Dumb Sh---t Mistakes

[Jay Greer]

Often I get accused of being an old fussbuget. But I am continually amazed by the dumb sh==t insults I discover that have been subjected to well designed wooden boats. We are taking the rig out of our H28 that experienced a mast fracture reciently and will splice same. The former owner broke the main mast by carrying a masthead genoa in too much wind and then spliced the fracture with epoxy just above the main halyard sheave pin. That is where it broke last Sunday in light airs. Granted, I am intending to build new spars, but he had the rig so much cranked down in tension that the loading of the mast head was well beyond designer specs. We are just in the process of correcting a multitude of problems that are the result of lack of knowledge or common sense in the relation of care and feeding of wooden boats. Fortunatly nothing is so far gone that we can't fix it. But here is the real gest of my "dumb ****" observation. There is a Richey compass afixed to the mizzen mast with a #14 galvanized iron screw!!!
JG

[Paul Girouard]

There is a Richey compass afixed to the mizzen mast with a #14 galvanized iron screw!!!
JG

I'm not familar with that compass brand , but is it possible that the compass was "swung" to compensate for the metal screw.

On most tactical Navy jets there is a wet compass in the cockpit, it gets swung along with the more complex compass system to account for the elec. / metal etc mag fields surrounding it.

Or maybe the former owner always knew where they where:D Or got lost a lot :o and sold the boat:D

[paladin]

betcha a cuppa joe and a couple of dunkin donuts the compass wuz never swung......:D

[Jay Greer]

There was no compass deviation card in the packet when we bought the boat. That and other things tell me that it wasn't swung. Since we have been deep into maintenance with the boat, there was no reason to check the compass that we are going to replace anyway. However, only a damn fool would use an iron screw for such a purpose!
JG

[GregH]

Jay-
I must also be gettig to be an old fussbudget - I seriously doubt that it was a #14 galvanized IRON screw. A STEEL screw is more likely. Common steel screws (and steel in general) may contain as much as 98% iron, but it is, none the less, considered steel. Iron fasteners have long gone the way of horseless carriages and button hooks. Now- how's that for some useless nit-picking??

[KAIROS]

There is a Richey compass afixed to the mizzen mast with a #14 galvanized iron screw!!!
JG

Beware. That screw might have been added to compensate the compass. ;)

[ken.bryant]

Now a REAL fussbudget would point out that you've put two too many hyphens in "Sh-t".

[Jay Greer]

Well, iron will iron you off course and steel will steal the accuracy of your heading. Luckily we haven't had to depend on anything but line of sight.
JG