I keep a complete tool box onboard
I try to get the best quality at the cheapest prices, so when they go overboard I don't feel the urge to dive in after them! I've gotten some real good hand tools (wrenches, sockets, screwdrivers) at Big Lots. When I sail, I harbor hop in Lake Huron and most marinas do not have the services to repair anything. So I believe in the self-sufficiency. And since I have an inboard 2-cylinder diesel, I have a few more tools specific to keep it running well.
Keep everything in a plastic toolbox that is just wide enough to fit into the side laserette.
one hand belt sander, sandpaper source, best tool catalog
I hereby take back any implied recommendation for the PorterCable 371K Compact Belt Sander. See post 81.
Self-centering VixBits:
You have to have a VixBit to install any hardware, hinges and latches.
But you can also use them to center holes on non-chamfered hardware, like chocks and cleats. #12 and #14 are good ones to have aboard too. But for those sizes you must shop around. Prices vary a lot, and sometimes a set gets you individual bits significantly cheaper, especially for what they bite you for on those larger ones. GarrettWade has a complete set for about $38. Chinese but nicely made.
Klingspor Woodshop, the sanding catalog, has #12 and #14 VixBits for $10, $11.
[I find that instead of futzing with the bit length in a Vixbit, it's more convenient to get the screw-hole spotted in the work, then use a taper drill for the depth screw you are using for the fitting. Or the proper sized straight bit for straight, non-tapered screws that are popular these days. This is the way to do it if you are driving screws into hard wood, and have to tailor the hole.]]
Also, the Klingspor Germans make/sell some of the best sandpapers on the planet!
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My TOOLS THAT WORK candidate for this list is
PorterCable's 371K Compact Belt Sander (2 1/2 X 14).
It's about 9" long - and proportionately tall - because the belt has to go round and round, but I've sanded flat surfaces with it.
It's small, it's weighty, you can find it for around $100 these days. Only PC makes the belts, so you pay for those! Easy to use, it's an ergonomic soft onehanded belt sander, good for edges and flats, made for plywood and frp carpentry. You can hook a small vac diameter hose up to it! Because of its smallness it bears little resemblance to it's larger breathern. The proportionate weight of this sander is a plus in tracking the belt on the work, it's a good feature in an allround nice design. Can get hot.
Comes in a stupid toosmall case. No slot for extra belts....etc.
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And for them who like to get tool catalogs, Lee Valley Tools has the most satisfying one in the business. They also feature Veritas which are often jig tools from the past, modernized, updated - beautiful tools in their own right! It's what GarrettWade wishes it was. It's what Woodcraft, Hartville, Rockler will never be. I'd rate it Numero Uno for 'feel good'.
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(Nov. 2010) DON'T BUY THIS SANDER.
Just had this little belt sander die on me. Went into forums and found one guy who had his die because the DRIVE BELT broke. Amazing how some people don't listen, posters on that site would pop in with their take on sanding belts, not comprehending his post.
The replacement drive belt costs $26 (when he was writing about his experience) and he opted to get the part and replace it himself because of the downtime in UPSing the tool to an authorized repair shop - and of course what that repair would cost PLUS packaging and shipping and futzing around. The drive belt is 25% of the tool cost.
And the tool costs too much to toss it. So it will sit in its terribly designed case and die in tool limbo.
No warning: pushed the switch off and it won't run pushing the switch on now. (So it can be the switch, rather than the drive belt!) The sander didn't have time to get hot this time, altho it warms up and gets really hot to touch where thr tips of the fingers hold the tool. All long term users mention this. You can burn your hand!
The idea and virtual design is excellent, but the product off the shelf is very flawed. As the guys say, it may have something to do with PorterCable now being owned by Black&Decker - who have earned a rep for cheap junk over the years. PorterCable had a great rep. I still own a couple of their D-handle routers, decades old - the rubber covers on the cords cracking with age - but their toggle switchers still connect.
