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Tool Reviews [Master Thread]

bgary

Advanced Beginner
Blogs Author
Anyone else have a second opinion on the DeWalt or is there another shop vac that folks love?

I have the DeWalt, too (and similar to the above, it's an older model). GREAT vacuum, but big enough that I only bring it down to the boat for projects.

For every-day use, I have a Black and Decker 12V rechargable on a mount in the V-berth.
 

csoule13

Member III
Buying a fish tape and hole saws this weekend. I'm gonna get this battery monitor installed, got dang it.

I would like to get a wet/dry vac but they seem like more than $100 w/batteries included. Anyone else have a second opinion on the DeWalt or is there another shop vac that folks love?

Not cordless, but I have one of those Home Depot bucket top shop vacs and it's excellent and cheap.
 

sharonov

Member II
.... But the bits in these sets are not always carbide-tipped or even very high quality, and drilling through a lot of fiberglass and metal will quickly dull them.....
Most drill bits you buy in "home improvement" stores are of poor quality and are only good for drilling wood and occasional hole in aluminum or fiberglass. Eventually you will have to drill steel and these bits just will not do it. I highly recommend getting a set of cobalt bits. These are more expensive but will chew trough anything and will last much much longer. I got a set of 18pc. Bosch cobalt bits from Amazon (unfortunately no longer available) and they were excellent. For drilling through gelcoat/fiberglass a brad point bit will provide cleaner no-chip cut but you may get by with starting hole with a regular bit in reverse.
Sergei
 

907Juice

Continuously learning
Most drill bits you buy in "home improvement" stores are of poor quality and are only good for drilling wood and occasional hole in aluminum or fiberglass. Eventually you will have to drill steel and these bits just will not do it. I highly recommend getting a set of cobalt bits. These are more expensive but will chew trough anything and will last much much longer. I got a set of 18pc. Bosch cobalt bits from Amazon (unfortunately no longer available) and they were excellent. For drilling through gelcoat/fiberglass a brad point bit will provide cleaner no-chip cut but you may get by with starting hole with a regular bit in reverse.
Sergei

Cutting oil is a must. Your drill and bits will thank you for it. Anything is better than water, use whatever you have whenever you’re in a bind.
 

supersailor

Contributing Partner
When I started out with Terra Nova, I had no tools on board. As I needed a tool, it stayed on board. This way, I only had what I needed on board. This worked out well until the great sinking incident when they all got a through salt water bath. Insurance paid for them all so I got to start over again.

Don't forget to periodically oil them.
 

Ensenada Crab

Member I
Dead Ryobi Battery Blues

i too had a drill with a rusted chuck (from sitting about a sailboat), and after a few days in rust remover got the chuck working again. for a about a week, the drill was great. then i went to recharge the battery and all i got was flashing red lights on the charger. i have tried to recharge it multiple times to (licked it, cooled it) no avail. Odd that the drill would work fine but then the battery would refuse to accept a charge.

and of course a new battery is as much as a whole new drill. so not really impressed with ryobi at this point.

and don't know if its the charger or the battery that's off the deep end.
 

Tom Metzger

Sustaining Partner
Got a pop-up ad for a tool that claims to de-burr the ends of munged-up bolts.

https://kangarooly.com/products/deb..._sr-PErtjb9KLBBI_usZGtvIR3tuci7uWenTm2lQU3kW0

Probably could have used something like this when doing my winches and clutches - I cut all the fasteners to length and then de-burred each one by hand with a dremel. Ugh. Anyone used something like this? Worth the ~25 bucks?

This is the first metal cutting tool I've ever seen made out of stainless. One size fits all?
 

Kenneth K

1985 32-3, Puget Sound
Blogs Author
New favorite tool. Though I love my Dewalt cordless, the drill and bit seem not to fit in many of the tight spaces I've been working lately. Never fear.....

20190317_201327.jpg

The drill head rotates up to 120 degrees from the handle, and the handle has a second swivel joint for added contortions. It's a family hand-me down. The battery never dies. Sometimes older is better.
 

907Juice

Continuously learning
I’ve seen those on a few boats. Do they still sell them? I’d love to get my paws on one. Not only does the battery not die, you can use it under water!
 

toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
This cordless grinder is a shark, and it looks like one too. If you do fiberglass, you need this. I posted above about the ridiculously big expensive "Rigid" battery that the vacuum came with. Here is where that battery really shines. The tool is fairly light and balanced really well. I've been making good use of it throughout the current refit.

IMG_2199.jpg
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
No Power, no problem

I’ve seen those on a few boats. Do they still sell them? I’d love to get my paws on one. Not only does the battery not die, you can use it under water!

We have one of the Fiskars hand drills aboard for decades. I use it every time I just need one or more holes in wood or FRP. The bits that it comes with are appropriate for 94% of the little fastenings I am dealing with on a boat.
No battery, and it's a light weight tool; and well built.
Very "old school" but some stuff just never goes out of fashion!
https://www2.fiskars.com/products/crafting-and-sewing/diy-precision-tools/precision-hand-drill

There are deals on these if you shop around the web.
A couple that we know gifted us with this one, after they spent ten years blue water cruising. Of course nowadays the newest LI battery tools are light years better than the ones of 30 years ago. Still, DC tool batteries do have a finite life.......... unlike the little hand crank! :)

Perhaps we need a new thread called "Tools for Luddites" !
:rolleyes:
 
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toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
Back in my single-tool-box-days, (college, basically) I had a yankee drill that was pretty handy for most uses. It eventually succumbed to corrosion though - possibly not a good sign for boat use.
https://www.amazon.com/Classic-Push...=yankee+drill&qid=1563745837&s=gateway&sr=8-3

I've also had a couple of brace and bit sets (should still be around here somewhere...) but those seem to be of more use for drilling larger holes in wood. I seem to recall having trouble drilling straight holes with them. But I was pretty small when I got my first one.
https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Larso...brace+and+bit&qid=1563746088&s=gateway&sr=8-2
 

nquigley

Sustaining Member
New favorite tool. Though I love my Dewalt cordless, the drill and bit seem not to fit in many of the tight spaces I've been working lately. Never fear.....

View attachment 26481

The drill head rotates up to 120 degrees from the handle, and the handle has a second swivel joint for added contortions. It's a family hand-me down. The battery never dies. Sometimes older is better.

I love my Stanley egg-beater drill. I'd never seen a drill like the one in your post - it prompted me to check eBay just now. Sure enough, the exact same type of drill was for sale ... not any more ($20 incl shipping) :nerd:
 

gabriel

Live free or die hard
the hex shank bits are meant to be used with a cordless impact driver (funny looking drill without the chuck). i bought a set that came with one of these and find it more useful than even thecdrill because of the impact action.
 

Kenneth K

1985 32-3, Puget Sound
Blogs Author
I'd never seen a drill like the one in your post - it prompted me to check eBay just now. Sure enough, the exact same type of drill was for sale ... not any more ($20 incl shipping) :nerd:

Yeah, I've seen 'em on ebay, too. It's called a "Clawson" hand drill built by Jo Mfg, I think back in the 40s. Apparently, Clawson was the inventor/patent-holder's name.
 
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