Tools

Ugh, the adjustable. My Oracle of Mechanics, the Sage who taught me all I know, had a word for it: The Devil's Plaything. Vise Grips were known as The Tool of the Incompetent, because you only used them to bail you out of an abject failure, like a nut you'd rounded off.

Above is a picture of my basic tool kit, minus my 7/16th, which another rower seems to have run off with, and including Gordie's nose for scale. There is a Toy of Lucifer included, because it is useful. The box wrench, as in items two and three from the top, are preferable, because of their increased precision, greater number of contact points, and ability to fit in tight spaces. The big wrench is a 3/4", which will also work for 17mm. The nut drivers are homebrewed, with deep sockets welded to the ends of long screwdrivers. One is 10mm, the other 7/16". The depth of the socket allows it to fit over most nuts you'd need to deal with, and the length of the shaft keeps your knuckles away from the boat for fast and damage-free tightening. They are also difficult to over-tighten. I once had a friend who worked at a technical high school get some students to make me some for friends as gifts. They were much prettier than mine, like they'd been done for a grade.

Notice my kit does not include a ratchet. The nut drivers are all the speed I need, and they don't tighten to the point of crushing the carbon or swing into the waterline and make holes. (The blue one IS perfectly weighted for spinning and holstering like Robocop, but that's another story). They can't have their sockets changed out like a purpose build nut driver that comes with a socket set, but the welding also removed any play and vagueness.

Just a plug for my favourite tools.I've had them since high school, and guard them as my children.