[balmoralboy]

So, What's the dumbest thing you ever did?

Mine was on Thursday last week. I was painting a room at the other end of the motel, and since my 19 year old son had the van down there, I told him to put the 20 litre pail of paint in the van and take it down to the office end.

He did exactly what I told him, just not what I wanted. So when i went for a beer run for the restaurant later, guess what happened. The first I noticed was when I came out of the liquor commission and saw white paint running out of the side door of the van............. What a F$%^#&* mess!

Well, I drove home quick and got out the hose and the shop-vac. I figure that I lost 3 gallons of paint onto the carpets and front seat of the van. So, there I was for the next 5 hours, hose in one hand, shop-vac nozzle in the other.

I can report that you need the hose to get latex paint out of van carpets, a carpet cleaner doesn't cut it. Other than that, my carpets are some clean!!!

There must be a huge cavity under the van body, between the doors. I ran the hose full force into the slot under the sliding door where the door carrier rides for over an hour. White water poured out, but three hours later it was oozing white paint from the same points where the white water came out. Still drips white after a stop. I guess I should have done some quick stops when it was filled with water to get it mixed well.

So, the dumb thing I did? Second dumbest was not telling Tris to take the paint back out. Dumbest was NOT GETTING PICTURES!!!

 

[guest]

thats pretty funny Jim... must have been a big pain in the butt...


chalk it up under 'do what i mean, not what i say'

 

[Stewart]

Holy Buckets Batman!!! What a mess, I hope I wasn't that hard headed when I was younger!!! I hope it all comes out in the wash! Sorry I couldn't pass up the pun!

:cheers:

 

[guest]

my dumbest thing... its a little long sorry....

one of the dumbest things i ever did... Well i have 2 that come to mind.. both related to my original boat.. a starcraft... 14ft Seafarer

i used to keep the battery and gas up the front of the boat to offset the weight of a steering console id added...
well i went up to camp and loaded the boat in the water.. then drove my truck to the cottage while i left the boat on the shore in the water...

I used to camp a lot and had a metal grill id put over a fire... this grill somehow got tossed up front and crossed the battery in my boat... when i got to my cottage (about 300 yards away) i heard the owner of the camps yelling.. 'John, your boats on fire...'

The metal grate had crossed the battery, heated up and started to burn the canvas boat cover, the battery melted.. id just filled 3 6 gallon metal gas cans and they were right next to and inside the fire..

by the time i got to the boat.. i had to make a decision.. try to put this out or push it into the lake to let the gas explode... It was a tough decision... Let it blow up or risk dying over a boat...

The friggin gas cans were litterally in fire because the boat cover was in flames and that was tossed on top of and next to the gas cans.. a friendly soul (from a closer camp) got to my boat before io did.. I told him to get the hell away cause of all the gas...

i pulled the flaming boat canvas out of the boat (which was the biggest thing burning)

and was able to douse the rest of the fire..

things to be thankful for:
well the obvious one.. it did not kill us and explode..

The others: aluminum boat.. it was really flaming in there.. had it been fiberglass it would have at the very least, melted.

Metal Gas cans: not sure how the plastic ones would have done in the blaze those cans were in.. it still amazes me none of them exploded..

all in all, i lost the boat cover, one rod, a bunch of life jackets melted, (one of which i still keep as a souveneir) half of the battery melted into nothing.. and a few other things... The front bench and side were charred but it was aluminum so no big deal....
That was about 13 years ago and the old owner of the camp still talks about it to this day every year she sees me.....

 

[bontai Joe]

I rode the mechanical bull at Gilley's bar in Pasedena TX for the second time. Obviously there was some alcohol involved in this. The first time I got thrown on my head, and I should have called it quits. I could already say I rode the bull and had an interesting story. But, NOOOOOOOO! I had to try again. I broke AND dislocated my right thumb, plus some bruises in the groin, shoulder, and really sore knees. My thumb still "clicks" when moved a certain way. That's at least what comes to mind as one of my stupidest things. There might be others that I thankfully don't remember.

 

[CatDaddy]

You mean other than marrying my ex-wives?:furious: :furious:

Jeez... I'll have to ponder the 3rd most stupid thing I've ever done.

