Workshop tools go walkabout

[MV Wanderlust]

Originally Posted by dadster3

Like the socks from the wash, they occasionally try to escape to fulfill their destiny.

That could be incorrect, dadster. Years ago, my brother spent a completely inappropriate amount of time developing a math formula that supposedly proves socks actually breed in the hot, dry environment of a clothes dryer. Those singles aren't half of a pair; they're offspring.

[MV Wanderlust]

Oddly enough, it sometimes works in our favor. Last weekend, I took the back off of an old TV cabinet in the master stateroom and wiggled back in there to find a particular hose. Laying on a ledge was someone's reversible screwdriver. Probably been there for years. Amazing it was still in that spot considering some of the waves we've taken.

[disputin]

Originally Posted by ttex

I was pretending to twirl my big screwdriver like a ninja and I ended up throwing it in the ocean. This just happened.

I've often wondered how many tools a boatowner need to be sacrificed to Neptune each year to keep him at bay...


Last year I sacrificed a decal removal wheel when I stepped off my boat and my wife (on the dock) lost contact with the side of the boat. The wheel spun off and we watched it as it went to the bottom of the marina.

Discovery is right buy two, four if it's critical...







Sean

[billgewater]

Personal experiences - Occasionally the wife does a tidy - up of the workshop. Then I can't find anything.
Also extensive international theoretical and practical studies have show that if you have two of the items then you will never need that particular item. The only ones that go missing are the ones you actually need.
It's a subset of the theory that if you have two items on the boat which are prone to failure, then nothing will go wrong. But if you don't have a spare, then the item will fail at the most critical time. I can see a Ph. D. here somewhere -if only I could find it.

[bbowman294]

YUP......


I can't find where i put the tool so................I'll go out and buy another one, use it, and decide to store it so I'll remember where it will be the next time I need it....................and lo and behold there's the old tool!!!!!!!

[Gravedigger]

You know I thought it was just me.......this thread is kind of comforting in a strange way if I am losing my marbles I am in good company...

[Tayana42]

Originally Posted by Gravedigger

You know I thought it was just me.......this thread is kind of comforting in a strange way if I am losing my marbles I am in good company...

I know I had some spare marbles but I can’t remember where I put them.

[wrwakefield]

A friend sent me this over the recent holidays...

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Gravedigger

You know I thought it was just me.......this thread is kind of comforting in a strange way if I am losing my marbles I am in good company...

You have a lot of company!

[Disailor]

I find Lost tools to be a jealouse lot so a solution that works for me is to go look for something else!

DC

[Reefmagnet]

I found a 30 year old screwdriver in the bottom of the diesel tank. I assume it was left there by the builder.


Tools that go walkabout is one thing. I'm also cursed with the problem that when I put a tool down in the middle of working on something it sometimes instantly vanishes only to reappear in some random location after what can sometimes be a significant search.


Torches are the worst culprits for doing this.

[dfelsent]

My dad gave me a nice makita chop saw. It needed that button that releases the trigger. I bought one. It was delivered. I saw it. I swear. But between delivery and my attempt to bring it to the shop it vanished. I just bought another one. It was delivered. I immediately brought it to the shop and put it in the saw.
I am expecting one of two things to happen very soon.
1: the missing button appears somewhere obvious.
2: the button in the saw vanishes.

[jacktheflyer]

There is a special place where tape measures go. I'm working on the theory that one day this ephemeral void will fill up and I won't lose any more tape measures. Been waiting about 50yrs and there's not much time left.

[flyingnut40]

At least your neighbor returns "borrowed" tools...…. EVENTUALLY!!!!! ;-)

[Madehn]

My boat has special storage lockers built into the most inaccessible places in the engine room bilge-- this area is fed by special one way chutes from anywhere else in the boat. These chutes utilize trans warp capability to make sure that any tools dropped in any part of the boat are automatically transported quickly and efficiently to that very area. To get to it i simply have to loosen the motor mounts on my 6cyl perkins and jack it up 2 inches then i can reach in and pull the needed tool out. To avoid having to do this i have changed my religion and now regularly donate tools like vice grips and wrenches to the great water god who resides just off my boat, being careful of course to balance the yin and yang of part and starboard sides-- by doing this i am slowly building up a tool inventory and i will simply have to dive over the side in any anchorage that i am in for an extended period of time and will have a 75% chance of finding the right tool. In my boat it seems that the key wrench is 7/16 and 3/8. On one memorable instance donated a brand new 1/2 inch drill complete with hole saw to the starboard water god-- my dock mates with no appreciation for the fine sensibilities of my new religion almost pissed themselves laughing.