Quality Tool Kit?

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Delboy1874

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Looking for views on Quality Tool Kit. Appreciate that I'll no doubt need to add various specialist/bespoke bit n pieces but still looking for a quality starter kit to take onboard. Force 4 Chandlery have an allegedly 'professional' kit that looks like a good starting point but not sure of quality ( Force 4 Boat Owners Professional Tool Kit). Anyone out there used it?
Recommendation of options or even good brands welcomed ...
 
They don’t really count as professional, but looking in my toolbox, most of mine that I got in a “kit” as a gift, seem to have been replaced by ones from Lidl when each of the kit ones has let me down, disappeared or been lost overboard. Very reasonable quality, at a price that’s not going to upset you too much when they do try to go for a swim, or get “borrowed” by another skipper.
 
Aldidl or Draper. Not Draper Professional. You'll swear a lot less when one goes bonk, bonk, splash.

When I bought Jissel, I decided I needed a 3rd toolkit (home, car and, now, boat) I was going to go through the other kits then see what I needed, but I saw a cheap and cheerful kit in Argos in a case with space for the essential stuff it didn't have. A few things have sacrificed themselves to Neptune over the years, and a few were such rubbish they were replaced with better - but still not expensive - ones.

if you are starting from scratch, I'd get a basic kit, then add "the tool for the job" when you need it, thereby ensuring you won't need to do that job again until you lose the tool.
 
Given up on expensive tools on board, they all end up rusty or sinking in 30 fathoms.
I have a really good set of Halfords tools in the garage for work on the boat, car etc. But a cheap set of Amarack tools kept on the boat, this has open ended spanner's, sockets 6mm up to 19mm , screwdrivers, long nosed pliers, normal pliers, water pump pliers and side cutters, all for £19, 3 years old still going strong although pliers have Some signs of rust despite applications of WD40, but fine their still useable.
 
My own view is that tools I might use on deck should be cheap enough that I won't worry if they go overboard. For that reason, most of the common sizes of spanner etc. are duplicated! I do have decent(ish) sockets for engine work, and a good set of pliers and wire-cutters. Halford's Professional range of tools are often mentioned on here - I'd certainly look at them if I was rebuilding my toolkit. Most of my "good" tools remain at home and I take them to the boat as required.
 
My boat tools come from a local market stall and are cheap as chips. That way you don't get upset when something makes a plop as it falls into the oggin.
 
Some tools need to be high quality, but if you buy a 'kit' with all quality tools you'll pay a lot of money unnecessarily. Buy cheap for the tools that don't need quality, that would be most of them, and expensive/quality for the ones that need to be quality. I take this down to individual parts of a set. E.g. I have a cheap socket set, but added quality extension bars and 13mm and 17mm sockets.

Always buy quality allen/torx keys, metal punched, cross head screwdrivers, hacksaw blades, taps, dies and drill bits.

Once you know what the boat needs get some 'specials'. I have a 7mm Facom reversible spanner. See picture.... a life saver when trying to undo a hose clamp when the guy in the factory fitted it on the bench and not in the bilge of my boat.

1597765548279.png
With ref to the link to Force 4's kit...

- Cheap ratchet spanners are better. They save a lot of time over fixed form spanners, but get ones that are either articulated (cheaper) or offset with a switch (expensive).
- Mini hacksaw is FAU. Get a full sized one.
- Cheap plastic handle strap wrench is better.
- Too many small screwdrivers and you'll probably need a bigger straight blade that the one in this kit.
- Bigger hammer with ball peen head.
- Bigger adjustable spanner to take over where the spanners leave off. Big enough to move the cleats on the docks in the marina.
- Make sure the spark plug spanner you get fits the machine you want it to work on.
 
Delboy1874 said:
Looking for views on Quality Tool Kit. Appreciate that I'll no doubt need to add various specialist/bespoke bit n pieces but still looking for a quality starter kit to take onboard. Force 4 Chandlery have an allegedly 'professional' kit that looks like a good starting point but not sure of quality ( Force 4 Boat Owners Professional Tool Kit). Anyone out there used it?
Recommendation of options or even good brands welcomed ...
Click to expand...