 

[Fusion1970]

This is without a doubt the stupidest thing I have done...A buddy of mine gave me his old Power Wheels battery powered car for my son that his son had outgrew. I was making the red car look like a Saleen Mustang. I painted black headlight covers on it, and started removing some old decals.

The decals were pretty tough, kinda metallic, with what looked like a thin layer of aluminum foil underneath. I put a little laquer thinner on a rag, and kept wiping over the decal to soften it up. I eventually got impatient, and started hitting the decal with a lighter to "melt" the adhesive. I would hit it with the rag, then hit it with the lighter. I once got the lighter and the raq too close...

POOF! went the rag. I held the flaming rag for a nanosecond before instincts took over. I meant to throw the rag to my left, behind me. I threw the rag in my 15.5' fiberglass boat. That was no problem, as it is bare. Nothing inside the boat, as I am replacing the stringers, transom, and floor. The bad thing was right where I intended to throw the rag, sat a full can of laquer thinner with the cap off on the floor, beside the boat.

It still freaks me out, as I could have died in the blast- if I threw the rag where I meant to. Now, I do not even smoke if there is any paint, thinner, cleaner, etc. around. All explosives are now kept in the shed. The decals are still on the car. LOL

Greg

 

[MowHoward2210]

Well, this is a lot less exciting than Gregs story.

I was mowing a section that I had not mowed before. There was about an 80 ft piece of cloth tape imbedded deep in the grass. Looked like some kind of mule tape that you use to pull wire or cable with. It was flat and about a half inch wide.

I had seen it before, but was always too busy to go pick it up and throw it away. I was hurting for time, and it seemed imbedded into the grass and ground, so I decided to mow over it. Well by the time I hit the PTO switch to stop the blades, the tape went from 80 ft long to about 3 inches wide, wrapped around one of the spindles. It formed a rock hard wrap about the size of softball around the spindle. I probably spent 20- 30 minutes trying to cut and unwrap it. Some of the fabric worked its way in to the bearing cap or cup that covers the spindle.

I'm sure I have some more good ones, but I think I subconsciously block the memory out so I don't remind my self of what an idiot I can be. :duh:

 

[Fusion1970]

LOL...Im glad I was not the last one to respond. I was reluctant to post it, but figured i'd risk appearing a dumb ass to show how easy it is to do something stupid. In my eyes- and surely everyone else here im sure, that was a pretty good example of being stupid.

I even thought I was doing the right thing by moving the can away from the workbench and onto the ground. I would have been better off leaving it ON the workbench. If I did not suffer at least serious burns, the garage and quite possibly the house could have burnt to the ground.

Anyway...Have a great weekend!
Greg

 

[Ingersoll444]

The DUMBEST thing????? OMG how can I narrow it down? Done a lot of REAL dumb stuff, but here is one.....

Driving home from work one day, in my 72LTD. the car dies. After a wile I figure out it is not getting fuel. Well I get some gas, fill the carb, and drive off the next exit. I call my wife, becouse she has the AAA card, and she calls a two truck, and comes to pick me up. She pulls up behind me, and the flat bed pulls in front. The guy hooks up the car and starts loading it into the flatbed. Half way up, the chains let loose. DOWN comes the car, rooling towards my wife, and our van. So what do I do?? Grab on to the windsheld piller of the convertible, to stop it from rolling into the van. Mind you, a 1972 Ford LTD convertible is a BIG car. Weight is right around 5500lbs!! Ok here is a 200+ lb guy truing to grab on to it to stop it!!! DUMB DUMB DUMB!!! Well other then a sprand wrist, and a little dammange to the van, and ANOTHER story, over how the towing co tryed to make good[AH"S!!!!!] all was well.

 

[jbetts13]

l was driveing my step dad's case and l was 8 or 9 at the time and the hole thing slid in to a dich upright well not a dich just a low spot on the side of the lane way so now l'm siting on the tractor and there are 2 palits of bricks and with the loader the tractor was to long so after about 30 mins l just gunner her into the one piple of bricks and onse l was out it's hite me just lift the loader 2 hours later all the bricks are back