Best Shoreline Restoration Tools for Shoreline Restoration Pros and DIY-ers (All Available to Buy Online)

Surface prep is the secret to success in just about every project – whether you’re repairing a foundation, painting drywall, seeding a lawn, or restoring a shoreline.  In the case of shoreline restoration, at least half of our work goes to surface prep, but there’s a twist: We’ve got 3 work surfaces to prepare: what’s above the water line, what’s below the water line, and the water itself.  All 3 surfaces need to be in a certain condition for us to build the toughest, finest riprap shorelines money can buy.  Sure, experience and expertise factor in, but most of the surface prep is just a matter of having the right tool(s) and putting in the work.  So if you’d like to work on your own shoreline or do upkeep, you just need the right tools.  Below is a partial list of the shoreline restoration tools and products we’ve come to know and rely on over 20+ years, and that we consider the best.

Please note that these are affiliate links, so if you order any of these products through one of our Amazon links, we’ll get a pittance from the Rocket Man, at no extra cost to you.  If for whatever reason you’d prefer not to throw anything in the tip jar, we’d still recommend any of these tools and products to you.  (And feel free to send us see before-and-after photos; we love photos of beautiful shorelines.)

A great weed cutter for unwanted underwater vegetation.  From the shoreline, wader-deep water, or a dock, we toss this into the water to slice away the bulk of the vegetation that’s growing wherever need to work – whether that’s where we need to lay the riprap, where we need to stand, or wherever our customer just doesn’t want to see so much green stuff clogging up the water.

An aquascape rake we use all the time.  Both above and below the waterline, most shorelines have some stubborn plants with tough roots.  A weed cutter can’t go below the sediment, so you need a rake with tines that both dig into the sediment and slice roots.

Another handy tool for slicing stubborn underwater plants, this roller-slicer gizmo is especially good at removing plants in hard or very compacted sediment that a rake can’t quite dig into.

This diabolical-looking rake slices and dislodges underwater foliage, and you can use it to skim, scoop, and discard what you pull up.  Makes for very fast and efficient cleanup of whatever part of your shoreline you’re working on or just trying to keep tidy.

You may have all sorts of weeds growing above the water line, near the edge of the water.  You try to remove them, but like dandelions and other weeds they just keep coming back.  We’ve found that Shoreline Defense is an excellent, safe, and affordable way to get the shoreline weeds under control.

We’ve always thought that “Muck Off” would be the perfect name for this stuff, but Muck Away is a fantastic product that does exactly what it sounds like: it clears up the muck that’s covering up the beauty of your shoreline.  Muck Away consists of pellets made of enzymes and “good bacteria.”  You drop the pellets into the water, the pellets dissolve, and the bacteria eat the muck.  It’s both effective and natural: your fauna and flora will be fine.

Picture a leaf blower that works underwater.  That’s what the Scott aerator is.  It does a helluva job of blowing detritus out of your workspace, and of loosening up the sediment you need to work on.  This isn’t a tool for most do-it-yourselfers, but if you’re the relatively rare shoreline restoration professional who takes the tools of the trade seriously and is willing to invest in the best, we recommend it, and your customers will love the results.