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Stupidity of the day


tehmarks

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Not boat related but a f#*k up as a licenced aircraft engineer. I was doing a engine change on one of my companies DC10 cargo aircraft in Bombay India leased a engine from Air India which was for a A300, basic engine the same Cf6-50C2 just some power plant items to change over for a DC fit. Having got the engine in and connected went to fit a small air pipe and guess what I had forgot to change over from A300 to DC10 and yes engine had to come out to change it over man was I pissed off, the mechanics where having a good laugh at my expense. Lol 

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We are doing a refurb on a property, I tend to do the simple leccy stuff, so was wiring in a new socket for the cooker and hood, chatting to the guys as you do.

Asked all if any need mains for 15 mins, nope, so I turned of the sockets at the distribution box,  back to wiring, got whapped,  cooker has a separate circuit switch,  and, I bloody know that!!! 

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Not my stupidity (but could be argued my stupidity in not checking). And could have been serious...

 

I used to tow a big boat for the dive club. 6.5m RHIB with a 140HP Suzuki four stroke on the back. Boat was rather over a ton (without divers, diving equipment etc)

 

The RHIB was attached to the trailer in two ways at the bow; a winch used for launch and recovery and, for additional security the painter was lashed tight to the trailer.

 

Some people prepared for launch by disconnecting the winch and securing the painter, others by untying the painter leaving the boat retained by the winch. As we were a large group with different people on different trips, the inevitable happened one day... One person disconnected the winch, another the painter...

 

I started to back the trailer down the slipway and noticed the bow of the RHIB start to move... away from the car... Floor the throttle (which, in reverse and low ratio wasn't that fast) and just managed to make sure the RHIB slid off into the surf rather than onto concrete.

 

Then start a discussion about the benefits of a standardising procedures and having a checklist.

 

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3 minutes ago, 1st ade said:

Not my stupidity (but could be argued my stupidity in not checking). And could have been serious...

 

I used to tow a big boat for the dive club. 6.5m RHIB with a 140HP Suzuki four stroke on the back. Boat was rather over a ton (without divers, diving equipment etc)

 

The RHIB was attached to the trailer in two ways at the bow; a winch used for launch and recovery and, for additional security the painter was lashed tight to the trailer.

 

Some people prepared for launch by disconnecting the winch and securing the painter, others by untying the painter leaving the boat retained by the winch. As we were a large group with different people on different trips, the inevitable happened one day... One person disconnected the winch, another the painter...

 

I started to back the trailer down the slipway and noticed the bow of the RHIB start to move... away from the car... Floor the throttle (which, in reverse and low ratio wasn't that fast) and just managed to make sure the RHIB slid off into the surf rather than onto concrete.

 

Then start a discussion about the benefits of a standardising procedures and having a checklist.

 

Did the reverse once. Embarrassing rather than dangerous. Was launching a little GRP cruiser, trailer backed down slipway, stern has plenty of water. Start outboard and engage reverse. We're going nowhere, think bow must still be resting on the bunks and snubber thing, reverse car a bit further down, then realise the problem as the bow is now dipping  down towards the water. I'd released the main winch clip but not the emergency rope. Muttering about being a complete tool, I released it and went to the cockpit and merrily backed out into open water.

 

A far more dangerous and cautionary tale  was years ago. Was towing an empty boat trailer fifty miles to the boatyard to collect my other trailer for repair. Had completely forgotten that one wheel had the nuts only finger tight from months before after I'd cleaned it up. With impatient youth I didn't bother checking over the trailer properly before hitching up and getting on the road. By the time I reached the yard, I'd just begun to notice an ever slight wobble on it for the last couple of miles. When I looked, it was obvious the studs had been destroyed, worn down to less than 5mm. It would have only been a few miles more and the wheel would have come off. Reader, I nearly cr@pped myself. Since then, I've checked and double checked a trailer setting off, and then again after a few miles.

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43 minutes ago, 1st ade said:

Then start a discussion about the benefits of a standardising procedures and having a checklist.

