The Worst Thing

[Scott Rosen]

What's the worst, most unpleasant thing you've ever done with, in or around wooden boats? Building, maintenance, repair, sailing, you name it.

[ 03-18-2002, 08:12 PM: Message edited by: Scott Rosen ]

[Donn]

I was out fishing one day, with a friend, in his mint 61 Lyman outboard. We were headed to a good perch spot about 2 miles off Sandusky, in Lake Erie. I was driving, and my friend was getting the tackle ready, when I heard him scream "Oh Shit!" His shout was followed by a very loud explosion, and I turned around to see the fireball erupt out of the old Gray hanging off the transom. I saw the flames shooting down the fuel line toward the 6 gallon tank and hollered "Jump!" We both jumped...the tank exploded, and the Lyman burned to the waterline and sunk in 2 minutes.

Both of our PFD's and all our gear went down with it, and we were in the water, 2 miles offshore and facing a good 15kt wind in our faces to get back to shore. I knew I could do it, but it turned out that my friend couldn't..so I had to drag him 3/4 of the way. We made it, but I learned about wearing my PFD while underway in an outboard boat.

[Kermit]

Worst thing wasn't a woodenboat, it was fixing a Soling with boatpox. Grinding glass is yucko. Worse than sanding Western Red Cedar. That would be it for woodenboats.

[Biofish]

Originally posted by donnwest:
. I saw the flames shooting down the fuel line toward the 6 gallon tank and hollered "Jump!" We both jumped...the tank exploded, and the Lyman burned to the waterline and sunk in 2 minutes.
Wow. That is amazing. Thank God you survived.

Rob

[Rich VanValkenburg]

For me it's Harbor Hill Marina in Detroit, back in '76-'78. It was a boat graveyard. I found my boat there. Turns out it was just a tax write-off for the property owners and they had an old bugger living in a small shed there, employed as caretaker. He was drunk most of the time and only sobered up a couple times a week to unlock the gate for boat owners. Sometimes I couldn't get in there for a couple weeks. Because of that it took those years to get Sonja in shape enough to float out of there. That was a bad thing.

After awhile though, I brought the old guy stuff. My employer gave us two hams at Christmas, so I gave him one. Took him some flannels and a coat to get him through winter. That Spring in '78 he gave me the combo to the gate lock so I could get in anytime. I took him food and clothes once in awhile to keep him happy and he helped me launch in June. I took him a ham every year for four or five years after that. That was a good thing.

Once Sonja was in the water, I found another place to keep her to finish up some major work. The then-owner of Harbor Hill came flying down the ramp in a Caddy and begged me not to leave. The place was a marina (and a write-off) as long as there was one boat there that was floating, and I was it. Told her no thanks and I was leaving the next day. She threatened to burn the boat that night unless I agreed. Told her I'd think about it for a day or so. I had to sneak the boat out of there that night. That was a bad thing.

[Bruce Taylor]

The worst, eh? That would be the time my dear Maggie told me I was welcome to begin building Eun na Mara...in ten years!

[John Teetsel]

When my Dad got sea sick and lost his uppers over the side. Not at ALL a pretty sight.

[Chris Coose]

I wished I hadn't opened this one..... again

[videoguy]

Drilling 12 holes in two and a half feet of lead for the 1 1/4 keel bolts in the middle of a heat wave . NOT FUN!

[doorstop]

Surfacing to see my Dads 16' putt putt drifting away from me...... upside down, mind you that wasn't as bad as having to ring him to tell him what I had done. That was one BIG wave!!!

[Mr. Know It All]

Donn West's story is gonna give me nightmares. I'm restoring a 1961 Lyman 16 footer. Think I'll be buying that newer outboard motor and will always wear my PFD. What caused the fire in the first place?
peace----> Kevin in Ohio

[PugetSound]

Being several miles off of the Northern California coast in a kayak (fiberglass) that was leaking badly. I had about 150 lbs of dive gear in/on the boat and there was a storm brewing which started to blow me further off shore. I had to put my wetsuit back on while in the water because the boat was unstable and swamped. It took me almost 10 hours to swim that boat to shore. After landing on a boulder strewn beach at about 0130 hours, I made some emergency repairs reloaded all 150 lbs of gear and was just heading out to paddle the final few miles up the coast to my campsite when the local park rangers showed up in a cruiser and asked if I was alright and would I like a ride back to camp. I thought about the offer for all of about 2 seconds before saying "hell yes"! The rangers offered me a large mug of very hot tea (I was thinking of something more potent, but what the heck) and allowed as how they'd been looking for me for some hours.

