Murphy's Marine Laws

[Blue Stocking]

An 8 - 5 job is 20 hrs.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by GordMay

The important things are always simple; the simple are always hard.

How many times have I started a very simple job only to discover that the

- the part I need to repair/replace requires disassembly of half the boat to access

- the part is accessible but inside or behind something that is epoxied, 5200'd (that is now a verb), welded, peened or otherwise sealed requiring destruction of the item to make the repair.

- the repair is dead simple in all regards but requires some very cheap but complex part that is not available nor feasible to make.

- The repair involves a little lever or cam type thingy that breaks and cannot be glued or welded and requires a total disassembly to repair.

- etc ad infinitum.

[ontherocks83]

only after putting the brand new cylinder head back on to the engine, torquing down all 18 bolts in 20 ft/lb increments over 3 revolutions do you then see that one of the rocker arm mounting studs is bent and it all has to come back off again.

[Tayana42]

Why don't parts come with the required band aids (plasters)?


S/V B'Shert

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by ontherocks83

only after putting the brand new cylinder head back on to the engine, torquing down all 18 bolts in 20 ft/lb increments over 3 revolutions do you then see that ...

... you forgot to install the gasket.

[ontherocks83]

Originally Posted by GordMay

... you forgot to install the gasket.

Good call! and Yup been there done that on other projects, and even sadder more then once.

[Mahayana]

[QUOTE=a64pilot;1988498]The part you need, will of course not be what you have in spares.
If it's an O ring, the extra you have will be just a tiny bit too big, making you wonder if you can cut out a section and superglue it back together.
Required bolts will be just a tiny bit too short, clamps just barely too small, a half inch hose will require a hear gun to get it to fit over a half inch fitting, ID, OD? So that's what that means?
Hoses will always be 1" too short, as will wires.


For some reason we have 2 alternator belts that are our only spares and they are 1" short. How/why did I think that would work? Have to fix that before going offshore this spring.

[ontherocks83]

Whenever you finish a mechanical or electrical project you go over what you did double checking all of your work incessantly to make sure A: you won't damage your engine when you start it or B: burn down the boat. Always finding you did everything perfectly and worried for nothing.

THEN......... the ONE time you assert your confidence that you did everything just fine and turn on said repaired item, you then proceed to damage a more expensive piece then you just fixed. (and that isnt even the Murphy part of it) Murphy comes into play by making sure that your wife happens to return at the exact moment said device gets damaged and your standing surronded by a stench of electrical smoke trying to convince her you have everything under control. ( I believe that is when Murphy is really sitting back and laughing his ass off)

[jongleur]

Originally Posted by Canibul

And anything packaged in a paint can will stay fresh and liquid until the day you finally get around to applying it.

This is called "Schrödinger's Paint"

[Reefmagnet]

When installing something to the boat that requires mounting with bolts or screws, you always find the exact bolts or screws required in the on-board nut and bolt kit. Murphy tells us that we'll fall one or two less than needed for the job, however.

Sent from my SGP521 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Canibul]

Just after reading a bunch of this during a break from my current project, I went back out on deck to finish it up. In the process, I apparently put my bare heel down on an open tube of Permatex Anti-Seize compound. Unfortunately for me, this made it pretty easy for someone else on board to track my activities on the boat for the next fifteen minutes. I am sure there is a Murphy's law here somewhere.

[GordMay]

Bitton's Postulate on State-of-the-Art Electronics:
If you understand it, it's obsolete.

[Exile]

Definitely not one of Mr. Murphy's, but also seems to follow that when you finally get out there, the wind is perfect, waves are calm, weather warm, and you feel the boat surge & heel, all of the Murphyism's are quickly forgotten (or at least forgiven). Until the next thing breaks, that is.

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by Canibul

The best way to get something stuck tight to immediately come loose is to tell yourself "WhatEVER you do...don't drop this over the side.."

ROTFLMFAO+1

[JPA Cate]

Ya know, guys, I think this thread ought to be made a sticky, but under a new name: "What They Didn't Tell You at the Boat Show." Whaddaya think?