit at first so she said "When it squirts out like that we ask the Captain to empty the tank."

Well, this was early in our chartering experiences and I'm not sure that anyone had referred to me as "Captain" before, and she we pretty cute, so sure, I'll take it from here. She asked if I wanted gloves. This seemed like a good idea given the aforementioned squirting. Now, I'm not completely stupid. If there is squirting, there is probably pressure in the system. So I positioned myself carefully so that when the contents oozed out I wouldn't get it on my feet and began to unscrew the deck plate. When the last millimeter of thread released its hold of the cap, it erupted like Old Faithful, right into my face and head. My carefully position feet did however remain unscathed. I was going to jump into the water but there was now a fine film across the top of it. My wife and kids didn't know whether to double over with laughter or to puke in disgust.

After hosing off, my family wouldn't let me back onto the boat or into our car until I had showered with soap for a good 20 minutes.

The dumbest thing wasn't opening the deck plate, it was not spending the $25 for someone else to do it. Several months later I was reading a Nigel Calder or Don Casey book and it mentioned that too much pressure in the waste system can rupture the tank or some other component. So all in all I was pretty lucky.

Harry
s/v Juno

[JPA Cate]

;-) Sure makes a good argument for knowing where the vent line is! And having something to clear it with.....

Ann

[carstenb]

Took delivery of our first boat in March (slush ice in the harbour).


It was my wife's first time sailing.

ON the trip back to our harbour I managed two (2) spinnaker knock downs before I decided it was a little too windy to be flying the kite.

Good news is that my wife still sails (she's Yachtmaster Ocean now)

[JPA Cate]

Looks like you got a keeper there, Carsten! Good on her!

Ann

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by carstenb

Took delivery of our first boat in March (slush ice in the harbour).


It was my wife's first time sailing.

ON the trip back to our harbour I managed two (2) spinnaker knock downs before I decided it was a little too windy to be flying the kite.

Good news is that my wife still sails (she's Yachtmaster Ocean now)

Carsten...

Sounds like me!

Thought process... "hmm... I guess the first time wasn't a fluke"...

[sully75]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Beats the heck out of exploding the tank though, I assume the venting session washed off?

It did but unfortunately I was anchored in a pristine spot. That you can only get to via a very narrow inlet and it's filled with boats. Could be on Martha's Vineyard. Maybe. So I had to slowly motor out passing 100s of boats, waving and smiling and hoping they wouldn't notice the 1' tall pile of poo that was sitting on my side deck. I got offshore and washed it off.


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