Boating USA — February 2018

PHOTOS: ZACH STOVALL

So, when Editor-in-Chief Kevin Falvey showed

me one of the gadgets in these pages and suggest-

ed we round up a few more for BoatingLAB, well,

I had my teeth polished and my best overacting

technique honed to hawk boating gadgets to

smarmy perfection.

That said, the infomercial stage is set. Just as in

the infomercials with the fancy gizmos designed

to do what a half-skilled person with a sharp

butcher knife can do without all the cleanup,

and without the three easy payments, here are

a handful of tools we found noteworthy and, in

some cases, worthy enough to keep aboard and

leave the end wrench ashore.

There’s little testing we could do except note if

the tools fi t their purpose. So, instead of compar-

ing them to each other, we compared them to the

conventional tools they’re intended to replace.

Confession is good for the soul. I have two to

make. First, I’m a gadgeteer, and so whatever is

the latest litt le “prett y,” as my grandfather

called such things, to come along always catches

my eye. My second confession? I hate this

one ... I watch those infomercials about slicers

and dicers and Shamwows and de-scratch-nows

and, well, you get the picture. Anyway, I seldom

buy the things but am always entertained by

the infomercials.

DECK TOOLS

There’s hardly anything better than an end wrench.

BL

BOATINGLAB

PIRANHA PROPELLERS

UNIVERSAL FLOATING PROP WRENCH

$19.80; PIRANHA.COM

I’ve had one of these in every boat I’ve owned

since they fi rst hit the market. It won’t rust, it

won’t mar the boat from rattling around in it,

and best of all, it fl oats! With one molded-

in socket plus eight plastic socket inserts, it fi ts

prop nuts from^17 / 32 to 1^1 / 4 inches.

MULTIPURPOSE: Though I have used it as a

hammer in a pinch, it’s all about handling

unexpected prop replacements.

ADVANTAGES: Unlike a socket-wrench set, it

fl oats and is unaffected by corrosive water.

DOWNSIDE: Unlike a socket-wrench set, it

won’t be any help on a trailer-wheel lug nut, or

anything comparably torqued.

TOOLS ON BOARD: 9 (fi ts these prop-nut

sizes: 1^1 / 4 -, 1^1 / 16 -,^15 / 16 -,^7 / 8 -,^13 / 16 -,^3 / 4 -,^11 / 16 -,^9 / 16 - and

(^17) / 32 -inch)