This handy gadget just measures and measures
Issue 53 : Mar/Apr 2007
Have you ever used a deck shoe as a hammer . . . or a knife from the galley as a screwdriver? We’ve all used whatever was handy at one time or another; isn’t necessity the mother of invention? However, the fact remains that using the correct tool for the task more often than not makes the job a lot easier to complete and the outcome more predictable.
Nothing is more important to the successful completion of a job than obtaining accurate measurements. When itcomes to obtaining the correct measurements, I religiously try to adhere to the corollary . . . measure twice, cut once. If you were to look inside my tool bag you’d find a clutter of measuring devices. With the exception of the tape measure, most of them are for single or limited-use situations.
With space aboard at a premium, coupled with my desire to keep it simple and find multiple uses for items, I stumbled across a nifty six-in-one measuring tool. It’s called the Professional Rigger’s Gauge, and it’s available from Zarcor, Inc., of Addison, Texas.
This gem of a tool will provide you with the accurate size of your standing rigging, including lifelines from 3⁄32 inch to 3⁄8 inch, and running rigging from 3⁄16 inch to 7⁄8 inch. The handy rail, stanchion, tube, and hose gauges measure outside diameters from 3⁄4 inch to 1 1⁄4 inch and inside diameters from 1⁄2 inch to 1 inch. There’s even a gauge to size electrical wire from #4 to something smaller than 16-gauge. Completing the package is a handy 3-inch rule and an eye through which a lanyard can be fastened. The gauge measures 3 1⁄2 inches by 5 1⁄2 inches and is wafer-thin. It fits easily in your shirt pocket.
If you have a tape measure and this Professional Rigger’s Gauge, you’ll find that there are very few, if any, accurate shipboard measurements you can’t obtain. No more brand-new halyards that somehow shrank or traveler control lines that must have swollen.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
