Dear Mrs. Manners,

What do you do when your marina neighbors are endangering other users,
your guests, and the metal parts of your boat?

The nimrod on the face of our pier, absent for the past few days, has
compulsively screwed his shore power cord down to the dock with cable
clamps on about 9" spacing. That’s good, I guess. While admiring this
arrangement, I noticed that he had also put a screw in the cover of
the power stand so it couldn’t be opened. That made me wonder, when I
looked at the power cord coiled neatly in the driving rain with the
live end about six inches from the edge of the dock, whether he
unscrews it every time to throw the breaker.

Inquiring minds can’t leave well enough alone so I got a screwdriver
and removed the screw. All breakers were on. The paper labels that
tell you which breaker goes to which outlet are long gone at our
marina and I didn’t want to risk turning off someone’s boat so I just
disconnected the cord and hung it over the hook.

I can just see it. One of the (generally under the influence) sunset
watchers comes down and kicks the cord in. They reach in to retrieve
it and follow it in with the shock. Someone else rushes to their aid
and also goes in. Someone with more presence of mind goes to trip the
breaker and, where is a screwdriver when you really need it?

My ironclad rule is that the boat end of the cord is never live, even
for a moment, unless it is fixed in the socket and the breaker is
always off when the shore end is inserted or removed.

--

Roger Long

"Roger Long" wrote in news:C7yig.34252$8G3.21244
@twister.nyroc.rr.com:

My ironclad rule is that the boat end of the cord is never live, even
for a moment, unless it is fixed in the socket and the breaker is
always off when the shore end is inserted or removed.


Very correct. Never leave a live dead end on the dock. That's just
stupid.

Now, if we're interested in teaching this idiot a lesson, we go down to the
dock on TUESDAY, when noone is around and "accidentally" the open end falls
in the drink, buzzing and arcing away in the salt water for a few minutes
before we trip the breaker by hand if it doesn't by itself, leaving the
breaker tripped and the live end rotting away in the salt water.

I bet it would never happen again....(c;

How some of the really STUPID ones survive an offshore passage never ceases
to amaze me.....

Roger Long wrote:
Dear Mrs. Manners,

What do you do when your marina neighbors are endangering other users,
your guests, and the metal parts of your boat?

The nimrod on the face of our pier,

A nimrod is a famous or very able hunter.

Here, I see nothing wrong with you disconnecting the power cord and
putting it on his deck. I doubt that if the live end fell into the
ocean, it'd stay live long as the breaker would then trip making your
scenario of many dead unlikely. I will, however, concede that is is
possible. How about instead we have this killing a scuba guy cleaning a
bottom?

If we want to get unlikely, then we can also say the live end falls into
the water and so charges the marina that all the zincs fail and boats
sink all around from the induced electrolysis.

"Roger Long" wrote in message
...
Dear Mrs. Manners,

What do you do when your marina neighbors are endangering other users,
your guests, and the metal parts of your boat?

snip

Roger,
What about notifying the marina management? I'm surprised they just let
people screw stuff to the dock and drill holes in their equipment.
--Alan Gomes

Larry wrote:
"Roger Long" wrote in news:C7yig.34252$8G3.21244
@twister.nyroc.rr.com:

I can just see it. One of the (generally under the influence) sunset
watchers comes down and kicks the cord in. They reach in to retrieve
it and follow it in with the shock. Someone else rushes to their aid
and also goes in. Someone with more presence of mind goes to trip the
breaker and, where is a screwdriver when you really need it?

My ironclad rule is that the boat end of the cord is never live, even
for a moment, unless it is fixed in the socket and the breaker is
always off when the shore end is inserted or removed.

I doubt very much if the live end falling in the water is really a
hazard to the sunset watcher. Why would they not just pull up the
cord from the end on the dock (where it will still be because it is
screwed down to the dock - right)? Why go into the water after it?

And if they do - well it's something to report to the Darwin people.

