Recycled Trash in the Fifties

Little Miss Judy Believe It or Not!

My father was a whiz with boat engines. It seemed as though he could fix almost any mechanical problems without involving factory parts. Back in the old days, you just couldn抰 stop what you were doing just to run out to the parts store. There are very good reasons why you couldn抰 and shouldn抰. The first and most important was that the parts place probably didn抰 have what you needed in stock any way. They could probably get it, but only by Snell mail, which as you all know was slower in those days. Another reason and also a good one was the fact that the boat was out of commission, which would meant no income. So your best bet was to stay with the boat and figure out some sort of a fix temporary or not!

So therefore daddy would have to come up with some fast, but serviceable ways of repairing the engine so that he could keep running. I have seen him remove wore out spark plugs, soak them in gasoline, re-gauge them, and back in the old flat head they would go. Most of the time our gray marine engines, which I called slant heads, had water holding where the spark plugs were located. This meant drying out the spark plug hole before removing it. I know what you must be thinking of how the engine could have possibly run correctly. Back in the old days I don抰 think a lot of people knew or much less cared whether the engine was truly running at its best.

Another method of repair was the 揙ld Rope Trick.? After breaking a belt a basic rope tied correctly would run just fine between the two pulleys. That抯 as long as you got it tight enough! This wasn抰 a sure fix, but it would get you home and possibly out on another short trip. However there would be a very good chance that you might have to stop and change the rope a few times.

The last that I can remember at this time is the 揟in Can Trick.? This was 揇addy抯 Instance Patch Kit,?which consisted of a tin can and a roll of wire. Let抯 say that you have a blow out in your exhaust system. This is when you get lots of steam or water depending on the location of the hole. He would cut the ends out of the cans and put them to the side. These cans could be anything from a fruit to beer can. Then he would cut the can so that he could lay it out flat. Now he had what he called a moldable patch. He might use one can or as many as it took to go all the way around the exhaust. He would place the ends of the cans over the hole, wrap the patch (flat beer can material) around the pipe several times, and then wrap the wire as tightly as possible. It might have still leaked, but certainly not as much as before the patch job. All I can say about this is please doing try this on your blow out. This is due to the fact they just don抰 make cans like they use too and that is the only darn good reason that I have!

This is an oldie, but a very goodie picture that was taken at one of my father birthday parties, which by the way was always in our backyard. I tried counting the candles, but after taking a better look, it must have been a big one, because it took three birthday cakes to make it work.



From left to right: Aunt Ninah Zipperer, Captain Johnny Fulcher, Captain Eminent Bridges, Captain Sherman Helmey, and Pat Helmey (Captain Deidra Helmey Jeffcoat抯 Mother)

When I saw Captain Eminent Bridges holding his Papst Blue Ribbon beer can I thought of this story. Back in the real old days a beer can was suitable for using to wrap a blown out exhaust! And heck, it most likely would have lasted for a while! As my father always said, 揑f it is working don抰 mess with it!?


Thanks for reading! Captain Judy