What's in your tool box

[Terry Etapa]

Originally Posted by Terry Etapa

I've found the Stanley Locking Adjustable Wrench to be a great addition.
http://tinyurl.com/zvrs7

It looks like tiny url sends you to Reach toothbrushes...

Here is the Locking Adjustable Wrench:


http://www.stanleyproto.com/default....ustable+Wrench

[soul searcher]

Charlie home depot sells some heat shrink terminals from anchor alot cheaper than west marine.

[GordMay]

Quality solderless crimp-on terminals and splices, such as those manufactured by Ancor & others, will have:
Nylon insulators (not vinyl)
Funnel entry
Brazed seams
Tin plated copper body
and perhaps adhesive-lined cross-linked polyolefin heat shrink.

Any quality crimp terminal or splice can be sealed with a separate adhesive lined heat shrink tube. Utilizing a "clear" hear-shrink allows you to insert a permanent custom label or colour-coding tape under it.

[Canibul]

my toolbox? A ball pein hammer, tywraps, duct tape, a propane torch, and a pint of Jack Daniels.

If I cant fix it with one of those, its time to call a pro.

[Sonosailor]

As a live-aboard headed for the Caribbean, I carried a Black and Decker Firestorm series 12 volt kit that used the same motor and handle for a sander, drill and jig saw. i figured after the batteries wore out, I would rig it to run from a cord direct from the batteries or from cigarette lighter type outlets. Seemed like a good idea. The first thing to go was the battery charger, so I rigged the batteries to charge off the house batteries. I left one in for a few days, and it simply melted up and expanded out of the case. I then wired the motor direct to 12 volt, and it immediately started to smoke.

I can't even figure out why that happened. I really thought I had a good idea. I do notice the 12 volt kits were not available very long. I suspect they were a cheap product.

[Vasco]

I've found a good pry bar or wrecking bar especially useful for tensioning belts. Strips of inner tube rubber- wrap around shaft log when replacing packing in the stuffing box. An old screwdriver with the tip ground down and slightly hooked, for getting old packing out. A couple of wood blocks (handy when you really have to bash something). A dentist's pick - good for cleaning the jets in a propane stove and picking crap out of tiny places. An old chipping hammer, ideal for cleaning conch (at least getting them out of the shell) makes a neat little slot in the shell to put the knife in.

[Canibul]

I came up with something useful for siphoning gasoline, etc. from a jerry can into something else. I took a small solid rubber ball ( the soft football shaped net floats work) and cored a hole through it the size of the siphoning hose. I like to use the clear tubing from hardware stores. Cut a slit in the side of the ball so you can slide it up and down the hose.

Then to siphon, make sure your supply can is higher than whatever you are filling (duh) and put the hose in the full can's filler neck and slide the ball down to where it blocks off the mouth of the full can. Hold the ball tight to form a seal with the can opening and the hose. Now, instead of sucking on the hose to draw a vaccum, you BLOW into the hose to pressurize the flexible gas can. Holding the ball tight, hold the free end of the hose down into whatever you are filling, and the pressure inside the gas container will start the siphon. No inhaled fumes, no mouthful of gasoline.
Remember to release the ball once the flow starts so air can get into the jerry can to allow the liquid to siphon out.

Works pretty good.

[Jim Thomsen]

I read about a vise with a winch handle fitting that allowed it to be mounted on a winch. Has anyone seen that?

[yotphix]

Charlie, not sure where Nevada city is but I use these guys for heat shrink, switches, tools etc.
http://www.marvac.com
They have a number of California locations and I'm pretty sure that $3 or $4 for a 4' length of 1/4" 3M heatshrink is alot cheaper than "Waste Marine" as you call it. Incidentally, if you have a child or spouse who can spare a few hours a week, the employee discount on electronic stuff at West is far more than you might think. (Better than 50% off on many items.) Lots of the folks who work there do it for the savings in outfitting their own boats.

On my own boat I have too many tools to list since I work from it when I live on it. (Actually, they cause a list!)

[hellosailor]

Jim, I haven't seen one but have heard of it. If you have a pet vise <G> you can take it, and a winch handle, to any machine shop and they can weld a bit of bar stock onto the bottom of the vise to match the winch fitting. I'm not sure I'd want to have a vise that was free to rotate that way. We've used a smaller one that clamps to a bench/counter, and just clamped it to a larger board or convenient location.

[Islandmike]

sonosailor,

I also had the same idea. I wonder why a 12 volt tool could not run off the house batteries as long as they were 12 volt?