In any case, unscrewing the breaker box and unplugging the cord was
sufficient.

grandma Rosalie
"Use your own judgment and then do as I say"

Rosalie B. wrote:

I doubt very much if the live end falling in the water is really a
hazard to the sunset watcher.

As a parent, although daughter just graduated from HS, of a small kid
say 0-18 years old I get really protective when it comes to my kid
getting killed because of (1) some Libertarian Don't Tread On Me sob
and (2) some knuckle head who doesn't know ****.

Why would they not just pull up the
cord from the end on the dock (where it will still be because it is
screwed down to the dock - right)?

Yea right, and my 12 year old scrambling around the dock has the
insight to put that scenario together?

Why go into the water after it?

Swimmers, working divers, reach down to wash hands off. Have you ever
worked with kids or the general public? Ever wonder why people get
washed off rocks, rolled over and crushed by logs on the beach in the
PNW, or marry the Bitch or Jerk from hell: Judgment. Hazard recognition
aint in their brain. Please don't tell me that you are so wise you
never made a mistake? Ever stub your toe or get a sunburn? Gee, I guess
you should have known better.

And if they do - well it's something to report to the Darwin people.

When it comes to the safety of your grand children I think you would be
saying something else.

In any case, unscrewing the breaker box and unplugging the cord was
sufficient.

I would say required of any normal person........ plus leave a message.

There are some things that are just plain wrong.

grandma Rosalie
"Use your own judgment and then do as I say"

Try this next time you see the cord person: "Hey stupid ****. If that
goes in the water and my kid gets zapped I am going to own your boat,
house, and your balls!"

Dad tired of idiots trying to kill my kid Bob

I agree with Rosalie that the odds of anything actually happening are
very low but, even at the low level of risk, I agree with Bob's
sentiments as well. We do all sorts of things in boating and other
activities to avoid hazard where the risk is very low. I believe
Rosalie was involved in industrial risk management so I'm a bit
surprised at her sanguine attitude. (There are 10 -20 feet of loose
cord beyond the section that is screwed down.)

All the docks and equipment in this marina were recycled from another
marina that was upgrading it's equipment so I wouldn't put much faith
in the breakers.

BTW there is an upside to this fellow. I wanted to wash of my dinghy
and he also left his hose connected to the outlet that serves six
slips. Nice not to have to get mine out. Not only that, but he left
to valve on so the hose was pressurize and I didn't even have to turn
it on. Did you know that when you leave water pressure on some garden
hose for 3 - 4 days it gets about two inch in diameter? Of course, if
it had burst, he would have deprived the whole row on that dock of
water until someone figured it out.

--

Roger Long

"Roger Long" wrote:

I agree with Rosalie that the odds of anything actually happening are
very low but, even at the low level of risk, I agree with Bob's
sentiments as well. We do all sorts of things in boating and other
activities to avoid hazard where the risk is very low. I believe
Rosalie was involved in industrial risk management so I'm a bit
surprised at her sanguine attitude. (There are 10 -20 feet of loose
cord beyond the section that is screwed down.)

You said that it was screwed down every so many feet and didn't
specify how long the end was, or how high the dock is above the water
(or if it is a floating dock). If there is 10 feet of loose cord,
then there is even a greater chance of just pulling the cord out
without getting wet. What is difficult about bending down and picking
up the cord off the dock and pulling the end out of the water? (which
this time of year is too cold to go into anyway)

I have seen a power cord with the end in the water, but it was the
marina end and not the boat end of the cord. (It was in the Bahamas
and the dockmaster didn't seem concerned.) That cord it would have
been difficult to retrieve without going on board the boat.

I thought of saying that it would be a greater risk to a dog sticking
its wet nose into the live end - I didn't think of children, since I
would feel children on a dock should either be old enough to be told
by the parents not to mess with it or be under the immediate control
of the parent. Because if a child falls in, then just the water is
enough of a hazard without adding the unlikely problem of electricity.
I definitely would not allow toddlers out of arms reach.

I don't know why anyone should try to get an electric cord out of the
water if it wasn't their cord. Swimming off the docks is forbidden
in our marina, so they would not be doing that or at least not
legally. The water is a fairly long distance down (depending on the
tide) We have fixed docks and I could not wash my hands from the dock
without lying down on my stomach.

