While exciting these stress tests really are no substitute for long term usage and over the last 24 months I have been running these locks on two vehicles to secure everything from spare tires to racks and towing my bass rig. I haven’t had a single lock fail on me and after each and every trip the locks not only continue to perform well but still look as good as new (minus the dust and debris from the road of course).

After a natural thaw the lock continues to perform perfectly. Normally the shutter will do a good job keeping out the rain and moisture from the road but in our test we did a complete submersion, so it did take some time for the ice inside the lock to melt

Less time fiddling with keys and locks just means more time on the water and the ability to use one key to lock and unlock all my gear not only saved me time but helps keep my keychain from being even more of a mess than it already is with all the other keys I need to carry. If I could use the BOLT locks for more than I already do I certainly would not hesitate to switch out those legacy locks.    

These locks are not just for anglers and can be used for so many applications including offroading or adding gear like bike racks

Price & Applications: I think we have pretty much established that the BOLT locks are extremely easy to deploy, function as advertised and are the best thing since sliced bread for not just watercraft owners but outdoor enthusiasts. So what’s the bad news? Currently Durasafe offers the locks for owners of Ford, Chrysler/Dodge, and GM-A/B vehicles only. That’s right, if you’re an owner of a Toyota Tundra, Nissan Titan, Honda Ridgeline or Acura MDX (just to name a few imports) you’re currently out of luck. I say currently because the company has already announced that they are preparing to release locks for Toyota and Nissan vehicles early this season, but for owners of other makes the wait continues.

The padlock is great for cable locks or use on the company's own Coupler Connect device

Why did Durasafe focus on addressing the domestic autos first? The Toyota Tundra is a popular tow vehicle after all. The answer most likely rests in the TAM (total addressable market). For example if you look at the  2012 sales data Toyota sold approximately 102,000 Tundra pickups the entire past year while Ford and Chevy combined sold over 120,000 in December alone. Still, that is a lot of unaddressed trucks out there that are potentially towing and this is one of those products that are so good that it would be ideal if everyone if the market could take advantage of them. Durasafe states that they currently address 88% of the light trucks on the road and over 70% of all Ford, GM and Chrysler vehicles on the road. In the meantime what you could do if you want to consolidate all your locks with one additional key is to procure a standard Ford/Chrysler/GM key and use that as a master for all your locks.

Using both the BOLT padlock and receiver lock to tow the bass boat

The BOLT padlock retails for $27.99 while the receiver lock retails for $36.99 and while these US Made locks certainly retail for more than your traditional locks they really are not your run of the mill locking solutions. Are they worth the extra investment? Absolutely. The ability to use your own truck/SUV key for your receiver, swing away tongue, padlock on your trailer coupler connect or boat locker bar just makes things faster and easier. I’ve even gone so far as to use the locks on gates, tool shed and to secure sporting equipment. The only downside are the locks do cost a little bit more and as I learned when I traded in my last Jeep, your pretty much going to give away all those locks with your vehicle.

Locked and loaded and ready to tow

If you want to double check if your vehicles key is supported by Durasafe the company has a visual match and compatibility configurator online where you can enter your make, model and year. Some brands that you might not expect to be supported are, for example brands that at one time or another belonged to the domestic automaker portfolio, makes like Mazda or Hummer.