Association Forum - Tools that disappear...(longish rant)

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Tools that disappear...(longish rant)

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

Member Avatar

USA
4479 Posts

Initially Posted - 01/22/2009 : 17:23:28

Ever have a tool that's not where you thought it was when you needed it? As Rita will vouch for, I'm not the most organized person in the world, to an outsider, my shop looks like a shambles, but I know where everything is...usually. My organization works like this, the tool I'm looking for is where I used it last, or in it's spot. If it's not where I think it should be, I look for it in it's spot and almost always that's where it is. The problem comes in when Rita's "a place for all things and all things in their place" method runs afoul of my method. She allows me the garage for my method, which drives her crazy, but she endures, but in the house, her method prevails.

Generally there's little cross over, I've learned not to leave my tools in the house as they'll get "cleaned into oblivion" and I have to search through the various baskets, bags, drawers, or wherever her sense tells her it should go. Fortunately she's fairly predictable, so even if she's not around, I can "think like her" and generally find whatever it is & bring it back from oblivion.

The next problem is identification, Rita knows next to nothing about tools, they're "men's things" and beyond being able to identify a straight or philips head screw driver she's uninterested in learning. To her, a hammer is a hammer is a hammer, so the distinction between a ball pein, rip, claw, sledge, pin, framing, finish, mallet, etc. is lost. So when something more specialized comes along that's turned up missing, it's very difficult to describe to her what I'm looking for, even if I'm fairly specific.

Today I'm trying to fix a water pump that I bought for dewatering my hot tub, or boat if necessary. It's a Jacuzzi pump I found at a thrift store for $7 or so because the hose fixture was broken. It took me about half an hour to fix it by cutting off the broken piece, smoothing out the hole & gluing in a copper fitting to replace the hose connection. I've been using it for years since then, until a couple of months ago when a wind storm knocked it off of an outside table and it landed on it's top breaking the handle off and exposing the electrical innards. Then it got soaked in the ensuing rainstorm so it stopped spinning. Today I got it taken apart, the motor running again, and was in the process of removing my first fix (I thought it was made of PVC so I tried to glue everything back together with PVC cement). I got all the pieces relatively well cleaned up and went to get my Dremel tool to grind out the little cracks that will leak so I can fill them with epoxy or MarineTex or whatever. Anyway, I opened up my Dremel tool box, and no Dremel. Hmmm...searched around my shop, still no tool. Hmmm...is it on the boat? Possibly, but why would the toolbox still be here, it's unlikely I'd take just the tool to the boat. I searched through the shop again, nothing. So I walked into the house & asked Rita if she'd seen it. This brought on the predictable what does it look like, etc. questions to no avail. Finally she looked it up on Google & saw what it looks like. Oh, yes, I've seen that...but I don't remember where. Now for Rita to say she doesn't remember something is rare indeed, I've long since learned to accept that she has a phenomenal memory, and if she says she remembers something different from what I remember, it's almost certain I'm the one with the flawed memory.

I'm still looking for that tool, I have a vague memory of seeing it on the boat, but I don't remember using it for anything there, at least not recently. I also don't want to drive 40 minutes to find out if I don't have to. Maybe we'll go down to the boat tomorrow & do some chores and look for it then.

In the meantime the pump is sitting on my bench waiting for more attention.

David
C-250 Mainsheet Editor

Sirius Lepak
1997 C-250 WK TR #271 --Seattle area Port Captain --

Edited by - on

Deric
Captain

Members Avatar

USA
408 Posts

Response Posted - 01/22/2009 : 18:30:39

Not remembering where my tool was placed located is the reason for my owning duplicates and triplicates of every tool sold in stores. ;-(

Deric

Edited by - on

britinusa
Web Editor

Members Avatar

USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 01/22/2009 : 18:47:15

Bet my garage is worse(at least by Peggy's account)! Every now and then I get the 'Look' and the "It's not my job" and the 'How can you work like that?'

We have a plan! This summer, in the middle of hurricane season, I'm going to empty the garage, toss out anything that really is junk (rather than something that I'm sure I'll find a use for one day!) build some nice storage units and benches. And while at it we'll (you know, 'we' meaning 'me' ) give the floor an epoxy finish and new over head lights. Sweet (how long will it stay nice? )

Paul

Edited by - on

Happy D
Admiral

Members Avatar

921 Posts

Response Posted - 01/22/2009 : 20:02:46

I am a fanatic about putting my tools away. I get furious if I have to look for a tool for more than about a minute. I looked for my adjustable T square for about a year. I even went so far as to accuse my wife for using it to open a can or something like that and not putting it back. Then I found it hanging under my welding helmet. Oh brother.
I cannot have a broken anything. In the middle of building a cabinet, my shop vac broke. It took me six weeks to fix the shop vac and I was absolutely paralized until I got it fixed. It sat on the bench in pieces, and there can only be one project on the bench at a time. I could not continue working on the cabinet until the vac was working and put away.
I think I have a problem.

Edited by - Happy D on 01/22/2009 20:05:48

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

Members Avatar

USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 01/22/2009 : 20:20:46

I think Peggy & Rita might be psychically linked. She wants to do roughly the same thing, minus the epoxy finish. Thankfully we don't have hurricane season here...

I've been working on dumping stuff while I'm not working (soon to end, should start back up as a vendor at Microsoft on Feb 2 assuming my background check goes through). I've had to just grit my teeth & get rid of stuff that's been collecting over time. It kills me to get rid of anything (another of Rita's pet peeves). The good news is that I can see the surface of two of my benches now.