I agree that working divers might have a problem, but I think a
greater hazard realistically was the one mentioned about the
electrical currents eating up the zincs.


All the docks and equipment in this marina were recycled from another
marina that was upgrading it's equipment so I wouldn't put much faith
in the breakers.

BTW there is an upside to this fellow. I wanted to wash of my dinghy
and he also left his hose connected to the outlet that serves six
slips. Nice not to have to get mine out. Not only that, but he left
to valve on so the hose was pressurize and I didn't even have to turn
it on. Did you know that when you leave water pressure on some garden
hose for 3 - 4 days it gets about two inch in diameter? Of course, if
it had burst, he would have deprived the whole row on that dock of
water until someone figured it out.

"Bob" wrote:

This whole post is a cheap shot. People marrying the Jerk from Hell
is not at issue here, and neither is getting washed off rocks. I
would definitely expect a 12 yo to be at least as able to figure out
that he could pull up the cord without diving into the water as a
drunk adult. And 0-18 years? Get real. At 0 years they aren't going
to be running around the docks and they should be capable of thought
well before 18 years.

What Roger did was sufficient. He detached the cord from the 110 v
end.

Rosalie B. wrote:

I doubt very much if the live end falling in the water is really a
hazard to the sunset watcher.

As a parent, although daughter just graduated from HS, of a small kid
say 0-18 years old I get really protective when it comes to my kid
getting killed because of (1) some Libertarian Don't Tread On Me sob
and (2) some knuckle head who doesn't know ****.

Why would they not just pull up the
cord from the end on the dock (where it will still be because it is
screwed down to the dock - right)?

Yea right, and my 12 year old scrambling around the dock has the
insight to put that scenario together?

Why go into the water after it?

Swimmers, working divers, reach down to wash hands off. Have you ever
worked with kids or the general public? Ever wonder why people get
washed off rocks, rolled over and crushed by logs on the beach in the
PNW, or marry the Bitch or Jerk from hell: Judgment. Hazard recognition
aint in their brain. Please don't tell me that you are so wise you
never made a mistake? Ever stub your toe or get a sunburn? Gee, I guess
you should have known better.

And if they do - well it's something to report to the Darwin people.

When it comes to the safety of your grand children I think you would be
saying something else.

In any case, unscrewing the breaker box and unplugging the cord was
sufficient.

I would say required of any normal person........ plus leave a message.

There are some things that are just plain wrong.

grandma Rosalie
"Use your own judgment and then do as I say"

Try this next time you see the cord person: "Hey stupid ****. If that
goes in the water and my kid gets zapped I am going to own your boat,
house, and your balls!"

Dad tired of idiots trying to kill my kid Bob

My ironclad rule is that the boat end of the cord is never live, even
for a moment, unless it is fixed in the socket and the breaker is
always off when the shore end is inserted or removed.


An electrician... or somebody who is at least smart enough
to be trusted with machinery more complicated than a
shovel... will always make connections from load to source.


Larry wrote:
Very correct. Never leave a live dead end on the dock. That's just
stupid.

Now, if we're interested in teaching this idiot a lesson, we go down to the
dock on TUESDAY, when noone is around and "accidentally" the open end falls
in the drink, buzzing and arcing away in the salt water for a few minutes
before we trip the breaker by hand if it doesn't by itself, leaving the
breaker tripped and the live end rotting away in the salt water.



Chris wrote:
And what would you recommend to do to some dork whom you catch
vandalizing your equipment because it doesn't live up to his standards
of 'safety' or 'seamanship'?
Just curious.



That depends... which of my guns do I have on me?


I think what Larry was suggesting comes under the heading of
"allowing nature to take it's course" since the situation
Roger described is almost a guarantee that the cord end will
fall into the water at some point.

This may sound funny coming from me, but I'd suggest having
a friendly talk with the guy. He may think he's doing a
great job. No need for a confrontation.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King