Amusing Frustration .. .. .. .. .

I have been a boat mechanic for way too long. If you drop a tool in a boat, it falls into a parallel universe. There is only a 30% chance you will find it. You are more likely to find other tools while fishing with a magnet in the bilge water. I call that the boat mechanic’s tool exchange program. Some times the bilge water more resembles primordial soup.

In freighters, the bilges give incredible surprises.

The most amazing experience I recall, started when passing the gate to berth at Seaforth Terminal in L'pool. It was there where the Customs search gang boarded and started to comb the vessel up and down in any imaginable way; even the fridge in the Officers mess!!

The engine's bilges, no matter how clean they were, produced even funny results, exhuming absurd things surely hidden there (with smuggling purposes) by previous crews from many years before. Even now, I cannot explain why, all what they collected, ended in the Radio Officer's cabin which was up there at the bridge level. The collection of things was surreal, with wine bottles and cigarettes of brands unknown even to us. The most outstanding thing, left in a prominent central place, so it was staring at you when you entered the room, was an inflatable doll.

I could tell about Libya and Iran as well but I believe that nowadays that folklore is over in most parts of the world.

ClydeCrashKop said:

I have been a boat mechanic for way too long. If you drop a tool in a boat, it falls into a parallel universe. There is only a 30% chance you will find it. You are more likely to find other tools while fishing with a magnet in the bilge water. I call that the boat mechanic’s tool exchange program. Some times the bilge water more resembles primordial soup.

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A rep who used to call on us years ago was a weekend scuba diver, in a group with a number of friends. They were out at sea in their boat one day, and when they dived down they found a nice clean and shiny outboard motor on the sea bed - it obviously hadn't been down there very long. They dried it out, give it a minor clean, and it started perfectly - made a nice spare engine for their boat

My father's friend used to rebuilt boats and a 30' Criss Craft he took a liking too, so as a kid, there were a few trips and swimming.

Dad and I were asked to come along for a drip to dry dock for the winter. It included a trip through a canal and more impressive, a trip under a large twin span suspension bridge,

Looking through a pair of binoculars, I lost a contact lens in the bilge. When we docked, I found it. It hadn't made it to the muck yet. I was probably 16-18 YO. I got to drive for a little bit.

Under the bridge was impressive. 175 feet (53 m) high span with towers reaching 440 feet (134 m) above water level. There was a later opportunity to tour the bridge electro mechanics, but I wasn't able to go.

Other highlights of the trip were a few dead bodies along the canal.

KeepItSimpleStupid said:

My father's friend used to rebuilt boats and a 30' Criss Craft he took a liking too, so as a kid, there were a few trips and swimming.

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Perhaps I'm going to look silly here? (as someone who lives as far from the sea as you can in the UK) but isn't a 30' Criss Craft a boat as well?.

Sounds a great trip though.

One of my daughters friends from Uni (who comes from a pretty wealthy family) has done a lot of work delivering posh yachts for people - usually sailing them from the UK to The Mediterranean - and he invited my daughter to join him, any time she wanted. She declined by the way - she never had the time to do so (and I don't think she's very good on boats?).

Basically super rich people buy a yacht, but aren't very good sailors, and can't spare the time to sail it out there themselves - so pay him to do so, then they fly out to 'play' on the yacht in the sun. Nice work if you can get it, and if you are a competent sailor - he usually takes a friends along, to help and to party!.

Nigel Goodwin said:

Perhaps I'm going to look silly here? (as someone who lives as far from the sea as you can in the UK) but isn't a 30' Criss Craft a boat as well?.

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My father's helper at work flipped houses and flipped boats to make money. The 30' Criss Craft is the one he kept the longest. After working at his normal job of a machine operator he headed to the boat yard to meticulously restore a boat and re-sell it.

It had a radio in a wooden box with a motor generator on it. Never worked as far as I know. Boat had to be probably 1950's. So, during the summer it was about 1.5 hours away by car. During the winter months it was in dry dock within 10 min of where he lived. Wooden boat Mahogany interior. Single inboard prop. No flying bridge. Probably slept 2.
I could have been anywhere from 12 -18 YO at the time. Parts you bought off of him were pristine and repainted. He was meticulous.