Being prepared for everything.

[Paul B]

I don't know about you guys but I like to be prepared for everything, not just for my tank, but for everything in life as I don't like surprises. (Well once a bus load of Miss Universe contestants stopped in front of where I was working and I was able to stare, I mean stay there all day). Of course we can't plan for everything but we can plan for the things that already happened to us because they will most likely happen again. If your pump, skimmer, sump or bathtub leaks there is nothing you could do about it, but if it leaks a second time, it is your fault and you should have planned for it to leak again.
About 15 years ago I came down the stairs to my finished basement where my reef is and as soon as my foot touched the floor, which is covered in carpet, I heard that dreadful squishing sound and I knew immediately that something in the tank leaked.
It was my skimmer which is a 5' DIY model and is bolted to the back of my tank. If I had not been home, the entire tank would have emptied on the floor and my wife goes to the gym every day so she can probably take me in a fair fight. She is a fanatic housekeeper and even washes the light bulbs so you can imagine how she reacted to 25 gallons of salt water on the newish carpet. And my nitrate is high so it was probably stickier than normal.
A week or so later I came out from hiding from my wife and I added a 5 gallon bucket under the skimmer with an auto shut off on it so that if the skimmer leaks or overflows, the home made shut off switch will kill the pumps controlling the skimmer. It has happened twice after that "but" now nothing happened except the pumps went off.
Here on Long Island our power lines are above ground so we have blackouts after hurricanes like we just had or snow storms. They don't happen often, but when they do, not only does the tank go off, which is not my biggest concern, but the house heat also goes off and it has been hovering around 14 degrees around here lately.
Years ago I bought a generator so these things don't really bother me much except for the annoyance of having to start the generator. It is not a big expensive genarator, I think it cost me $450.00 and it runs the entire house.
But after Hurricane Sandy, even though I had a generator, there was no gas to be had on Long Island so I had to siphon it out of my cars. My power was only out for 4 days but some people were out for weeks. Virtually all of those people told me they were going to install a generator as soon as they again became available, but as of today, not one of them bought a generator and I know the next time the power goes out they will again tell me how lucky I am to have a generator.
I am not sure what luck has to do with driving to Home Depot and buying a generator.
But as I said gas was very hard to get and I am sure we will get more hurricanes so I ordered a conversion kit so the generator will also run on natural gas besides gasoline. I will be prepared for the next storm even though I hope to never have to use it.
Here on Long Island we have some of the highest electric rates in the country and people complain about it all the time. Instead of complaining, do something about it.
I installed solar panels on my roof which cut my electric bills by $110.00 a month.
We also have some of the highest heating oil costs in the country so I did something about that. I installed a condensing gas boiler for heat and hot water. This saves me about $4,000.00 a year in utilities so it paid for itself in a year.
It was another no brainer.
I learned very early in my life to be prepared and if I didn't, I would not be here today. My first 2 weeks in Viet Nam were un eventful. But I was always in a small clearing in the jungle and I never felt really safe. I was told that when the enemy atacked, they first used mortors and RPGs (rocket propelled grenades) and rockets. Then they ran at you with everything else. We always filled sandbags and placed them around us so when we slept you were kind of safe from schrapnel as long as you didn't take a direct hit. I remember laying there my first week at night in total darkness realizing that I was 50 yards from the tree line and all that was protecting me from a direct hit was a little sand. Kind of like some people feel a DSB will save their tank. Anyway, I decided to cut down some bamboo that was like 6" thick and growing all over the place. I took the bamboo and made another wall a few feet in front of the sandbags.
A week later we were attacked by 400 NVA troops and sure enough they hit us with rockets, and mortors before they ran at us, but my bamboo cushioned the first hit and the sandbags protected me from the schrapnel so I could get out and do what I was supposed to do, but if it were not for that bamboo, I would be toast.
So if we think ahead and try to plan for things that most likely won't happen, we won't be in a situation more than once where we will be toast.
And it is easier to learn to be prepared before something dreadful happens because if it can happen, it probably will.

 

[fishman1069]

Another awesome post Paul

 

[cb747]

Awesome Paul where did you get your conversion kit for your generator?

 

[tomtoothdoc]

hey paul, have you ever been published in reader's digest? should think about it.

i was a boy scout up until freshman year of high school. everyone knows the scout motto....be prepared.
our scout troop was prepared for the winter camping trip but wasn't fully prepared for getting trapped in the adirondacks after a snow storm dumped 6 feet of frozen snow and blocked the only road up and down the mountain. we were prepared enough that we survived but it was a rather harrowing experience. hmmm....should have gotten a merit badge for "survival skills"
i was prepared for a storm but not to the extent of sandy and her aftermath. i had a generator but it wasn't enough to run the whole house for 8 days. i had gas but not enough for 8 days. i had gas cans but not enough to stock gas for 8 days. i had patience but not enough for 8 days.
the new motto should be "be OVER prepared"....at least for 8 days.....:lol_large

 

[Paul B]

Chris, I just Googled generator conversion kits. It should arrive in a few weeks and you can come over and see it. I lost your phone number so give me a call.

Tomtoothdoc, I have never been published in Readers Digest but I would like to. I do occasionally read it.
I had a generator and went out before the hurricane and got gas cans, when I couldn't buy gas cans, I bought 5 gallon water containers and spray painted "gas" on them. I also have a siphon hose to take gas out of my cars and there is 100 gallong of gas in my boat. In a week or so I will drill the hole in my house to put the gas pipe outside and my foundation is 18" thick as I drilled it a few times. The rest of my house is stone so it is not just a 5 minute job.
But I will be prepared. I also have leak detectors in my basement that will alert me if any water comes in.

 

[thirty6]

Your posts are great

 

[Imbarrie]

After years of living on blue water sailboats I have the same philosophy for preparedness. But most of the time I had to prevent things from happening in the first place.
If you are reacting from the affects on one incident and another thing happens chances are you will end up throwing the lifeboat over the side.
That does not mean I havent ended up standing unexpectedly in saltwater also.

 

[Paul B]

That does not mean I havent ended up standing unexpectedly in saltwater also.

That is true and I am a boater also. I re design everything I can on my boat to perform better than original, as boats like everything else are designed partly to be made cheaper and not necessarilly better. Wherever I can I remove iron parts and replace them with 1/2" thick plexiglass.
The mounting brackets for the hydrallic pumps that operate the power trims for the outdrives were built of steel. What is the last possable material you would build something out of that will be sitting in saltwater in a bilge. Yes, steel. I vacuumed them out because that was all that was left of them, and built new plexiglass ones that will last longer then the pyramids and they are about a tenth of the cost of the new stainless steel replacement parts. There is also no freshwater flush kit you can buy for my engines, so I built them. Now when I come back to the dock, I can hook up a hose and flush the engines with fresh water. They last forever if you do that.
I also broke all the light bulbs on the boat, removed the glass and soldered in LEDs on all the lights. Now they will last forever, give more light and not fail when I most need them.
I am now building a wash kit that will rinse off my anchor line automatically when the anchor is brought up. It is always covered in thick mud and that mud is not great for the windlass mechanism, it also makes a mess on the deck of the boat. Now it will have a sprayer around the line that will clean off the mud.
This stuff is all common sense but no one thinks about it until something breaks. Of course I don't have to mention carrying extra parts with you while sailing.
When I bought my boat, I was vbringing it home and I was traveling under the Varrazino Bridge. Guess where the water pump belt broke? Yes, right in the middle of the channel with all the oil tankers and those guys have no sense of humor. I didn't have spare parts then because I just bought the boat. I managed to jury rig the belt and get under way.