Friday Funny 03-01/19 (Two Uses, Too Good)

You may or may not have heard the saying: everything on a boat should have at least two uses. That way your storage space is maximized by less stuff. (HA!)

I wrote about my card-making supplies the other week, and now I have more justification for some of it to stay onboard. My die-cutter has been used in boat maintenance, score, two uses! I never have to put it in storage now.

The story:
 About a year ago, one afternoon in a quiet bay, out at anchor, I noticed the boat was unusually quiet. I normally hear the compressors on the fridge and freezer coming on, and going off, and I wasn't hearing anything, silence. Then I tried a couple of light switches, and the lights didn't turn on. My mind, naturally, leaped to the worst case, "Oh, NO, the boat is dead!"

Of course it wasn't. Bill quickly sussed out the problem; the emergency over-ride switch to cut all of the DC power (house batteries), failed. [It was like somone turned it off, but no one had...] He disconnected the over-ride, and all was well in boat world. But we haven't had this piece of safety gear connected for quite awhile, and now it's time to replace it.

It's like a key, except when it's turned to the on position, you can't pull the key out.

The new 500 amp switch with removable key [not shown]

This is where the old one came out of the bulkhead. The new one will be mounted behind so these old holes need to be covered up, and new ones drilled... [What else is new...?]

Old holes in the teak.

I know, boring right? A wall with some holes drilled in it, big deal. However this blog isn't just so you can waste time on your computer by reading my mildly humorous Friday funny ya know.... It's also a record of what we did, where, and how. This photo will now live in the the internet cloud of Google, and will never go away, even if you wanted it to, like that photo of me....  uh, never mind.

Back to the point of this. Oh, yes, the card making device that is now also used for boat maintenance. 

Nifty!

This cute little device cuts paper, or fabric into whatever shape your die is. You line up your die on the paper, cover it with a plastic carrier, and crank it through that slot. Voila! You now have a perfect shape.

So Bill used sticky-backed SOLAS reflective tape, and a couple of circle dies, and now you'll be able to see the reflecting circle on the emergency shutoff in the dark! (SOLAS - Coast Guard approved Safety Of Life At Sea)

The completed installation...

On is horizontal; Off is vertical [Labels will be next...]

All the old holes in the teak are now hidden behind the reflective circle, which makes it easy to find the Emergeny Battery Cut-off Switch with a flashlight in the dark in an emergency... [Do emergencies ever occur in broad daylight?]

That little machine can only fit a die that is 3 inches wide, maybe now, I can justify the next size up, which can take dies that are 6 inches wide. "But honey, you'll need it for boat maintenance too!"

As always, we enjoy hearing from you, either here in comments or on our Facebook Denali Rose Sailboat page.