That phone we all carry is useful at the helm, helping you communicate, navigate, tell time and do many other things. But where to put it? Pulling it in and out of your pocket is a pain, and mounting it means it must stay in one place.
One solution is Tree Frog Pad, a slab of floppy blue rubber that sticks to the dash and provides a tacky surface where your phone — or anything else you place on it — will stay put. We spent a few weeks with the pad aboard and found it to be pretty useful.
Tree Frog Pad ($12.95 for a 7 x 9 inch pad) does not use adhesive. Rather, the rubber mat is tacky on both sides, sticking to the surface and to whatever is placed upon it. Full disclosure: Tree Frog Pad is an advertiser, and so we were very tough on it. We tested it with phones, an iPod, an iPad, binoculars and anything else we could think of and found it held fast, even when mounting something on a vertical incline.
Then, we chopped it up with a sharp knife, cutting pieces to fit specific places on the dashboard. That worked reasonably well, too. To see how far it would go, we took a piece, mounted in on a dashboard’s vertical incline, stuck a phone to it and left the boat during a heatwave. One week later, the phone was still stuck.
The company claims that the Tree Frog Pad contains no solvents and will not harm varnish or gelcoat, and that was true, as near as we could tell. It does, however, pickup copious amounts of dirt, dust and hair from wherever it is sticking. The pad can be cleaned with soap, and comes back reasonably well, but you will have to clean it often.
Another warning: the Tree Frog Pad will fascinate children six and under, who will use it to mount everything from action figures to Lego constructions (their stuff goes flying when the boat rocks, too). You may have to hide it from them.
Having said all that, Tree Frog Pad is more flexible and easier to use than a permanent mount, and just might solve some problems at the helm, in the galley, in the salon and elsewhere. That’s why we gave it an 8 on the DIY Rating Scale.
PROS: Does what it claims to do, which is keep things mounted firmly
CONS: Picks up dirt and dust, requiring cleaning
— Glen Justice