(sigh)
PROS: The tidy size of the belt sander, easy to finesse, had no problems with sanding belt tracking that some rweport. The rubber ergo top has easy location and dust protected on and off push buttons, a nearly dustless vac attachment, and a nice tame cord.....I'll miss these. Never worked the bugger hard. There isn't a whole lot this baby can do. But it's perfect when needed. When can you use a belt sander inside a small boat?
Never had any nother sander suddenly konk out like this PC371. Nor any other PorterCable tool I've had around. Imco it's a big red flag to stay away from further involvement. Goodbye PorterCable! Hello Makita. They have a two handed 10" long 3X18 that looks promising......
step wrench alternative for through-hulls
This indispensible tool comes from looking into one of C'pete's Links (Repairs and other stuff) on the Link Thread.
Want to draw your attention to a great adaption of a common socket tool to the how the hell do you remove the through-hull problem.
This comes from George de Witte of the Nepean Sailing Club.
What you do is find a socket wrench, the cup thingy, that fits snugly INTO the through-hull and cut a slot across the cup that will slip over the two lugs molded inside the bore.
With seacocks, using this adaption you will be able to back out the through-hull while leaving the seacock in place untouched. maybe it is damaged or needs recaulking. If you have ballcocks you need the wrench to hold the through-hull while you unscrew the fitting inside. Two person job.
Not to be ridiculous but the tool is useful if you are adding a new hole in your boat. It's a pretty big deal to mount a true flanged seacock properly. But once it is in place, you can take the time to turn the t'hull in - and take it out to trim it - until you get the length exactly right. Then turning it in a last time with caulk.*
A one man job. And theoretically you could do it with the boat in the water. Might want to close the seacock.
Cutting the slot into hardened steel socket is perhaps not the easiest thing.
George mentions a way he did it. I might try a plywood jig that a hand circular saw with a carborundum blade would slide in. You'd have to immobilize the socket in the jig. Maybe drill a hole hole slightly too small that you bung the socket into! I'm assuming that single passes of the blade in micro-depth increments would cut the groove and the groove would not be too wide. A friend with connections to a machine shop would be a good alternative. As they say: different sockets for different through-hulls - hopefully the same driver. 3/8" was suggested.
[Recently installed small 1/2" seacocks using a short length of modified 5/8" brass hex rod to turn the through-hull . A box end wrench was used to turn the fitting into the seacock through a bulkhead. The inside part of the hex rod was machined round to fit and long slots milled into the round sides to slip over the lugs. Being brass it was no problem to machine. But in this case, most of us would have to have it done by someone with a metal lathe. Had fairly long slots cut so that there would be more bearing surface when used to break the rubber caulk seal if the fitting had to be removed. The slots fit the lugs in the through-hull without too much slop, much like you'd want any wrench to. The through-hull is nylon. But the same would be good for a bronze fitting. The lugs are rather small and the more tool surface you get on them (by having longer slots) the better imco.]
Polysulfide has the rep for being the correct underwater caulk for the t'hull/seacock. It'd be more likely than polyurethane to allow mechanical sheering when it comes time to take it apart than 5200 or maybe the newer silicone/urethane** hybrids. It's just my feeling that p'sulfide stays elastic longer than p.urethane. T'hulls are notorious for being non-removable.
This seldom used socket alteration can live with the usual wrench collection aboard and therefor would always be found when needed.
This slotted plug idea has been given the coveted Five Star Seebee's Can-do Award.:D
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*If your flanged seacock is mounted on a nice backing plate that is epoxied or 5200ed permanently over the through-hull hole.... It seems possible to screw the t'hull in with old fashioned underwater bedding compound. The seacock should be waterproof with the through-hull removed. Much more civilized.
**Silicone/polyurethane hybrids (except for BoatLife's LifeSeal hybrid) are new enough in the states that not much is talked about them on forums. These hybrids supposedly stay flexible forever, never hardening. It might be easier to break a flexible seal rather than one that has hardened.