I feel that we could learn a lot from aviation when it comes to standardising procedures, and briefing and managing crew. Alas, general aviation actually often has the opposite problem; over-reliance on the checklist as a to-do list to fill in for knowledge and airmanship, rather than as a tool for catching omissions.

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Reading 1st ades tale of launching reminded me of when we launched our Sea Otter at Granton harbour on our way to the Festival of the Sea at Leith docks in the Firth of Forth.

Normally when launching I would be on the bank holding two very long ropes with which I controlled the boat after it floated off the trailer but the slip at Granton meant I had to be on the back of the boat and drive it to the pontoon some distance away. 

Iain reversed the landy and when I reckonned it was the right time I started the engine and engaged reverse. Nothing happened and looking down the side of the boat I saw that the sea water was half way up the back door of the landy. 

Just then a friend on the bank shouted to us that the boat was still attached to the trailer and Iain drove forward till he could undo the coupling. The launch went fine after that but the landy still suffers from having been in the sea.

 

We never made that mistake again!

 

Haggis

 

 

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Around 11 years ago we were doing a lot of sailing. We had a 55ft ketch back then and she'd proved to be a great boat. We regularly got her lifted and attended to her undersides but the one thing we didn't pay a lot of attention to was the bow thruster mechanics (I guess we just didn't know much about them at that time). 

We left the boat at anchor on the Sands in Poole to go off and do some work for three months but just into our second week we got a phone call from the marina to say she had sunk. They had recovered her and were busy pumping her out. 

We arrived back to find our old girl was so badly water damaged that we didn't know if we could save her. The headlining were coming away, the floor was floating around the boat and all of our possessions were ruined. 

It turned out that an internal mechanical part had fractured which had created a fast flowing fountain into the boat. It had probably taken a week to sink. 

We did recover her but it took a long time to dry her out and restore her. The company that had provided and fitted the bow thruster four years earlier had gone bust so we had no comeback from them. Fortunately though, we were insured. 

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23 hours ago, BilgePump said:

A far more dangerous and cautionary tale  was years ago. Was towing an empty boat trailer fifty miles to the boatyard to collect my other trailer for repair. Had completely forgotten that one wheel had the nuts only finger tight from months before after I'd cleaned it up. With impatient youth I didn't bother checking over the trailer properly before hitching up and getting on the road. By the time I reached the yard, I'd just begun to notice an ever slight wobble on it for the last couple of miles. When I looked, it was obvious the studs had been destroyed, worn down to less than 5mm. It would have only been a few miles more and the wheel would have come off. Reader, I nearly cr@pped myself. Since then, I've checked and double checked a trailer setting off, and then again after a few miles.

Not an empty trailer but a fully loaded (it's only 3500 kg honest officer) triple axle one.

The trailer had just been towed from perth in scotland down to bedford and was then switched to our vehicle to go the last few miles to a place near tring.

The roads were about a mile of narrow twisty lane then 2 miles straight to a roundabout, usually going onto the roundabout you checked the trailer in the mirrors looking for loose straps etc,
1st (passenger) side... 3 straps not flapping, 3 wheels inflated and nothing sticking out
2nd (drivers) side... 3 straps not flapping, 2 wheels inflated and nothing sticking out.

Exiting the roundabout and the penny dropped... the trailer should not have 5 wheels

we very slowly turned and went back to the yard looking all the way for the missing wheel

pulling into the yard we found it... stood upright exactly where we had towed the trailer from with the remains of one stud on the floor next to it.

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23 hours ago, BilgePump said:

Did the reverse once. Embarrassing rather than dangerous. Was launching a little GRP cruiser, trailer backed down slipway, stern has plenty of water. Start outboard and engage reverse. We're going nowhere, think bow must still be resting on the bunks and snubber thing, reverse car a bit further down, then realise the problem as the bow is now dipping  down towards the water. I'd released the main winch clip but not the emergency rope. Muttering about being a complete tool, I released it and went to the cockpit and merrily backed out into open water.

