Category Archives: Backup Equipment and Tools

It’s Winter – Let’s Talk… Toolboxes!!

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You have to watch the prices in Screwfix like a hawk !! – sometimes they have the most amazing offers. I was in there this morning and saw this ….

Did you notice in small print, it’s 2 for the price of 1…..!!! £13.50 per tool box.

If you’re new to radio sailing, and most probably have come from another branch of the sport such as dinghy or keelboat racing, you’ll try bringing your old toolbox and tools with you. I did. It was quickly a hopeless venture 🙂

In the radio sailing part of the sport, we have special tool and toolbox requirements.

  • large variety of bits and pieces, usually smaller sizes
  • unexpected calls on the toolbox for a huge spectrum of reasons, usually in a hurry, often in the rain
  • tools/parts smaller and often more delicate.
  • no rummaging, a need for speed, a protected environment for delicate things

Out goes the big keelboat toolbox! No rummaging under the spanners plus we need to see where all the bits are at a glance.

RW and Rj got stuck into this subject last winter, but neglected to publish the results. We tried for a short period those toolboxes with cantilevered fold out trays. Such boxes around here are of appalling quality to be honest, plus we didn’t want to swing out the cantilever trays in the rain and everything gets wet all at once.

Conclusion:-

  • lots of nice small sealed trays is a good thing
  • Reconfigurable trays is an excellent idea
  • clear windows so you can see what is stored where in about 1 second flat, all in the car boot !
  • weatherproof and probably not metal construction
  • solid, sturdy, high quality but not costing the earth

We ended up testing two almost identical products, same dimensions almost. In the trade they seem to be called “Organisers” not “Toolboxes”. Both brands feature little locks on the sides to enable you to stack one on top of another securely – might be a consideration in your car boot….

In the end, RW and RJ concluded that the Dewalt model (left of photo) is slightly better. Note the long side compartments for screwdrivers, pens etc. Note also that the Stanley model (right of photo) places the handle grip in an area, where in the Dewalt you can remove the storage compartments to get your 12 inch rule, surgical tweezers and long things in.

This is the Screwfix Link to the Dewalt offer of the month.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-tstak-organiser-dwst83497-1-4-6-x-13-/472kj

When we did our trials, the Dewalt was £40 and the Stanley was £20. RJ and RW quickly agreed that the Dewalt was best for radio sailing and, I think, despite the extra price RW has four of them!! Really sturdy, high quality, each very visible compartment is sealed when. the lid is down.

For myself, I’m using both and find I can carry tools and spares for 3 classes in two of these boxes. So I’d say £29 for the Dewalt is great – but that’s until I saw £13.50 for the Stanley.

What do you think?? A good opportunity to sort out your tools and spares?

Screwfix tends to have short lived offers. Move fast if you want a couple.

Did you see our “hack” toolbox for carrying your Futabas safely??

Futaba Users : Do You Have a Transmitter Carry-box ??…

Beginner’s Guide : The Fin-Bolt Nut (Tools!)

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Do you take your fin off every weekend??

SailboatRC recommend leaving the IOM fin on, so I religiously do so – and have one of those lovely Potter Onesie padded bags for the whole thing. The fin is attached with an M3 bolt, needing a 2.5mm hex key.

In the Marbleheads, the fins are that bit longer – we all take the fin on and off every weekend as “the norm”. I had an M3 bolt on there, which turned out to be not really up to the job – too much leaping across the Datchet waves! Doctor Hetem has popped in an M4 bolt for me now (needs 3mm hex key) and I’m much more confident in it. I wouldn’t want my fin to be the third in living memory to have dropped to the bottom of the lake!

GH was careful to tell me to be very wary of over-tightening the bolt. I’ve been using simple hex keys left over from my cycling club days – nice ones with those round “any angle” ends on them. On the wide side, there’s about a 75mm throw so maybe the available leverage is a bit high. (See photo above). Too easy to over-tighten.

GH recommended one of those T-bar hex keys. However, as I dipped into the old race bike tool box I suddenly remembered I had a mini ratchet/torque wrench from a brand called Topeak (very big brand in global cycling). It has 2.5 and 3.0mm keys in the selection. The torque heads can do 4,5,6nm of measured torque, but I feel that even 4nm is a tad much for the Marblehead fin. However, as you throw the lever you can easily feel the “bite point”. Simply to provide shaft length to clear the deck well around the mast, I have the 4nm head on there in the photo (above), but have never let it “click”. If you look carefully at the top photo you can see “4nm” engraved on the shaft extension.

The ratchet on the handle is a dream for putting our long fin bolts in and out. Love it. Plenty of space in the tool box too. It comes with a little pouch, but my preference has come to be keeping the subset I need in a neat translucent plastic box – which turns out to be an old business. card box. I knew I’d find a use for those one day 🙂

The whole thing will be great for the Ten Rater (of my dreams) too !

You can see the current product on the Topeak website at this link below. Even better, the current product has 1-6nm of torque adjustment, an improvement over the 4/5/6nm set that I have. Click here:-

https://www.topeak.com/global/en/product/1602-TORQ-ROCKET-mini-DX

More on Waterproofing Your Electronics with Corrosion X – Video on Sealing Up DF95 Electrics ….!!

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New member, Andrew G, has pointed me to this great and useful DF95 video about waterproofing your onboard receiver and other onboard electronics using “Corrosion X”

One of the notable things to me is that they are using a pointed 1oz dropper bottle to dispense the fluid. It looks like in North America 1oz dropper bottles of Corrosion X are easily available. At the time of writing, in UK I haven’t found this product packaging. The same company are doing a fishing reel lube called SpeedX in a 1oz dropper bottle, but that seems to be it.

I’d rather have some small amount of Corrosion X in the boat tool box and with me all the time. I find through past experience that if the cap comes off those dropper bottles it will leak everywhere. Instead, I am going to try one of these (very cheap on Amazon)

It has quite a pointy end on the pipette which I thought might be better for this particular job, than the ones with olive oil to stick in your ear! And once that lid is screwed in, I reckon you are going to be safe against leaks in transit. The bottle size I chose is 50ml… so about 3 tablespoons – that should easily be enough for radio sailing.