[tdw]

Originally Posted by Island Mike

sonosailor,

I also had the same idea. I wonder why a 12 volt tool could not run off the house batteries as long as they were 12 volt?

I've searched in vain for an article I know I used to have on converting a rechargeable drill to run off a 12v marine battery. If and when I do find it I'll pass it on to you. From memory , however, there was nothing tricky about it as long as you remember to use heavy duty leads from your batteries to your drill. Before trying to run the drill I'd suggest you put a multimeter into the drill ends of you leads and see that you are getting a good 12v supply when under load. If because the leads are too small you are losing a few volts then problems will occur. I apologise if I'm telling you something you already know but it's not the voltage but the current that is problematic in 12v installations.

[hellosailor]

tdw-
"converting a [12v] rechargeable drill to run off a 12v marine battery." It ain't rocket science. If you have a "12 volt" drill, just run wires to feed it. If you have a "14 volt" drill...again, just run wires. The 12v drill wants battery voltage, engine and alternator off, but probably will work fine if they are on. The 14v drill will probably run a little slow from just your battery, and prefers the engine on. For either one, you'd pick a wire gauge that has less than a 3% voltage drop for that length and load, using voltage loss tables you can find on the web. Probably 30' of #10AWG would be a safe way to go and 50' of #10 might still work OK. "OK" is going to depend on how much power the drill takes.

Any other voltage is more problematic. A 9.6v drill *might* be OK with intermittent use, and you can use long wires of lesser gauge to force a voltage drop from the battery to the drill to help that. But to do that "right", or for any other combination, you really need to know the amp draw of the drill under full load, and add an inline regulator to drop the ship's battery power to that voltage. That's gonna be an "If you know what you're doing with chips only $25" solution. Do it wrong...and you'll wind up turning something into a $25 puff of smoke.<G>

[Evan]

Let's start with power tools, in rough order of use, and some important accessories:

Dewalt 3/8" corded drill motor (with cobalt drills for stainless steel)
Dewalt Jigsaw (with tungsten carbide grit blades for cutting fiberglass)
Skil 4-1/2" angle grinder (24 and 36 grit discs for glass, cut off wheels for fiberglass, steel cutting, grinding wheels)
Dremel tool (with the fiberglass cutting discs)
Porter Cable 333 5" random orbital sander
Porter Cable 7336 6" random orbital sander (a great tool for boat building)
Milwaukee detail sander (now out of production; nearly as good as Fein at 1/3 the cost)
Dewalt 2-1/4 HP plunge/fixed base routers
Heat gun
Soldering iron

Nothing cordless - you get a lot more tool for your dollar going with corded, and using an inverter and extension cord. Rechargable batteries are expensive to replace.

Mechanics tools, in the "easy to get" toolbox:

set of screwdrivers (Robertson, Phillips, Slotted)
few stubby screwdrivers
pin punches, taper punches
tape measure
utility knife
folding 45/90 square
hacksaw
crescent wrenches
vice grip 8"
needle nose vice grip
needle nose pliers
linesman pliers
diagonal cutters
metric combination wrenches
SAE combination wrenches
set of 4 chisels
low angle block plane

In the "big hard to get toolbox":
channel lock pliers
magnetic pick up tool
offset screwdrivers
files (bastard, mill bastard, rat tail, triangular, etc.)
more stubby screwdrivers of less common sizes
impact driver (a must have)
SAE deep sockets
metric deep sockets
metric 1/2" big sockets up to 32mm or so
1/2" breaker bar
gear puller
specialized bike tools (spoke wrench, crank puller, pin spanner, chain tool etc..)
micrometer
12" s.s. rule

Elsewhere:
18" pry bar
1/2" torque wrench
craftsman socket set (good quality but certainly not the best)
tap and die set
router bits
drill bits (twist, spade, forstner, hole saws)
sanding drums
jewelers screwdrivers
vise
automatic wire stripper
wire crimpers
solder sucker
extension cords long enough to reach top of the mast from deck

[hellosailor]

Nice tool box, Evan.
"Rechargable batteries are expensive to replace." Isn't it incredible? One of the best rackets going has to be Home Depot and their pet Chinese Ryobi brand. If the replaceable batteries are still made (and they often aren't) the batteries alone sell for more than the cost of a whole new tool--in a case, with bits, charger, batteries and all.
Makes me think I should be able to buy a whole pizza for $2, instead of paying $20 for a single slice. That would be equally logical, right? (sigh)