Old school tricks.

[azazzera]

I watch a YouTube channel Sailing Britican. On one of the episodes the owner said that he learned from an “older sailor “ that egg whites painted on the prop and shaft kept it clean. Got me thinking . What other old salt tricks are out there. By the way dose that egg whites work.

[azazzera]

Easily hundreds of threads that I have read off of this site I must have seen at least a few off label uses for things. I’m surprised it hasn’t been made a permanent item or list somewhere here. As for the zinc oxide thing I’ll take it. I was looking for marine uses but I guess it goes both ways. I understand that if you get a bad scratch or cut you can smear axel grease on it to prevent airrobic bacteria to infect it until you can get it properly cleaned.

[tenders]

While I realize it sounds morbid, egg whites on my prop have been very effective at keeping chickens from accumulating on the prop. Also repel elephants and llamas; haven’t had to scrape those off in years. In fact they repel all mammalian prop growth entirely.

Rustoleum zinc paint, about $8/can at Home Depot, has been moderately effective at reducing propeller barnacles over two seasons in Long Island Sound growth conditions. Not a miracle, but the paint is certainly more tenacious than regular bottom paint.

Diaper cream (Desitin): tried that when my kids were in diapers. Gone in 60 seconds.

[JOHN COOKSON]

If you remove a screw from fiberglass and try to put a new screw into the same hole most of the time the threads will not bite.
If you fill the hole first with some sort of super glue* then twist the screw into the hole it will hold after the glue cures.
I wouldn't trust my life on this sort of repair but it does work.
*I use Loctite super glue. As I recall it dries somewhat flexible

TRUE GRIT

[edwardc]

Here's one that my late father taught me that helps avoid cross-threading screws.

When restarting a screw into an already threaded hole, apply very gentle pressure and turn the screw backwards slowly. As the screw passes the entrance to the thread, there will be a slight click or thump as the screw drops down. At that point, start turning clockwise.

This works with machine screws, sheet-metal screws and wood screws, in metal, wood, plastic, and fiberglass. I find it particularly useful with plastic, where its very easy to accidently cut new threads every time you reinsert the screw, which quickly strips out the hole.

Enjoy!

[lat 64]

Home made torque wrench

If you need a torque wrench to do field repairs but you don't have one on board, put a long wrench on the bolt then use a fisherman's weigh scale as calibration. Put the scale's hook at 12-inches from the center of the bolt along the arm of the wrench. Pull to specified torque. Ie. 50-lbs on scale at 12-inches is 50-Footpounds.
Be sure to pull as close to 90-degrees as possible.

If your wrench is shorter than 12-inches, place the hook at a measured distance that is easily divided like say 6-inches. Then you double the effort required (as measured on the fish scale). 100-lbs at 6-inches is 50-footpounds.
Or, conversely, 18-inches will reduce effort by a third.( 50/ divided by 3 is 16.3. so scale should read 33.7 for 50-footpounds of torque.
It's all linear so don't get confabrilated by exponential madness.

This works. I've done it. how you make the setup is up to you. it can go flying across the room if not secured.

[Dave Neptune]

Edward, my grandfather taught me that as a we kid interested in mechanical things. Used it all of my life~~really helps.

Russ, good explanation. Back when I was doing porting work on Mazda rotaries I made a 10 ft long extension on a 3/4 Snapon T bar. This was mostly used to break the nut loose that holds on the flywheel which is torqued to 360 ft pounds . I used the whole bar for loosening and used a 5 foot mark on the bar for torqueing with 72 pounds of pressure using a bathroom scale. I did have a long bar to clamp on the flywheel teeth to work against. Worked great .

Dave Neptune

[Administrator]

Dave, in my younger years, I had two RX-7's. Every now and then, they didn't want to start and it seemed like low or no compression, but on balance, they were rockets and quite the chick magnets.

Bill

[lat 64]

Edward, my grandfather taught me that as a we kid interested in mechanical things. Used it all of my life~~really helps.

Russ, good explanation. Back when I was doing porting work on Mazda rotaries I made a 10 ft long extension on a 3/4 Snapon T bar. This was mostly used to break the nut loose that holds on the flywheel which is torqued to 360 ft pounds . I used the whole bar for loosening and used a 5 foot mark on the bar for torqueing with 72 pounds of pressure using a bathroom scale. I did have a long bar to clamp on the flywheel teeth to work against. Worked great .

Dave Neptune

I make my daughter change her own snow tires. I make her use a torque wrench to set the lug nuts complete with a lecture about how all this stuff works. I have a good feeling she will do well in life.
We were changing the wheel bearings on her Honda last week so I had her stand on the cheater bar at about 14 inches to torque the axle nut to an estimated 135 lb as required(She is a petite 120 lbs.). Just step on carefully and NO bouncing! Bouncing would be dynamic force and way over spec.


Girls Rock!

r.

I

[ndutton]

I did the same with my daughter Russ. She and I restored two Honda's in her youth including body work and painting and a few years ago we completely remodeled her condo, demo'd it out to the bare walls. She is well versed in a variety of experiences.

Here are a few pictures of one of her smaller projects, a padauk and maple cribbage board.

Some forum members met her at the MMI Meet and Greet at Cantler's earlier this year.

[sastanley]

+1 on teaching daughters to use tools. They don't have to be mechanics..but they should own a few and know how to use some basic tools. I've tried to teach mine the same. When we work on her truck, she helps, so at least things like knowing how to change a headlight bulb, check fluids, use a wrench, etc.

One of the last boyfriends she had, she was teaching him how to hang pictures in the apt. with her drill/level/picture hangers...

[joe_db]

Fouled plug trick - I am not 100% sure why this works, but loosed the spark plug boots so there is about a 1/4" gap to the plug from the wire. Having to jump two gaps seems to do the trick.
Fouled plug trick 2 - damp carbon fouled plugs can be removed, cleaned, and heated on the stove before replacement.
Emergency fuel filter - back when I had the original factory setup of a mechanical pump and no filter, a load of bad gas kept clogging the carb. We stuffed the sediment bowl with cotton from the first aid kit and got home that way.
Fuel fill from the dinghy - get the engine end of whatever kind of fitting your outboard uses and attach a hose to it. You can plug the outboard fuel line into this rig and stick the hose down the fuel fill and then pump the gas in with the squeeze bulb.

[sastanley]

joe, that reminds me of another old school trick of using rolls of toilet paper for emergency fuel and oil filters, if you have a canister style filter and can get it to fit.

[JOHN COOKSON]

Fouled Plug Trick #3

Remove the plug and give it a heavy blast of starting fluid. The starting fluid gets into the plug and really cleans it.

TRUE GRIT

[ndutton]

Am I the only one who carries spare spark plugs?