Occam's Razor Fails Again

[boatpoker]

Won't bore you with the long version .. it once took me took weeks and $2,000 to change a leaking washer in my shower taps ..... it's a boat, by definition something is wrong and it's going to cost !

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by glenn.225

"Why I've broken three or four things before breakfast." usually just after saying "This will just take a second."

apologizes to Lewis Carroll.

I now try never to say that. Not thinking it is going to be harder.

[Hudson Force]

Thanks for the group therapy session,- I'm feeling a little.

[Lake-Effect]

To help my fellow DIYers, here's some classified service guidelines used by most boat industry professionals, to give you some insight into their methodologies.





Razors are for shaving, in other words.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by HappyMdRSailor

This borders on "Thread Foul"....

Due diligence not withstanding... more of a bad luck instance instead of premeditated "questionable repair/refit practices"

However... Should you wrap any wires around a bit, or cleanly cut them in a blind panel penetration in the future.... You shall receive one smart rap on the noggin' with a rubber mallet...

This was your learning curve...

Well it wasn't my fault I cut that wire but it was still a pain, can't I get partial credit for bad luck?

Besides, I have wrapped plenty of wires around drill bits, drilled through wires, pulled the wrong wire out of a long conduit where I couldn't get it back, and drilled through the middle of a finished bulkhead trying to mount a bracket on the other side. So please don't rap me with the mallet. I promise I won't do it again, at least until the next time.

[senormechanico]

"Better is the Enemy of Good"

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Well it wasn't my fault I cut that wire but it was still a pain, can't I get partial credit for bad luck?

Besides, I have wrapped plenty of wires around drill bits, drilled through wires, pulled the wrong wire out of a long conduit where I couldn't get it back, and drilled through the middle of a finished bulkhead trying to mount a bracket on the other side. So please don't rap me with the mallet. I promise I won't do it again, at least until the next time.

Partial credit granted....

Mainly due to my personal experience with every single one of your aforementioned talents quoted above...

I formally share control of said mallet... And expect you to use it next time I pierce a pressurized copper water line behind wallboard....

To my credit... I performed reasonable due diligence, as a wire run was expected (and present) on the far side of said framing gap AND no fixtures were on either floor of this particular wall... I suspect that the construction plumber and electrician were giggling maniacally as they were power munching Cheetos in their natural herb induced fog.... Patiently waiting for the drywall team...

I think Cap'n Force will likely think he's a genius before too long...

[sww914]

After a career of fixing things, I can't tell you how many things that I've broken while trying to fix another. They're called lessons.
The difference between a good mechanic and a bad mechanic is that the good one catches his/her mistakes.

[sww914]

OK, upon reflection, here's the worst one, but not all mine. We were prepping an Audi for the customer's first racing school. One of the jobs was to mount the fire extinguisher. The boss told me to just drill through the floor to mount the extinguisher. The floor looked wrong to me, just different. Another employee told the boss and me that he thought that there were electronics mounted between two panels in the floor. The boss disagreed and insisted that I drill against our protests. The first hole painted the picture. Instead of steel chips flying off of the drill bit, it was copper and aluminum and plastic chips. One transmission computer ventilated, $3750.00.

[cwyckham]

While re-installing my injectors:
Using my new torque wrench for the first time, I have it set to half the torque but haven't done any mental math to think about how hard I should be pulling on the handle to get that torque.

I'm going back and forth between the two bolts when one shears off in the head. I'm shocked as I felt no click, so I back off the other bolt a little bit, turn the torque down to a quarter the value I need and try to feel for the click, thinking I must have missed it. The second bolt immediately shears off (must have had a weird twist on it from the saddle which was now being held by only one side).

I then got smart and went to the dock to test the operation of my torque wrench. It was jammed and made no clicking sound. A couple of taps cleared it and I now know to test its operation before use!!

I use an extractor to pull out the first bolt, but the lifting lug is in the way on the second one and the drill chuck keeps unscrewing because it's rubbing on the lug. I manage to drill the second bolt at an angle as a result and can't extract it.

I now realize that I can just unbolt the lifting lug and get it out of the way. I try to straighten the hole a bit using a smaller drill bit but break the bit. Luckily, it breaks off high enough up that I can pull it out of the hole. I work on extracting that bolt for an hour, but I'm starting to get too close to the threads and fear I'll mess them up.

Just as I'm about to give up, I bump the detached lifting lug and it falls down and gets wedged between the block and the heat exchanger. This wouldn't normally be a problem, except that the glow plug relay is attached to the lug and has exposed contacts...

So sparks fly and the lights go out. I grab for the lug, but it's wedged. Instead of reaching 3' to my left and switching off the power, I fixate on getting the lug out of there. It's wedged for about 20 seconds, but in that time, one of the two hose clamps holding the heat exchanger to the block glows cherry red and then breaks. Amazing what five AGM batteries will put through a bronze heat exchanger.

At that point, I gave up and hired a mechanic who successfully backed out the last sheared bolt.

[hpeer]

Yeah, well, I'm a gonna re run the engine control cable cause it weren't run right to begin with. I blind drill a hole under the sole, with a 1" hole saw, through a some dang TOUGH pice of wood until I notice a drip!

The wood was real soft and I didn't even notice the saw going through. It was the 1/4" steel hull that had put up a fight.

Now THATS stupid.

Luckily I had just nicked the hull and only had a drip which I plugged with plumbers wax until we hauled and had the hole welded.

I don't tell this story often, it's bad even for me.