+xDo No Harm
It is in the nature of cruising widely that skippers occasionally have to repair a system about which they may have little knowledge. It has been my experience and observation that there are some skills which make it quite likely that one will succeed in the repair.
My first “rule” is taken right out of medical training: “Do No Harm”. The primary danger where experience and knowledge are limited is that, in the poking around searching for a solution, that matters are made worse. Next worry is that you do not document how items came apart.
Please! Do not rely on memory: your smart-phone camera is an impressive tool in this regard. The best insurance to doing no harm is to proceed slowly and thoughtfully: usually there is no rush. In addition to photos, take real-time notes: partly as the notes will be helpful, but also because the taking of notes is a marvelous stimulus to creative problem solving. It is far too easy to get stuck in a limited line of thinking.
The next and last tool to be mentioned is persistence. If one persists in poking around and resists doing harm, the problem is very likely to reveal itself. Give yourself the mind-set to persist: tell yourself that you are learning about the system at hand, rather than repairing it. Make it fun and feed your curiosity and you will very likely execute the repair. At worst, you will have a better knowledge of the problem and what the next step is.
Please find this Thought in the Forum where comments/thoughts/questions can be posted.
Safe sailing, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
In the ongoing series of Safety Thoughts:
Alarms
Alarms are a good thing. They warn of emerging problems and they do not get tired or lazy.
That said, I think many would agree that we have so many alarms, that when one goes off, it is hard to know what the warning is or where to go to respond. Someday, an enterprising entrepreneur will come up with an alarm annunciator: in the meantime, it behooves every skipper to make a “vessel alarm list” and to try to differentiate the alarms by sound (buzzer, beep, two-tone, etc.).
Then, highlight the “urgent” alarms: on Alchemy these are: engine oil pressure & water temperature, high water, bilge pump activation, propane sniffer, smoke detectors, exhaust hose temperature, and CO. Then there are the skipper-set alarms on AIS, radar, instruments and the DSC alarm on your VHF. And finally, there are the alarms that emerge from our “devices”. Post this list where it is easily accessible to remind/review (wall of the head?).
One danger with alarms is that they can support a false complacency that inhibits regular inspections. For example, an eyes-in-the-bilge inspection should remain an every-watch occurrence during passages. Also, a reminder: many alarms need attention. Some beep when batteries are low: many do not. A beginning-of-season renewal of all alarm batteries is wise. Other alarms have expiry dates (CO are often 5 years) while smoke detectors can malfunction because of accumulations of dust or cobwebs. One’s confidence in propane sniffers increases when it activates when tested with gas from an (unlit) lighter.
Safe sailing, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy