 PLOT: In "Youve Been Disconnected", Gilligan admits he goofed by  covering the phone wires with the liquid rubber to protect it from  the rain and water of the storm that pulled it out to sea, thus  ruining the chance of a phone company coming out to fix them.  However, it is clear that the Skipper forced him to take shelter  with the rest when the storm started and just before that, it had  already started to rain, which alone wouldve ruined the phone  wires.