Top 10 DIY Tips

A quick Google search will bring up many Spring Commissioning Checklists. While there are some great ones out there, you may find yourself performing minor repairs that require advice from an expert. Below is a summary of Steve Zimmerman’s Top 10 DIY Tips.

Summary

If you work on boats long enough, you learn some painful lessons. It has been said that the first time a task goes wrong, we call it experience; the second time, we call it a mistake. In no particular order, the following list shares some of our experiences and mistakes, in the hope that they will help you avoid your own.

TIP NO. 1

Never partially assemble a component with loose parts, with the intent to return later to finalize the installation.

Perhaps a phone call or a visitor interrupts your work, or maybe you reach the end of the day. A seacock with no hose attached stands a good chance of drawing attention, but one with the hose loosely in place will not.

 TIP NO. 2

Make sure you use high-quality hose clamps with grade 316 components.

Lower- grade stainless will rust!

TIP NO. 3

Never put a stainless washer between a ring terminal and a bus bar or battery terminal.

Stainless steel, for all its virtues, is a relatively poor conductor of electricity. By placing the washer between the terminal and the point of contact, you are inserting resistance.

TIP NO. 4

When executing repairs with a catalyzed resin, keep the container of unused resin overnight, but in a safe place.

You want to keep the excess resin so you can verify that it cured properly—but you also want to be careful about where you leave it!

TIP NO. 5

"Never put a saddle on a dead horse." This saying helps us remember how to install cable clamps on wire rope.

While swages are neater, stronger, and more common than clamps on wire rope, many older boats rely on the latter for the steering cable and other situations.

TIP NO. 6

Never add fuel to the engine’s secondary fuel filter.

When changing the element in the primary fuel filter (the first filter in line from the fuel tank), it is acceptable—and necessary—to add fuel after installing the new filter.

TIP NO. 7

Never put a pipe wrench or vise grips on your prop shaft.

When struggling to remove a prop or deal with a difficult-to-rotate shaft, you might be tempted to hold the shaft with one of these tools. Scars and imperfections in the underwater portion of a shaft can lead to microfracturing (the formation of minute cracks), eventually leading to a shaft failure

TIP NO. 8

Always repair damaged structural fiberglass laminates with vinylester or epoxy resin.

Polyester resin works best when applied to recently applied polyester resin. For cured structures, polyester does not adhere as reliably.

TIP NO. 9

Never use a screwdriver to pry an impeller out of the pump housing.

An impeller-driven raw-water pump relies on close tolerances to create the vacuum pressure needed to draw in seawater.

TIP NO. 10

Always cut wire ties with a pair of flush-cutting diagonal wire cutters.

After snugging up the wire tie, you will want to cut off the excess. The sharp ends of these cut wire ties have a way of slicing into arms and hands that reach close by.