JSGOLD
Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2009
- Messages
- 609
I have held off adding this story out of shame and humilitaion. And while not a direct boat or fishing story it does I think still qualfy for this forum. To start with me and the wife had been talking about a boat for 2 years when we ran across our 76' Starcraft last fall, and we bought it and a 96' Chevrolet C1500 2WD as a tow vehicle as it could haul more gear than our 2004 Blazer. My plan was to do some minor repairs on the boat, set out for our first boating trip in April, get some experiance loading, launching, and generally getting familiar with boating before taking it to a large lake. And we we would use the boat often, probably 25-30 various outings, since we live within 35 miles of three lakes here...At least that was what we planned....
I discovered that the TV had a tranny cooler but it was installed wrong and the hoses were cramped. The best solution I could come up with was to cut a 2"hole near the radiator to route the hoses properly. This is where things got bad. I had misplaced my rechargeble drill, with the various adjustable clutches etc. and I got in a "hurry" and grabbed a heavy duty 3/8" drill and put in a hole saw. I was in a slight bind with the drill but figured if I took it easy it was a simple job. I cranked up the drill after a short time, and bam... The hole saw got jammed in a pc of metal on the back side of the support and I was thrown around a bit. Wrist hurt, so I figured, well you dumb***** you just sprained your wrist....I wish
The wrist would not heal right. I wore a brace and when we went weeks later to Columbus to get our kicker motor it was still not right. So I went to the doctor who x rayed it, saw something he did not like and sent me straight away to a bone doctor. The short version of what followed was, 2 torn ligaments, damaged hand, surgery, wearing a cast for 7 weeks, having a pin inserted (and removed later) 8 weeks of therapy, 20,000 dollars in bills, losing 20% of my usage of my hand and wrist, constant varying pain, and a really REALLY screwed up spring and summer. I could not lift a pen with this hand after the surgery, and it was well into May before I could do anythng much.
So instead of enjoying our boat all spring and summer we got a dozen trips in, and everything I wanted to do in the spring was kapuit. Strength is coming back but it will never be the same. I remember the doctors, nurses, and assistants making light of the fact I caused 20,000 dollars in damage for a 2,000 dollar truck. As I have always worked on my vehicles to save money I guess whatever I saved all these years went out the window...along with my pride
I guess the moral of the story is use the right tools, don't get in a hurry, watch what you are doing.
I discovered that the TV had a tranny cooler but it was installed wrong and the hoses were cramped. The best solution I could come up with was to cut a 2"hole near the radiator to route the hoses properly. This is where things got bad. I had misplaced my rechargeble drill, with the various adjustable clutches etc. and I got in a "hurry" and grabbed a heavy duty 3/8" drill and put in a hole saw. I was in a slight bind with the drill but figured if I took it easy it was a simple job. I cranked up the drill after a short time, and bam... The hole saw got jammed in a pc of metal on the back side of the support and I was thrown around a bit. Wrist hurt, so I figured, well you dumb***** you just sprained your wrist....I wish
The wrist would not heal right. I wore a brace and when we went weeks later to Columbus to get our kicker motor it was still not right. So I went to the doctor who x rayed it, saw something he did not like and sent me straight away to a bone doctor. The short version of what followed was, 2 torn ligaments, damaged hand, surgery, wearing a cast for 7 weeks, having a pin inserted (and removed later
) 8 weeks of therapy, 20,000 dollars in bills, losing 20% of my usage of my hand and wrist, constant varying pain, and a really REALLY screwed up spring and summer. I could not lift a pen with this hand after the surgery, and it was well into May before I could do anythng much. So instead of enjoying our boat all spring and summer we got a dozen trips in, and everything I wanted to do in the spring was kapuit. Strength is coming back but it will never be the same. I remember the doctors, nurses, and assistants making light of the fact I caused 20,000 dollars in damage for a 2,000 dollar truck. As I have always worked on my vehicles to save money I guess whatever I saved all these years went out the window...along with my pride
I guess the moral of the story is use the right tools, don't get in a hurry, watch what you are doing.
