Things that don't give one a good feeling about the PO of one's boat

[jaschrumpf]

When the PO is showing you how to start the engine, you ask him what the two switches are that he turns on before turning the key. His answer is "I don't know, the guy who sold me the boat said to always turn them on first."

(Turns out they were to the two (two!) fuel pumps installed in the boat. The switches were bypassing the oil pressure switch for the fuel pump on the engine.)

Looking at the labels on the electrical panel and seeing a switch marked "Forward anchor lt". Forward anchor light???

(It was the steaming light.)

Needless to say, since then I have completely rewired the electrical system, and relabeled the panel.

Anybody else have good "PO" stories?

[sailingdog]

LOL.... Yeah, turning on the fuel pumps is probably a really good idea... if you want the engine to keep going.

No good PO stories on my current boat, but I've seen some doozies on OPBs..

[Sapperwhite]

My water heater was wired with Romex and wire nuts. The AC main was wired in reverse polarity. The Vestus muffler had a crack in the bottom that was "repaired" with what appeared to be chewed up bubble gum.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and worst of all, the first owner named her "Panache".......eeeeeeewwwwwww. Thank god the second owners renamed her "Jessica Anne", which I kept.

[Perithead]

The PO of my boat fried the faceplate to the stereo system in the microwave. To smart.

Also had a glass pitcher lying in the bilge beside heavy things that could easily break it.

[cssdengr]

PO of my last boat had the mast-head anchor light wired directly to the battery switch. He kept the boat at a dock behind his house and could look out his kitchen window and make sure he'd turned the switch to "off".

[uspirate]

I found a receipt for a .37 cent fuse and $30 installation labor charge.LMAO

[sailingdog]

Gotta love the idiots who use romex and wire nuts on a boat... and then wonder why they're having such problems.

[lharmon]

I was going to leave this one alone because I did not want to bust on anybody. But when I first sailed my new purchase I found out the PO had secured the VHF mounting bracket with regular old doublestick tape. A few swells later, the chartplotter fell over and I saw that velcro had been holding it's base to the coachroof.

It was about this time, 10 minutes away from the dock, that I realized I had bought another person's dockaminum.

[Sapperwhite]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

Gotta love the idiots who use romex and wire nuts on a boat... and then wonder why they're having such problems.

I think half of the people just use what they have on hand, and the other half try to take the cheapest way out. Needless to say, that wire job was taken care of fast.

[artbyjody]

Laugh if you like...

When I bought "Amante" it was my birthday present to myself... never sailed.. had power boats - knew jack diddely about a sailboat...I am scared of heights or anything that simulates such...

We take boat out on a sail run - and the boat is heeled like 40 degrees...

Their comment to me - "Its a Catalina and the keel will never allow you to capsize, besides it just looks fast"....

For about 7 months I trusted that and confirmed with those that went with me - no way - the boat is designed to never roll-over...

But I bought it - sink line and hook - and wasn't until last summer where out side Everett's marina... hit 50+ gusts that simply almost dumped me and my mate at the time to the brink - the Catalina lived up to it - righted and dousing of sails ensued...

I would qualify that as be part of the story line here...

I motored back to Seattle and she was more than happy to be on a plane a few hours later...