Found my vice grips!!!

[four winds]

They have been missing for over a year. Nothing is ever lost in a sailboat. Just goes AWOL for a while, but this is a new record.

Stuck my head up into the bow forward of the v-berth to inspect the backing on my anchor roller that is trying to pull out. And I'll be damned, there were the vice grips still clamped to a nut on a bolt securing the port side chock. Replaced that chock well over a year ago.

More than a year ago! Anyone care to share something to beat that?

Now if I could just find that jar of mustard I bought a couple of days ago.

[Boatguy30]

I'll make something up and get back to you. Someone may beat me to it.

[Reefmagnet]

I found a screwdriver (not mine) in my diesel tank that appeared to have been there for a very long time!

[haiqu]

I'm still looking for the plans to a wind vane system I bought from Hartley and Brookes about two years ago. Could be in my van, or maybe I left them in the Queenslander in Sydney ...

[hpeer]

On a nut on the steering quadrant. Sailed a couple of hundred miles with it there.

[senormechanico]

A friend on a very sloppy 43' cruiser lost her wedding ring while washing dishes.
She found it TWO YEARS LATER on her chart table, covered in the usual pile of crap.

[four winds]

My pile 'o bits and bobs lives on the stove top cover. Just set it aside to cook. Chart table stays squared away as does the rest of cabin. Really should do something about that mess though.

[four winds]

Saw a show about the vice grip factory. Many grips clamped on various machinery as repairs and never removed, for decades.

Apparently they walk the walk there. Good tool.

[bratzcpa]

Your story got me thinking . . . I used a vice grips to "close" a small flexible pipe that led from my ice box to the sink drain hose.

I put it there when we were in the Bahamas back in 2013 because in the rough ocean water, when we were on a port tack, the sea water level caused the ice box to fill with sea water - - - thereby melting our precious ice.

So, I just used the vice grips (as a valve) to clamp shut that 3/8" line.

Just looked - - yep, still there!

[captain58sailin]

I can't beat your story about vise grips, I've lost a lot of tools in the bilge that I don't recover for long periods of time. I need my vise grips too much, if I had misplace them like that, I would have had to buy a new pair before very long. Right now I am missing a battery isolater switch, it's only been missing for about 2 months, but if I don't find it pretty soon, I'll be making another run to the "Gear Shed".

[g_3]

I think you told the story wrong though. Your CHILDREN lost your tools, then you found them. Because they always borrow them without asking and lose them.

I say this as I look at a nice adjustable wrench I borrowed from my dad about 25 years ago. I bet he still thinks it's going to turn up someday around his house.

[g_3]

Originally Posted by g_3

I think you told the story wrong though. Your CHILDREN lost your tools, then you found them. Because they always borrow them without asking and lose them.

I say this as I look at a nice adjustable wrench I borrowed from my dad about 25 years ago. I bet he still thinks it's going to turn up someday around his house.

Damn, what do you know, the wrench is actually sitting on top of my buddy Jim's blue philips head. I think I'm a horrible human.

[alctel]

I couldn't find mine for a week and then realised I had left them duct-taped onto the side of the hull to hold the outside of a throu-hull that I was tightening

[Privilege]

My girlfriend has a little round nail-file with 40 grit sandpaper on it. It grates me to the bone every time she uses it. Anyway, one day it went missing. It showed up eighteen months later in the bottom of my spanner box, at the rear of the spare toolbox in the bottom drawer of the tool room. Lord only knows how it could have got in there.

[Sailor647]

We are still looking for a pair of channellocks we misplaced over a year ago. We think we used them to remove the holding tank that needed repair. However, we decided to buy new pliers instead of removing the holding tank to see if they're underneath it.