Tenacious Sealing and Repair Tape
from a company called McNett.
Here's a candidate for the 'Tools That Hopefully Work' category.
It's a clear matte peel and stick tape to be used on synthetic and natural fabrics, fleece, rubber, vinyl - on clothing, tarps, raingear, sleeping bags, mats, backpacks, stuffsacks and so forth. One guy used it to repair a bike tire. Maybe sails too?
It peels off again without leaving a residue. A way step up from 100-mile-an-hour tape: duct tape - which cannot be removed without delaminating and leaving an amalgamated mess.
It is sold in a roll 3" X 20" for the camping trade in a blue see-through plastic container. $3 to $4. That's nice too!
Found the stuff reviewed on the Backpack Gear Test site:
www.backpackgeartest.org
"The most comprehensive interactive gear reviews and tests on the planet"
What you guys and gals got to do is go to that site and see how it works.
To be a reviewer of a product your opinions are preceded by an extensive review of your background, along with the website's methodology for 'testing'. A really nice system, imco.
I have let my Practical Sailor sub lapse because I no longer find their reviews important and questioned their methods
and didn't give a damn about megayacht 'tests'. It may be that PS for me slipped into a recognisable 'personality'. Where I want a product review I get an annoying and questionable PS review. [Maybe the last straw was their comedic marina mud anchor test a few years ago. Close second their paint chip comparisons on a Boston Whaler.]
What is refreshing about the Backpack Gear Test site is that there ARE real individuals involved and a number of their reviews of one product - and the mettle of the reviewer is always on display. At least we can read the testing methods and decide if they are trustworthy. Extensive testimonials. Check it out.
Backpackers are true minimalists when it comes to gear. A lot like micro-cruising an A/C. There have been some great gear changes since my camping days.
A product you might check out for its use onboard for the gunkholer is a tiny UV watertreatment device - "mUV Ultrviolet Portable Water Treatment System by Meridian Design,Inc." Just the idea of taking a UV water purifier in a backpack is mind bending to me. What will they think of next, etc!
Haven't explored the Backpack Gear Test website at all. Hope somebody from here looks in and comments on it.....
At first blush this website makes me wish us small boaters had a Product Review Board for ourselves. Right now we have to roam the forums and read a bilge of hype.
I've been looking for a very compact ultra-lite tarptent to carry in the truck for emergencys, and overnight camping. Any interest???
If the package is truely small enough it would be great to have aboard. A tarptent stuffsack would have useful fabrics (Polycryo, spinnaker cloth and Tyvec, for example), Spectra line, noseeum netting - that would have a place in the ship's survival grab sack. Including that little roll of Tenacious!
Dremel tool carbide grit bits
On the rudder discussion thread we talked a bit about the usefulness of Dremel type tools. Often used for model work they are necessary when small details and close up work must be done.
Here is a source for tungsten carbide 1/8" shank wheels and burrs of many shapes. The wheels can be used for cutting and shaping composites, laminates, fiberglass and of course wood. The source also has carbide sleeve drums for the 1/2" rubber arbor that I've not seen before.
When you go to the home page of the Duragrit site you'll find a video showing the tools being used. A Dremel-type tool adds a lot of versatility to tackling picky on board projects and please-fix-this stuff around the house. Here there is a variety of carbide grit bits I haven't seen before. Prices are perhaps better too, I've paid $16, maybe more, for the combo cutting/shaping 1 1/4" wheel at the local hardware* - here they are $12 + S&H.
{It occurs to me that this price may be in Canadian dollars???}
I haven't used this source yet, it just came from a friend. Looks promising.
http://duragrit.com/us/index.html
They are a Canadian company. There is a telephone to call. Maybe they will do a debit card. I won't type any bank numbers into the computer.
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* no longer available from Dremel