Sunfish Tools...

[L&VW]

Canadian(?) professional video of "cool-tool-things".

Sunfish and home tips:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxviTLVjvDQ

 

[L&VW]

'Just bought four ear protectors at a Dollar Tree store. Because they're only $1 each and adequate for most home power tools, there's always one at hand. Be gentle with them, as the ear pieces are loosely bedded in rubber parts, plus, the headband can be broken. I repaired one with steel banding—wrapped with string, and epoxied—but could have replaced it with much less effort.

Dollar Tree ("Where everything's a dollar") also has $1 needle-nose pliers (with cutters). Same story: there's one at hand, everywhere there's a project. Select for the best final-finish, as QC isn't what it could be. One loosened up, but got tightened with a steel punch strike to the center pin.

 

[L&VW]

Hardly any surface on an automobile body is dead-straight, but I've used an automotive "straight-line" air-sander to great effect.

'Haven't used it on a Sunfish yet. While Harbor Freight says they are "on sale" I think this price can be beaten elsewhere. Notice HF is comparing prices with a brand not sold anywhere else—but HF!

 

[L&VW]

In addition to the above, eBay is selling "refurbished" tools—and this one, at $49, caught my eye.

Except for the smallest of inspection ports, anyone OK with using it?

One negative reviewer said "he'd burned it up, as it's underpowered". Dunno about that, maybe wrong choice of cutting wheel?

 

[L&VW]

I'd saved only the chargers and batteries, when the 4-foot tidal surge from Hurricane Irma wiped out my Ryobi portable drill collection. But moving on...

I've had many occasions to drag my Sunfish hither and yon: occasionally over sand, but mostly over grasses of varying lengths and fiber. While a heavy line attached to the bow handle helps, I've added a nifty gadget known as a snatch block to the drag coefficient.

Why they're so expensive to buy, I don't know. For free, I've rescued two from come-a-longs I'd over-revved—and had to throw out. (Also known as cable winches). Wrapping the hook part with electrical tape or shrink tubing will preserve the finish on the bow handle.

Attach one end of your towing line to a tree, run the line through this block, and you've reduced the physical effort of pulling a Sunfish a great deal!

Run out of line before moving the boat? Find another object, like another tree or a boulder to attach the line to. Rinse, repeat.

 

[L&VW]

Try to find American-made vises.

This fifty-dollar one (@ 45 pounds) is from China, and I managed to break it!

 

[L&VW]

'Just bought four ear protectors at a Dollar Tree store. Because they're only $1 each and adequate for most home power tools, there's always one at hand. Be gentle with them, as the ear pieces are loosely bedded in rubber parts, plus, the headband can be broken. I repaired one with steel banding—wrapped with string, and epoxied—but could have replaced it with much less effort.

Dollar Tree ("Where everything's a dollar") also has $1 needle-nose pliers (with cutters). Same story: there's one at hand, everywhere there's a project. Select for the best final-finish, as QC isn't what it could be. One loosened up, but got tightened with a steel punch strike to the center pin.

I've loaned out my pliers, and ear protectors have a way of hiding—so I went back to buy more pliers and ear protectors—and found none.

Perhaps other Dollar Tree stores still have them on the shelf. The mini paint roller, tray and gloves "kit" is still offered at $1—as are the pack of 100 clear plastic gloves. ($1). Don't bother with Dollar Tree's $1 fuzzy eye protector goggles, but Harbor Freight is selling some very nice eye protection for $4—with a higher degree of protection than the goggles. So clear, I found myself forgetting I was wearing them!

While not especially speedy, Harbor Freight has a standard ground shipping charge of $6.99, so it's more economical to buy a bunch of stuff at one time. I'm happy with my second $99 oil-lubed HF air compressor, but that model could use some noise suppression. (Hurricane Irma destroyed the first, identical, compressor).

The cutoff wheel described on the first page has been replaced. It lasted two seasons of heavy use on steel pipe, aluminum, wood, plastic, and fiberglass. A chunk broke off of it, but it continued to soldier-on into its third winter of "work".

 

[Coastal Redneck]

I find this tool to be quite useful when removing stubborn fittings & corroded fasteners:

M32A1-MSGL - Milkor USA Inc.

Also GREAT for expeditious rig modifications!!!

 

[L&VW]

'Back to Dollar Tree for more ear protectors and found there are no more needle-nose pliers nor ear protectors. BUT they started stocking those little Chinese Vise-Grips. Copied from the original design, they're a decent quality (for $1) and handy, even without the occasional need to grind the jaws to clamp something special or awkward. (Two in the left of the photo).

Eventually, they'll all be painted blue to resist the ever-present rust around here—to make them easier to find—and to join several others I've collected:

 

[L&VW]

I've loaned out my pliers, and ear protectors have a way of hiding—so I went back to buy more pliers and ear protectors—and found none.

Perhaps other Dollar Tree stores still have them on the shelf. The mini paint roller, tray and gloves "kit" is still offered at $1—as are the pack of 100 clear plastic gloves. ($1). Don't bother with Dollar Tree's $1 fuzzy eye protector goggles, but Harbor Freight is selling some very nice eye protection for $4—with a higher degree of protection than the goggles. So clear, I found myself forgetting I was wearing them!

While not especially speedy, Harbor Freight has a standard ground shipping charge of $6.99, so it's more economical to buy a bunch of stuff at one time. I'm happy with my second $99 oil-lubed HF air compressor, but that model could use some noise suppression. (Hurricane Irma destroyed the first, identical, compressor).

The cutoff wheel described on the first page has been replaced. It lasted two seasons of heavy use on steel pipe, aluminum, wood, plastic, and fiberglass. A chunk broke off of it, but it continued to soldier-on into its third winter of "work".

Harbor Freight is having a three day sale. For working on Sunfish, their tough nitrile gloves are priced the same as about eight years. (100 @ $5). My four excellent, earlier clear and smoke eye protection purchase(s) has dropped 85% to a little over a buck.

Their bailing "wand" is as cheap as I've seen it: $7 (I have two—the one from Amazon was $14 ). (It reaches to the bottom of the bilge through a forward inspection port). I'd still go to Dollar Tree first! before ordering.

Lotsa stuff on sale at Harbor Freight! ...Hope this URL works for you...:
Gmail

ETA: Even more stuff came later to my email. I don't see how they can sell their fine (4½-stars) reciprocating saw for only $19. It's got a very nifty blade attachment system: intuitive-install and a strong one.
Gmail

 

[L&VW]

Always "on the hunt" for new tool designs for the homeowner, I came across an interesting electric tool I hadn't seen elsewhere.

It's a "Skil" saw—of a sort—with two counter-rotating blades.

As is my usual practice, I checked the negative reviews—WOW!
5 in. 7.5 Amp Heavy Duty Double Cut Saw

 

[L&VW]

The page was slow to load, but read the following—and multiply by 10!

 

[L&VW]

A shipment from Harbor Freight arrived yesterday. Since their "minimum" pancake compressor was less than $40, I got one. All the attachments are stored hours away, but It's nice to have—especially since there's only a $8 "tire-filler" here presently.

As indicated above, I'm very impressed with their $19 reciprocating saw, so I now have another one to add to my collection.

But the big surprise was a set of five adjustable wrenches. While I needed only one, this entire set might come in handy for $9. Made in India, the quality (and the "heft") is much more impressive than their usual Pittsburg-branded tool offerings.

They range in size from a fairly useless 4-inches to an impressive 12-inches. No, they're not Craftsman, but they're close. I think I'll be bringing these out of the rain!

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