That one doesn't look too bad but I'm not a fan of these kits and I wouldn't buy one. You can be sure there are spanner sizes you'll never use and it will be missing some you need. Another problem is when you lose something you won't get a replacement that fits the slot, so the plastic case is a waste of time. If I was starting again I'd buy separate items.
 
Socket set?
Watch out for Halfords having a sale - their Professional socket sets are good quality and have a lifetime guarantee; these invariably feature in their sales at a v. good discount

oops, missed AntarticPilot's line
 
I have a cheap socket set on the boat, plus a selection of various spanners, adjustable spanners, adjustable pliers, etc. I also have a torque wrench, which has been useful a few times. And a really big pair of water pump pliers. And a 12v drill with a big selection of drill bits. One thing I keep meaning to get is a vice (no sniggering at the back, please), but I'm not sure where I could mount it.
 
Delboy1874 said:
Force 4 Boat Owners Professional Tool Kit).
Click to expand...
You've had lots of good replies already.

IMO it depends on how big your boat is, what your skill level is, and what kind of jobs you're going to want to do with it.

But IMO that Force 4 kit is overpriced - for about half as much I bought this Sealey set which has (if I recollect) every socket size between 10mm & 32mm. You could do worse than buying that and stashing the rest of the money in the chart table for when you need to buy tools to do a job.

If anything that Sealey set is too large - arguably it is far more comprehensive than I need and yet I still had to buy a set of crows-foot heads when I needed to torque up a bolt in a confined space. This is the way of doing your own mechanicing - you will spend the rest of your life finding that sometimes you need to buy a new tool to do a specific job, and other times that a tool that you bought for a specific job a few years ago comes in handy once again.

(I often find specific jobs incredibly intimidating when I've never done them before and spend whole days procrastinating and missing out on sailing because of them and then, by the third time I've done them, I can dissassmble and reassemble the whole thing in no time.)

Beware of being seduced by tool sets which are advertised as 100-piece, 150-piece, 200-piece or so on - they count every single screwdriver bit as a separate "piece" and bulk up the sets with crap. The Sealey set I linked before is only 50-piece, but every "piece" is a proper socket, or 3/8* or 1/2" ratchet, breaker bar or extension. I agree with the suggestions to keep an eye out for Lidl, Aldi and Draper tools. For the small stuff this also looks like a good starter kit.
 
the Force 4 tool kit you link to has probably £40 worth of cheap tat.

For a lot less, just get a half descent but not top quality set of screwdrivers, sockets, pliers, spanner’s and hex keys to start with. Then get as you need anything else.

Why not top quality Snap on or the likes? Simple, you are working on a boat surrounded by deep water. :rolleyes:
 
AntarcticPilot said:
My own view is that tools I might use on deck should be cheap enough that I won't worry if they go overboard. For that reason, most of the common sizes of spanner etc. are duplicated! I do have decent(ish) sockets for engine work, and a good set of pliers and wire-cutters. Halford's Professional range of tools are often mentioned on here - I'd certainly look at them if I was rebuilding my toolkit. Most of my "good" tools remain at home and I take them to the boat as required.
Click to expand...
As AP says, you won't do better that a Halfords Professional set when the next Halfords sale is on.

Aim to spend around £150 - £200 for almost everything you will ever need in terms of sockets and spanners. If you don't need Imperial sizes, then go for a pure metric set as you will get an even bigger selection. I have one pure metric set and one mixed set so all bases are covered.

Richard
 
Mannesmann Socket Set (215 Pieces): Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools

When I bought my boat I got a Mannesman set in Spain, since them bits have been lost and found and intermingled with a set from Halfords, both sets get used on the boat, left in the garden working on cars and thrown about the place but all remain rust free and operational...

I'd certainly get one of the above instead of stuff from a chandlery and also get a full sized bahco hacksaw and hammer and a set of big screwdrivers that you can hit with your new hammer....(you will eventually need to do this)
 
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