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Thanks Bilgemaster that is exactly what I will do!

I would use a dremel tool to cut them, but that's because I have one and I don't have an oscillating multi tool. Familiarity and all that jazz.

Tomfoolery wrote:I would use a dremel tool to cut them, but that's because I have one and I don't have an oscillating multi tool. Familiarity and all that jazz.

Sure, a Dremel tool or similar will also do that job with just a little more patience. Harbor Freight calls their knockoffs a "Rotary Tool," and they practically give away those kits with the many doodads when they go on sale, as they frequently do, for maybe 5 bucks and change. They're under $10 otherwise. Thanks to a tool-averse buddy of mine clearing out the well-stocked tool shed of a house he recently bought, I now have both brands. Sure, the quality's not as fine in the HF offering as a proper Dremel. Think a disposable Bic vs. a Zippo lighter. Still, both'll light your pipe, and the HF offering is certainly "perfectly good enough" at a small fraction of the cost for the likes of an occasional casual user like me. Fact is, I am just as likely to reach for the HF one as the "real" Dremel, if it's closer. The little HF tool assortments and other consumables are also a bargain, and are usable in Dremels as well.

So yeah, if money's tight (and when isn't it?), and you're in no particular hurry to decapitate that bolt head, then get that Rotary Tool Kit for just 7 bucks and change with that 25% off coupon on Tuesday. For most effectively indulging in your longheld bolt head grudge, you might also do well to grab a five pack of the Diamond Rotary Cutting Disks to suit for $6.99.

Getting either or both the Oscillator and/or Rotary Tool will be money well spent in the long run. I personally tend to use the Oscillator tools (cordless and corded) far more, especially with the sanding attachments, since I refinish the odd pieces of craigslist or curb-sourced furniture now and then for our modest hovel, as the Admiral directs. In fact, now that I think of it, that Oscillating tool helped save us maybe $4,000 when we redid our kitchen, just after we first moved in. Instead of some craptastic and overpriced PVC-veneered particle board Ikea cabinetry, once we discovered that the original '60s cabinets were actually lovely quarter-sawn oak under the many many layers of paint applied to them since the Johnson Administration, presumably by volunteers from the Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind, I got busy with my sanders, and with the new mottled brownish granite countertops and stainless appliances, it all looks remarkably "upscale" now. I'll admit that sometimes, usually in the evenings just before turning in, I'll find myself just staring appreciatively at it, recalling how it all once looked like the grimy back kitchen of some 3rd world tortilla-and-beans joint. I wonder if you could even find solid quarter-sawn oak kitchen cabinets nowadays...The few solid wood cabinets we looked over kinda resembled recycled shipping pallets.

Love my rotary tool, best multi purpose tool I have ever bought, does best apart of everything for only a few $$.

When my last one broke it was straight out to the too store to buy another

I like your recycling ethic Bilgemaster, as I like to say "We are independently poor and have a boat to keep us that way" but really we wouldnt have it any other way, we dont owe money to anyone, we dont have credit cards so are never tempted unless we have the money to pay for what we want.

sailboatmike wrote:
I like your recycling ethic Bilgemaster, as I like to say "We are independently poor and have a boat to keep us that way" but really we wouldnt have it any other way, we dont owe money to anyone, we dont have credit cards so are never tempted unless we have the money to pay for what we want.

That sounds about right. Frankly, I believe one of my greatest joys is fashioning a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Story of my life, really.

I added my mod for removable stairs.

Are the steps part of the support for the cockpit entryway? If you just put the steps on a hinge without the tubular re-enforcement would that work? I would like to create steps that would just flip up but I'm afraid it might weaken the floor of the cockpit. Thanks for your reply.

The companionway step on my Mac 19 is interesting (IMO). It is a single fiberglass step on the starboard side, molded into the head compartment. The inside of the step is the TP holder.
Bill at BOATS 4 SAIL