 

A far more dangerous and cautionary tale  was years ago. Was towing an empty boat trailer fifty miles to the boatyard to collect my other trailer for repair. Had completely forgotten that one wheel had the nuts only finger tight from months before after I'd cleaned it up. With impatient youth I didn't bother checking over the trailer properly before hitching up and getting on the road. By the time I reached the yard, I'd just begun to notice an ever slight wobble on it for the last couple of miles. When I looked, it was obvious the studs had been destroyed, worn down to less than 5mm. It would have only been a few miles more and the wheel would have come off. Reader, I nearly cr@pped myself. Since then, I've checked and double checked a trailer setting off, and then again after a few miles.

Towing a 14ft trailer with a dumper truck in it, not far to go so didn't bother to tie it down, rough Welsh roads and I soon realised that having the dumper bounce on it's own suspension slightly behind the trailers suspension made for a very very very uncomfortable drive, pulled over as soon as I could and tied it down.

 

Same vehicle and trailer combo badly loaded all the weight in the back of the trailer, driving over a river Dee bridge and I soon learnt how badly wrong that can go, all I remember was swerving over two lanes seeing the river "oh my god I'm gonna die" to seeing the central res "oh my god I'm gonna die", another lesson learned 

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Another boat trailer story;

 

Bought a boat that was on the Thames,

 

She was on the water so had to fetch her trailer from the trailer park, Tyres were perished, flat and split.

Wheels were held on with 'security' wheel nuts, managed to snap-off the security nuts and took the wheels for new tyres to be fitted.

 

Back to the boat and realised we had only 3 wheel nuts per wheel, no problem we will go for it.

Reversed down the slipway, boat loaded and off we set.

 

Kept a good view of the wheels (4 off) when they started to show signs of 'wobbling' stopped and tightened up the nuts, and set off again.

 

In the end we had to stop every 5 miles to retighten the nuts before they started to chew-up the studs.

It was a very very long 150 miles.

 

 

 

DSCF1362.JPG

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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Not a trailer but a van...

 In my teens I had an A35 van while a couple of mates had minis.  I had warmed the engine up a bit, dropped the suspension a bit but road holding was dire to say the least.  4” cross-plies.

To improve things a bit I fitted wheel spacers on the back, and with a combination of a bit of extra power, lowering, the spacers and my driving skills I could keep up with the minis.

After a very ‘sporting’ drive back from the coast with my mates in the minis, the back end seemed to go a bit wobbly as I turned into my girlfriend’s road.  A look at the back end showed three of the four stud extenders had sheared off.

One more hard corner could have been entertaining.

 

 I did actually have it on its side once, sliding along the road, sparks flying, girlfriend loose in the back. Some people in a nearby house came out and helped me tip it back on to its wheels and we carried on to the cinema.

 

Ah the immortality of youth eh?

Edited by dor
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3 hours ago, Allthatjaz said:

Around 11 years ago we were doing a lot of sailing. We had a 55ft ketch back then and she'd proved to be a great boat. We regularly got her lifted and attended to her undersides but the one thing we didn't pay a lot of attention to was the bow thruster mechanics (I guess we just didn't know much about them at that time). 

We left the boat at anchor on the Sands in Poole to go off and do some work for three months but just into our second week we got a phone call from the marina to say she had sunk. They had recovered her and were busy pumping her out. 

We arrived back to find our old girl was so badly water damaged that we didn't know if we could save her. The headlining were coming away, the floor was floating around the boat and all of our possessions were ruined. 

It turned out that an internal mechanical part had fractured which had created a fast flowing fountain into the boat. It had probably taken a week to sink. 

We did recover her but it took a long time to dry her out and restore her. The company that had provided and fitted the bow thruster four years earlier had gone bust so we had no comeback from them. Fortunately though, we were insured. 

Proof, were  it needed, that bow thrusters are the work of the devil.

