Wednesday, May 4, 2016

The Great Chinese Communist Plot


Tom and I have discovered a diabolical plot by the Chinese Communist Party to take down the USA.  It's so simple and subtle that it had gone undetected until now.  But we are on to them and we are going to blow this whole thing w-i-d-e open.

Have you ever noticed how on a project one stainless steel screw or bolt or washer or nut seems rust up before the others.  Yes, stainless steel rusts in the right environment like say the sea/marine environment - come on people....we've talked about this before.  For example - you install a new rope clutch.  Four through bolts with accompanying nuts and washers.  Almost immediately one bolt or nut or washer starts to rust.  The others are just fine.  WTF?   Seriously!  I know you have all witnessed this first hand.

We've mentioned this to various people through the years.  Possible answers - Corrosion?  Inferior SS?  Dis-similar metals?  Hum?  Usual answer......"Must be a bad one in the batch."  We have heard this so often it has almost become the standard answer.  But let's look at this response closer.  So the theory is that somehow in the modern, highly technical manufacturing process of a run of say 5000 stainless steel 3/8 screws, that there is one or two that somehow just didn't get enough of whatever so they are bad.  These then escape quality control measures, get shipped to your local marine supply store where you just happen to pick that one or two out of a bin of 50 and install it on your boat where it promptly starts rusting.  Do I have it right?  Oh yes but these are Chinese manufactured SS screws, you say.  Okay.  But even still, read through that again for me just to be sure I have it right.  Seems like a stretch doesn't it? 

We thought so as well.  So we starting looking into other possibilities.  We find the randomness too convenient.  How could the one or two bad ones in each batch be random?  We decided they aren't.  These are deliberate!  This is where the plot starts.  We believe that all the communist bosses in China - from the lowest level to the highest, walk around with their pockets full of "bad" SS screws/bolts/nuts/washers.  It's part of the standard uniform.  On any given day they might be asked or decide to tour a SS manufacturer.  When they tour these factories, they simply reach in their pockets and toss a few of these bad ones in with all the good ones.  This starts the waterfall effect - the screw is shipped to the USA where you buy the bad one at your local marine or hardware store, installing the inferior screw which starts rusting immediately.  Whatever project you have going is doomed thus reducing your success and ultimately the success of the USA.  This is happening not only to you but to big commercial builders.  Don't you see.......The Communist bosses are taking down the USA one bad screw at a time!  

3 comments:

  1. Amen, sister. When we lost our mast in Tropical Storm Jimena, we traced the failed rigging back to its original Chinese supplier... You can bet we insured that the replacement rigging did not come from China.

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  2. Ahh the problems of stainless. I got a top tip from a metal working buddy of mine. Make sure you never ever no matter what the reason, use a tool on stainless that you've used before on something other than stainless. This goes for drills, screwdrivers, spanners, cutters... It only takes a few molecules of M/Steel etc to get scratched into the SS screw, washer etc and that screw will rust. Having said all of that it's of no use to you as you live on a boat and don't have a full on workshop. We miss you LOADS and cant wait to catch you up.

    Iain

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  3. Great post and I fully concur! We lost our mast as the result of a failure of SS components in Chinese sourced components to my standing rigging while the remnants of a hurricane blew out. S/V Little Nesi, San Carlos, MX

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