Reviews > Personal Hygiene > Bathroom Sundries > Coghlans Trowel > Owner Review by Roger Caffin

Owner Review - Coghlan's Trowel
Roger Caffin
11-June-2005

Product Information

Product Notes:

The "manufacturer" is of course Coghlan's, the company with a million different small camp accessories, but the company which actually does the plastic injection moulding is another matter. One old trowel I have has "Made by RED SNAP'R" on the inside of the handle, another more recent one has "Patrick Plastics Inc", while some retailers list it as made in China. But they are all the same distinctive orange!

Coghlan's do not list a price for any of their products on their web site. Retailers generally seem to list it for between US$2.00 and US$2.50. Sadly, I find our local price is more like AU$6 or US$4.50: shipping, import and generous distribution costs?

I have listed the weight as 50 g (1.7 oz), but this is for the stock model. At least one American ultra-lightweight gear web site offers cut-down versions at a lower weight. My own cut-down version (see below) weighs 28 g (<1.0 oz!), and this could perhaps be further reduced.

Product description

The Coghlan's web site says nothing about this trowel other than giving a picture and a part number. However, every general gear retailer has their own few words of wisdom for it. Rather than try to describe it, it is easier to simply point to the picture here and say it is the universally recognised 'Poo Trowel for Walkers' (more recognisable I think than Ford's towel). The ruler included in the picture for scale is in millimetres and centimetres. What more can I say? Yes, one finds it around the world.

Early models had an inch scale down the side, presumably so one could measure the depth of the hole to ensure it was deep enough. Current models seem to have dispensed with that amusing idea. The loss is immaterial.

The back of the handle is of course hollow, to reduce weight and the amount of plastic used in the moulding. The edges of the handles are all nicely rounded. The blade is 'sharp' - as much as a plastic trowel can be.

Field Experience

To be quite honest, I can't remember when I bought my first one; in fact, I am not sure how many I have owned. But the trowel does seem to last a reasonable time - say five years or more, under quite heavy use.

I should explain the 'heavy' bit. I live in Sydney, Australia, and a lot of the walking my wife and I do is in the nearby Blue Mountains. The ground in this area is sometimes a little hard - like no more than a thin layer of stony soil interlaced with tough plant roots over solid sandstone rock. So digging a hole (as all good walkers do) can be a little difficult at times.

However, while the trowel is reasonably well made, it is only plastic. I can pound away with it in hard soil, but it is much safer to use it with a stabbing motion rather than to try to lever the soil up with it as one might do with a full-blown metal garden trowel or spade. After some years of use (5+ ?) the plastic seems to get a little brittle, and then it usually starts to develop a small sideways crack half way down the blade, at the side. This is always quite visible when it happens as dirt sticks in the crack, making a dark line against the orange. This is a signal I have to be more careful in using the trowel, and that it is no longer safe to use it as a crowbar to lever rocks out of the hole. Of course, the crack slowly grows over time - maybe a few years, even when I treat it with care. Comes the day inevitably when there is a 'crack', and the trowel breaks. What then? Ah well.

The Lightweight Version

When my old trowel broke on a recent trip, we (my wife and I) had to continue using what was left for the rest of the trip. I trimmed the corners down a bit to make it more usable, and it seemed to work. This made me think a bit. I remembered a comment on one ultra-lightweight web site about a cut-down version. When I got home I took the broken trowel and reshaped the blade and shortened the handle, as shown here to the right. This is now about the width of a roll of toilet paper (TP), so it fits inside the small nylon bag in which we carry our TP. Not only lighter, but also more convenient!

After a while it seemed to me that I could carry this a little further - some might say to a ridiculous extreme. I sharpened the edge of the blade at the back some more to help it dig better, and drilled holes in the handle to reduce the weight even more. This is shown in the picture to the left. OK, the weight reduction was only about 3 - 4 g (0.1 oz), but it was satisfying. I find that the 'sharp' edge does seem to wear down a bit more these days, but that is because I can now hack away more vigorously with the shorter blade. I guess that's to be expected. In our soils, the very short length of blade does seem to still work well enough.

I have to admit that I have since bought a replacement: that's the one with the price sticker still on it. I have not yet thrown out the old one because it works just about as well in our soils, and is of course more robust. I will have to take the new one with its very long blade when we go snow camping as I expect the short blade just won't work in the snow.

Summary

Would I buy another one?

Whenever it breaks - although I might keep using the broken one for a while.

Biographical information

Backpacking Background

I started bushwalking (the Australian term) at 14, then took up rock climbing at University with the girl who became my wife and is my walking partner. Later on we took up ski touring and canyoning. Winter and summer, we prefer long hard trips by ourselves: about a week in Australia, up to two months in Europe/UK. We prefer fast and light in unfrequented trackless country. We would be out for at least three months a year. Over the last four years we have reduced our pack weights from 18 - 20 kg (40 - 45 lb) each to about 12 kg (26 lb), including food, for week-long trips. I designed and made much of our lightweight gear myself.

I am also the maintainer of the Australian aus.bushwalking FAQ web site www.bushwalking.org.au/FAQ/.

Reviews > Personal Hygiene > Bathroom Sundries > Coghlans Trowel > Owner Review by Roger Caffin