It had never ocurred to me that anybody would have bothered with such a thing; I was just mucho tired and very P.O.'d at myself for only knowing how to cuss in two languages. Since that time, I have been a strong believer in thermal protection as well as PFD's.

[ 03-30-2002, 11:19 PM: Message edited by: PugetSound ]

[johnw]

The worst thing was donating the first boat I ever owned, a Thai sampoa, to a museum and having some fool break it up for firewood because he misunderstood instructions to break up the bench it was sitting on. Second worst was being trapped under a 13' plywood boat in shallow water wondering how long I could hold my breath while listening to my father and the boat's owner try to figure out where I was. This was in Kittery, Maine. I was about 10, and we'd gone sailing with our neighbor in his Merry Mack. His rudder broke, and he didn't have a paddle aboard. We managed to get to an island in the middle of the harbor and were dragging the boat around to the side where people at the moorage could see us. My father and our neighbor were ahead of me on the painter when my feet stuck in the mud and they pulled the boat over me. They pulled harder when they realized the boat had run aground on something, thereby sending me deeper into the mud. The water was only a couple inches deep, but I was face down, so the time I had was limited. They looked around and wondered where I was, and I could hear them clearly through the bottom of the boat. I realized that my legs were free from the knees down, so I started kicking the side of the boat. They tried to pull me out by my legs, but my head was on the other side of the keel, so that sort of hurt. I started kicking again. Then they pushed the boat off me. The whole thing must have taken less than a minute, but that seems a long time when you think that the minute you are under the boat might be the rest of your life.

[ken mcclure]

Started building one. That's also the best thing I've done.

[Wild Dingo]

worst thing??? mmmmm dramatic thing nope... embarrassing thing yep and I guess I can tell you good people as were all mates here right?

Well after a great day of fishing and muckin about in a mates 20ft cat out from Monkey Mia... thats a toursit mecca along the West Aussie coast... good spot actually... anyway we were sailin back in to shore all smiles and hearty... full of cheek and good humor when we decided to do a good old fashioned sail past for the tourists... bein the local yobs that we were we hitched our strides up and set the sail and away we went cruised past the dolphin gawkers of which there were some 100 or so all lined up along the beach like good little fellas and shielas... mmmm shielas there were probably 80 or 90 sheilas in that bunch all pretty good lookers... there must have been some sweedish topless bikini mob in town... I dont know but anyway we decide to go sail past again and this time try to get in a bit closer and hopefully pick a couple of them of the shore for dinner.. ooops to take to dinner I meant :D ... anyway there we were cruisin along when bright spark me decides to do the "me hero" trick and start posing around like a fool... dumb move... there I am standin next to the mast in just me shorts flexin me musicles when pop goes the damn lastic band in me shorts downward travel me shorts and hit the deck at a heck of a rate of knots... and Im now standing naked as a jaybird in front of 100 or so flamin gawkin photo snapping tourists with no where to hide! so what does this bright eyed goose do? yeah right grab for the nearest biggest peice of material to me.. grabbed at the sail didnt I?... So anyway good old dumbass goes flying over the side into the drink... while of shoots me mate in the suddenly immensly lightened little boat and a nice wiff of wind leaving me floundering around starkers with only a bunch of nosey dolphins and a mob of laughing shielas for company!

Oh the mate came back for me no worries... eventually... Not until the idiot had bolted to the pub and grabbed a carton of the best as he figured Id need a couple of drinks by the time he got back to me!... No flamin fear!!... I needed flamin help mates!... ridgey didge!... Them sheilas went nuts I can tell ya and I mean who can blame them really? When a real studmuffin saila fella such as yours truely ends up naked in the drink next to them? I ask you!... but anyway I dont know about you fellas but I bolted when all them sweedish topless bikini types started swimming toward me...thats a lot of wimmins!!... mind you me biggest fear came from the 6'4" hairy chinned "sheila" in the bright pink bikini who kept yelling in a high pitched voice "oooohhh hold him for me! Im comming darhling"... Talk about swim!!

My present biggest fear?... building the wrong boat!!! :eek:

Take it easy
Shane

[Roger Stouff]

Shane, I almost lost it on that one! THAT was funny!

[PugetSound]

THAT'S It. No more depending on 'lastic for me! From now on, I'm using two pairs of suspenders on me shorts. :D

[ 04-21-2002, 12:29 AM: Message edited by: PugetSound ]

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

I am doing it now. Dry scraping 12 years thickness of antifouling, in order to change from an ablative type to hard racing. You cant put hard on top of soft - but it ain't that soft!