Few products become legends, but it does happen. Duct tape, for example, has become a part of American culture – and I'll bet everyone reading this article has at least one roll stashed someplace at this very moment.

WD-40 is another such product. It's become known as the galaxy's ultimate spray lubricant and can be found in virtually every household in the country.

But what about us boaters?

Do we have any products that have become universally useful – or are destined to do so in the future? And after testing literally hundreds of boat care products through more than a decade of writing for boating magazines and websites, a few have become fixtures in my boat maintenance arsenal.

These are the best that have been invented yet (Note: products less than one year old have been excluded from the running, since there hasn't been time to thoroughly test them yet.) Among them I'm sure we'll find one of those legends that lives on forever. In any case, you'll want to know about this stuff – and perhaps test it out yourself.

Whether you just purchased a used boat with dead outboards or decided to repower your present boat, removing those old powerplants presents a challenge.

You could pay someone to do it, but savvy do-it-yourselfers know that you stand to save a bundle by taking on this chore yourself. Why? Because you won't just save on labor costs of the engine's removal, you can also make a buck by selling those old eggbeaters.

Here's the surprising part: getting them off of the transom is actually a fairly easy job.