If you've ever spent time on a serious Sportfisherman or a Battlewagon, you probably noticed that the buckets used on board had their wire handles removed and replaced with a piece of dock line. There are several reasons for this. The wire handles rust, they rattle and they can also scratch the big buck paint job or gel coat finishes on the boat. Some crews like to hang them from the fighting chair for various reasons and the wire handle doesn't allow this. But the biggest reason that any Mate will tell you is that the rope handle is just more comfortable if you're lugging buckets full of water, ice, chum and fish all day long.