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On 04/12/2020 at 14:30, BilgePump said:

 

A far more dangerous and cautionary tale  was years ago. Was towing an empty boat trailer fifty miles to the boatyard to collect my other trailer for repair. Had completely forgotten that one wheel had the nuts only finger tight from months before after I'd cleaned it up. With impatient youth I didn't bother checking over the trailer properly before hitching up and getting on the road. By the time I reached the yard, I'd just begun to notice an ever slight wobble on it for the last couple of miles. When I looked, it was obvious the studs had been destroyed, worn down to less than 5mm. It would have only been a few miles more and the wheel would have come off. Reader, I nearly cr@pped myself. Since then, I've checked and double checked a trailer setting off, and then again after a few miles.

 

Some years ago when the kids were little the wife's car had been to the local garage for service and MOT. A couple of days later she was driving home, with three children in the car, from their evening swimming lesson. The car started handling strangely, and quickly got worse, so she pulled in to the side of the road, and found the front near side wheel at an odd angle, and held onto the hub by a single loose bolt. By the time I arrived the AA man was there, and he had found three of the missing bolts, somewhat mangled, further back up the road, and most of the bolts on the other wheels were also loose. To get the 10 miles or so home the AA man took one bolt out of each of the other wheels, and tightened the lot. She drove home alone slowly while I followed with the children, looking carefully for any signs of wheel wobble. 

It turned out the car had been serviced by a new mechanic who clearly hadn't tightened the wheelnuts on completion. He was sacked on the spot, and we didn't pay for the service!

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22 minutes ago, Stilllearning said:

Proof, were  it needed, that bow thrusters are the work of the devil.

 

Nah, just proof of poor design.

 

The bowthruster and its tube should have been contained in a waterproof compartment.

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Towing balls up, when I was a mechanic at Laker Airways Gatwick I was told to go and collect a DC10 from stand 20 and bring to the hanger ASAP as hanger staff were ready to start work on it. Big rush so I set off with another guy who was to sit in the flt deck operate the brakes. Put tow bar on backed up the tug bar was just a little out of line for the pin to fit backed up a bit and heard the pin drop in this is where the mistake takes place I did not check the pin it had NOT passed through the eye of the tow bar. So called up the tower asked and got clearance to back off the stand and go to the hanger, backing up was fine as the bar was jammed in the tug fitting but when I put on the brakes the tow bar fell off and said DC10 rolled down the taxi way backwards on its own. When the guy in the flt deck saw me jumping up and down he slammed on the brakes and the nose wheel came about 1 foot off the ground I thought that’s it it will sit on it’s rear end. All was good in the end got connected up and got to the hanger after getting inside the hanger I got a round of applause the news had got there before me. Much fun was had working there it was a sad day it closed down in Feb 1982

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Another good one was now working for Dan Air as fleet engineer engineer on A300’s. after winter check carried out at British airways Gatwick I was taxing aircraft to carry out high power engine runs just as aircraft started to move a quick dab of brakes just to make sure there working on the master green system and guess what no brakes at all nothing pedals flat as a pancake. Now moving towards active runway with no brakes mind going 100 mph ok turn off anti skid system that puts us on the yellow system brakes but it takes 20 seconds for the relays etc to change it was a long 20 secs that’s for sure. Also at Gatwick taxing a DC 10 had total radio failure that got the control towers attention lol. Fix was 1 click for yes two clicks of the mic button for no they then sent a yellow follow me wagon to lead the way. All in a days work lol. Now moving at 3 mph on a NB  but you still need to keep your wits about you. 

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As this seems to have branched out nicely from maintenance stupidity ttinto general boating stupidity:

 

I've just come down the Ashton and bottom of the Rochdale this weekend with a friend. Only one anti-vandal key. We were pretty successful yesterday at passing it over the lock between each other, but obviously the Rochale locks are somewhat wider and we stopped catching it to let it skitter to a stop, to save injury. No problem...until most of the way down the flight I chucked it over and it bounced off the cross bar of the fence surrounding the lock...and straight back into the lock. Whoops!

 

Miraculously, one of the paddles was unlocked, and that was the very last time we needed it on the flight anyway. No harm, no drama, but best order a couple of replacements ?

Edited by tehmarks
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