Most interesting experience: A customer managed to store their spare parts ashore (!), and we found …

… Most interesting experience: A customer managed to store their spare parts ashore (!), and we found the reason a big oceanographic sampling system didn't work was because a very proprietary plug inside a data acquisition device hadn't been properly inserted during assembly, damaging the connector beyond repair. We wound up having to disassemble a small DC motor (to get at the lacquer wire - very, very small cross section!) and hand solder jumper wires onto each of the 88 pins on the PCB. Took us a few hours, each of which cost our client on the order of $7k in fuel and crew wages, but it worked in the end, ship's electrician and I taking turns getting those pesky, small wires in place without upsetting the work we'd already done. Soldering .02" pitch connectors with a bog standard Weller iron is a character-building experience. It gets better once you've tacked a needle onto the tip, though. The alternative? Taking the whole vessel back inside helicopter range, then airlift a $5 plug out (Oh, and a crimp tool! Might as well bring a spare plug, too. …