Rant: Told my surface guy he was wrong about lift bag rigging for 6 months

Been working on harbor pilings in Norfolk for a crew out of Newport News. This old timer named Dave kept telling me to clip my primary bag to the d-ring opposite my valve side. I thought he was being fussy because I always clipped on my right side and it never caused problems. Last Tuesday during a 20 foot lift on a 400 pound piling, my bottle got snagged on the bag line and spun me sideways pretty bad. Dave pulled me up, reset my rigging, and the rest of the day went smooth as glass. Anybody else have a simple gear setup suggestion that made them feel stupid for ignoring it?

3 comments

3 Comments

avery_jackson1mo ago

...and that's exactly how I felt when I finally figured out why my truck wouldn't start after I spent 20 minutes staring at the battery terminals. Turns out the little plastic cap on the positive post was still on. I'd been cussing at that thing for six months thinking it was a bad alternator. My buddy just laughed and pointed at the cap. Sometimes the simplest stuff makes you feel like the biggest idiot. Dave probably saved you from a worse spinout than that 20 footer.

kelly.hannah1mo ago

That plastic cap thing is just cruel, I've done almost the same exact thing with a lawnmower battery before. It's always the dumb little stuff that makes you feel like you've lost your mind. Glad you figured it out before dropping money on parts you didn't need.

rubyk261mo ago

Hate it when that happens. You spend months chasing the big, expensive problem and it's just a little plastic cap or something dumb like that. Makes you want to kick yourself. At least you didn't have to replace the whole alternator before you found out though.