Ants 1, Me 0

[jtexas]

Picking up the boat from the storage yard Friday night for Saturday's fishing, I noticed a few ants on the cover. Not even fire ants - just regular old black/red ants. Thought I would give the cover a good shake, when WHAM! something hit the top of my head, but hard! You know those bungee cords with the big hard plastic hooks? It was still attached to the cover - I had no idea it could hurt so bad! Fifteen or twenty minutes later, after it stopped bleeding, it didn't hurt so bad but, man, I got knot on my head this morning!

 

[JamesCoste]

Re: Ants 1, Me 0

Well, ouch. I busted my knuckle the other day stretching a bungee cord further than it wanted to go. When it slipped, it rapped the back of my knuckles and broke the skin.<br /><br />Those things could be used as serious weapons!<br /><br />I wonder if the two of us are the only ones to ever suffer from one of those "cords of pain"?

 

[gaugeguy]

Re: Ants 1, Me 0

Originally posted by JamesCoste:<br /> I wonder if the two of us are the only ones to ever suffer from one of those "cords of pain"?

Nope, you can add me to the list. About 15 years ago I was stretching one over a tarp to keep some sheetrock dry. One of the grommets on the tarp let go and the cord snapped back at my hand. I was disoriented for a couple seconds and when I snapped out of my trance, I had the S hook buried in my hand. It missed completely passing through my palm by a 1/8 of an inch. Off to the E-room with a cord hanging from my hand...that friggin hurt.

 

[Mr.Ladyfish]

Re: Ants 1, Me 0

That friggin hurt.

That hurts just reading about it.

 

[beezee28]

Re: Ants 1, Me 0

gaugeguy, OUCH.. I feel for you man...

 

[DC698]

Re: Ants 1, Me 0

Tying down the tarp over the boat one day with bungees and same thing happened as Gaugeguy, the grommet let go and it snapped back and hit me square between the eyes (Metal hook bungee). Saw a flash jumped up and said a few choice words..wasn't pleasant. Got me motivated to buy a mooring cover with bungee cord already installed in it though!

 

[Capt Joe]

Re: Ants 1, Me 0

I gave up using bungee straps a couple of years ago - they can be too dangerous.<br />Now I use a measured length of rope with a band of tyre rubber through the bungee hook. With the rope tied to something solid I only have to pull the hook the last couple of inches to get a firm fit. The worst that can happen is a rap over the knuckles with a bit of perished rubber. The best part is that the rope is always the right length for a good firm fit.

 

[livebait]

Re: Ants 1, Me 0

Now look what you guy’s have went and done. I never used to be afraid of a bungee strap before. What do I replace them with, Velcro? Well maybe I can take the hooks off and replace them with Velcro. It was probably a safer world until we started to invent things to make life easier.

 

[gaugeguy]

Re: Ants 1, Me 0

I still use bungee cords, but they all have the wide plastic s-hooks now. I never over stretch them and I am EXTREMELY carefull with them. I am big into the ratchet straps now, I have dozens of them

 

[oddjob]

Re: Ants 1, Me 0

OK, I can do much better than the bungies..<br /><br />15 years ago..I occassionally drove a tractor trailer hauling Apartment building roof trusses. Wide Load. After some hairy experiences with the load shifting during the trips, I decided the heavy duty nylon rachet straps were not adequate so matter how many you used. The only thing that held them for ever was three 30 ft rigging chains with the standard rachet locks. To have proper chain tenion one had to nearly destroy the top truss to eliminate unwanted slack in the secured chains. To do this I would have to lock down several times and re-adjust the grip of the rachet clamps.<br />I new it was perfectly taught (tight) as soon as the 4 ft cheater bar was needed to lock the clamp for good.........Well one day.. the clamp was to tight for me to close....with just my body weight to get the lever past the maximum lever force. So,...I jumped up and grabbed the end of the cheater bar in nearly a vertical position and got the bar to come down w/ my weight about 10-12 inches, then grabbed the flat bed w/ my left hand did my best Lou Forigno ....It took everything I had to lock it....whewwwww! I said as I reached to remove the cheater bar wedged onto the clamp now pointing to the ground....just a tap of my fingers is all thats required to jar it loose.....tap..Swoop!..Crack!..acrossed mouth!%^@#$%^$@%!@* !!!!!!AIRBORN!...FAWAPP!...On back!!%^@#$%^$@%!@* .....Get up....(yes I did)....looked around...looked at the pipe...then ran up to truck mirror to check the damage of my completely numb face..Amazingly nothing broke or cut..cept the insides of both lips..

 

[JamesCoste]

Re: Ants 1, Me 0

I nominate this thread for "one of the most painful ones to read". <br /><br />I do plan to get some sections of rope and use shorter bungees so if it does slip, break a grommet, etc., I won't get smacked as bad.

 

[samagee]

Re: Ants 1, Me 0

I can tell you about pain. I was trying to remove the spare tire from my pop up camper. I guess the owners before me never had to change a tire, because this nut was not coming off the bolt. So I decided to try and break the nut off. The ground was slipery due to rain earlier that day. So, I slipped while cranking down on the bolt and drove my fist into the metal bumper. I shouting some choice words. Checked to see if I could still move my hand, and since I did I didn't think anything was broken. I went inside to wrap it up to keep the swelling down, and found that my wrist wrap was missing. So I drive to Kmart to get some. I ran into the wife while there, she says it's broke. I said no it's just swollen, and I go back home. Later she comes home and looks at, and says I should get it x-ray'd. I did, and it was broken.<br /><br />The next day I was out at the camper with my cast, cutting the bolt off with a cutting blade on the drill. You may want to note that vibrations cause a break to re-swell, and that is not a good thing in a cast. But hey, I got the damn thing off.

 

[skeezx01]

Re: Ants 1, Me 0

looks like the making of some sort of bunge cord injury class action law suit!

 

[unixgeek13]

Re: Ants 1, Me 0

How about old, weathered winch ropes? Have you ever been on the receiving end of one of those when it snaps while hoisting your boat up onto the trailer? Youch! It was like a rat-tail smacking directly under my eye. Broke the skin on my cheek. Had it been 3/4 of an inch higher, I surely would have lost an eye. Lesson learned... I only use winch cables rated WAY beyond my boat's weight now!<br /><br />...Steve...