I'd love to do new overhead lights, I'm currently using a couple of clusters of 100 watt curly lights & some 3' fluorescent fixtures. It's kind of hard to see, so I work with the garage open most of the time, which is tough when it's below freezing outside like today.

Edited by - on

DaveR
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
2015 Posts

Response Posted - 01/23/2009 : 07:44:01

I know how you can find the dremel. Go buy a new one

Edited by - on

britinusa
Web Editor

Members Avatar

USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 01/23/2009 : 07:53:44

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by DaveR
 I know how you can find the dremel. Go buy a new one

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Cordless of course!

Oh! I got a harbor freight coupon for 20% off everything in a single purchase 1/23(today) - 1/25(sunday)

And it's my birthday soon...

Paul

Edited by - on

Prospector
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Canada
3159 Posts

Response Posted - 01/23/2009 : 08:48:38

I have similar problems - Tools are everywhere, so I've been pegboarding all the walls in the basement and hanging things up. I have the boat wall mostly done, and I've started on the tools wall, but the camping/canoeing wall will have to wait untill the christmas shelves are repacked since the stack of christmas decorations is blocking the way.

Our garage has a sand floor. This is a miserable affair. Have you ever tried to work on a car while rolling around in the sand? I desperately want to pour concrete in there, but we don't have the $$ right now, and other projects are more pressing. In th emeantime, any tool that is lost I declare buried in the sand and go buy a new one. This works well for small things, but when the skill saw pulled a disparoo recently (I got a new one for christmas out of the deal) it was difficult to convince herself that is must be buried in the garage someplace.

The skillsaw turned up after Christmas, but by then I had already used the new one so it couldn't go back.

Edited by - on

SailCO26
Captain

Members Avatar

USA
457 Posts

Response Posted - 01/23/2009 : 08:51:56

My SO is like that, too. We went down to my folks for xmas, and when we came back the only one of my gifts I can find is the 2009-2012 rule book that I started reading and stashed in my laptop bag.

My office and the garage are MY spaces. The organization may look like a disaster area, but I know where EVERYTHING is - right up until she moves it...

Jim

Edited by - on

Deric
Captain

Members Avatar

USA
408 Posts

Response Posted - 01/23/2009 : 16:24:46

Jim,

I am with you on the message. I have organized chaos in my areas,, but then again no matter what claim I have for an area, my better half reorganizes the room so well, I do not know where anything is placed. Worse, I can not identify the organization pattern used to organize. Hence my organized chaos room becomes chaos organized.

Deric

Edited by - on

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

Members Avatar

USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 01/23/2009 : 20:28:23

So, the mystery deepens, the Dremel's not on the boat. Rita insists she hasn't cleaned it into oblivion, so I have no clue where it is.

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 01/23/2009 : 22:38:43

Sorry, David, but "the house loses nothing."

Edited by - on

Deric
Captain

Members Avatar

USA
408 Posts

Response Posted - 01/24/2009 : 09:39:22

Do not fret, Dave. The Dremel will turn up after you have completed the project, and/or you no longer need it. Have faith.

Deric

Edited by - on

tinob
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1883 Posts

Response Posted - 01/24/2009 : 10:10:29

And all the time I thought I was the only one...seems like its a male thing

Val on the hard DAGNABIT, # 3936, Patchogue, N.Y.

Edited by - on

Nautiduck
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
3704 Posts

Response Posted - 01/24/2009 : 13:05:04

Guys, get organized. Get a rolling tool cabinet. Put things back as soon as you are done with them. "A place for everything and everything in its place." Yes, it's pain-in-the-ass advice but it works.

Sorry about the Dremel. I'll return it soon. Thank Rita for me for sending it to Eugene.

Edited by - on

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

Members Avatar

USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 01/24/2009 : 13:52:30

Hah, you're a funny guy. I have a roll around, plus two top boxes on top of it, plus another large top box on one of my benches. All nicely full of sorted tools, even sorted by category, plumbing, measuring, sharpening, soldering, precision tools, wrenches, punches, sockets, screwdrivers, etc. My biggest top box even has specific cutouts for each tool (requirement by a previous employer, all tools had to be inscribed as well). I stay up with these pretty well, the chaos in my shop comes more from parts of projects than tools.

In any event, Rita & I are headed out into the garage on Dremel safari.

Edited by - on

RitaHG
Deckhand

Members Avatar

USA
9 Posts

Response Posted - 01/24/2009 : 15:29:50

Exoneration is mine! David found the dremel exactly where he last put it, in a bag of chaos on indefinite transit, which was convenient at the time but where he would never think to look until desperation sets in.

Edited by - RitaHG on 01/24/2009 15:41:10

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

Members Avatar

USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 01/24/2009 : 15:54:51

Hah, vindication is hers, she offered to help, but dawdled long enough working on her latest blog post for me to start looking in the way-less-than-obvious places in the garage. The deal was, whoever found it first, the other one had to make dinner. Well, I see it as a win-win, I've got the Dremel back, and she has to make dinner (she usually does anyway).

Found the damn thing inside a plastic bag of stuff I'd brought back from the boat a while ago. It had been kicked under the table saw during the burst pipe debacle over xmas and I hadn't gotten around to sorting through it.

Back to the project at hand, repairing my pump. I've got the two big breaks ground out, now trying to figure out what kind of glue I can use to bridge the holes and seal it again so it's waterproof.

Edited by - on

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.