For an in depth discussion on tools to use during a fiberglass boat restoration, go to Tim Lackey's website http://triton381.com/resources/tools.htm Tim's site is the best I have seen dealing with sailboat restoration. This link goes to his excellent page about the tools he uses and provides a relative rating system. If you are interested in boat restoration or major projects I recommend spending some time reviewing his site.
Tools of Note
So far the tools I have been using are related to destruction and disassembly. Nonetheless, the axiom "The right tool for the right job" applies equally to destruction as to construction.
These are the tools I used to remove the through hulls. You can buy a very expensive "easy out" or just make your own. I bought 1/4 inch steel bar at Lowes and hack-sawed it to the length I needed. I bought two widths. One for the smaller 3/4 inch through-hulls and 1 1/2 inch for the larger. I gently tapped the steel bars up into the through-hulls then used the pipe wrench to twist them off.
Update: on 10 November 09 I saw that Jamestown Distributors sells a through hull removal tool called a "Step Up" tool used to remove through hulls. It looks like one tool will fit many different size through-hulls. But it cost $40.00.
Grab-It
Edited 29 April 09. I broke the head on one of the extractors this week. I think what happened is after I reamed out the head of the screw (on high speed), I flipped the bit around to extract the screw. But, I forgot to change the speed of the drill from high to low. The sudden grabbing of the screw head by the extractor at high speed snapped the tip of the extractor bit off. fortunately Lowe's sells individual bits so I'll just buy a replacement.
The "Grab-It" is a special bit for extracting stripped (cammed-out) screws and screws/bolts with broken heads. Though I have not used it to remove a screw with a broken head yet, I have used it to remove dozens of stripped screws. It is an amazing tool. I found it at Lowe's. This one is a set of three for different size screws. These are double headed bits. One side is used to ream a hole and the other has reverse cut threads to back the screw out. Both ends are used in "reverse." This tool has not failed so far to remove a screw.
Hardwood Wedges
Hardwood Wedges. Hardwood wedges are essential to removing wood that has been fastened to the boat with adhesive. A good example is the toe rail. After removing all the screws and bolts that fastened the toe rail to the deck I used hardwood wedges to drive under the lip to lift it up. I used a plastic mallet to drive the wedges in alternating style, one after the other leap-frogging down the rail. I used a Dremel Multi-Max tool slipped into the gap created by the wedges to cut the adhesive. I built a tapering jig and I cut the hardwood wedges on my table saw.
Dremel Multi-Max
Dremel Multi-Max. I have not used this tool very much so I don't know how well it will hold up. I believe it is fairly new on the market and is designed to compete with the Fein Multi Multi-Master. Though I have not used the Multi-Master and expect it is a great tool, it is very expensive--about $400. The Dremel Multi-Max looks the same and seems to have most of the same attachments. But the Dremel cost $100 from Lowe's. So far the "flexible scraper blade" has proven invaluable.
Stubborn Screw Removal System
Some of the screws and bolts have been very tough to remove. The toe-rail screw fasteners are big--about #14. They have adhesive on the threads and so they don't easily back out of the nuts. Some I could not budge with my power drill and a special slotted bit. Working alone mostly I used vise grips to clamp on the nut below deck and a large Craftsman 3/8 screw driver with a pipe wrench to get the leverage to back the screw out. It was the only combination I could come up with and did the job fine.
Custom made slotted bit
Modified slotted bit driver and a 3/8 variable speed power drill. I needed a bigger slotted bit to back out the long machine screws that hold the toe rail down--as well as the winch bases. I checked Lowe's and the local hardware stores but I couldn't find anything. So, I took an old Snap-On slotted flat head screw driver (about 5/16) and cut the shaft off with a hack saw. Then I filed it a little fatter on my combination belt/disk sander and inserted into my power drill. Unless the screw/bolt was so stubborn I had to go to the Craftsman/pipe wrench technique, this work well.
In the past I have used a Dremel with a small wedge shaped grinding stone to grind back the gelcoat and prepare the surface to be filled with epoxy. But this time I used a technique I learned from Tim Lackey. Tim says that the Dremel technique does not make a wide enough cut for the epoxy filler to have the strength to prevent the gelcoat crack from reemerging. Instead he recommends using a Roloc grinder which is essentially a 2 inch round sanding disk that fits into the end of a drill. I bought mine at Lowe's. It cost about $12.00. It worked like a champ. The grove is a shallow "U" shape and about one inch wide from side to side at the top end. The drill was easy to control and in less than an hour I ground out several dozen stress cracks on the side decks and around the holes that were drilled to fasten the "eye-brow" strip to the side of the cabin top.
The Roloc style grinder attachement--perfect for grinding out stress cracks.
I bought this right angle drill adapter made by Milescraft at Lowes. It cost about $20.00. It was very useful drilling the holes in the seacock flanges that I could not reach with a regular drill. I also used it to install the dynaplate and expect I will use it in other places that are too confined for a standard drill. It seems to be well made. It has steel drive gears. There have been plenty of time in the past when I wished I had something like this.
Milescraft right angle drill adapter
Routers are indespensible for wood work. It's an amazing tool that, with a few jigs and special bits, can be used for all kinds of things. The bit in this picture is a pattern cutting bit. It is straight fluked, carbide tipped, with the bearing between the router and the cutting edge. Just as useful is a straight bit with the bearing on the end of the cutting edge. This is also an excellent technique to make an exact copy of a pre-cut pattern usually make out of thin plywood, e.g. 1/4" thick MDF, tacked or screwed to the wood being cut.
