Just when you thought you were set up for new equipment and wouldn’t be spending anymore money on gear, here are a couple of soon-to-be released products you might start saving for.

David Liebenberg and Willem Sandberg, described as a couple of college kids from Somerville, Mass., were at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum this spring, handing out brochures on the Trap Saver they had designed.

The Trap Saver reduces the amount of traps lost from the buoy line being cut by a prop on a passing boat. (The average trap loss is around 12 percent or $8,000, for a lobsterman running 800 traps.)

The Trap Saver is attached to the buoy line on its own length of rope. Negative buoyancy keeps it below the depth of a passing boat. When the line is cut, the Trap Saver sinks to the bottom. There, a balloon deploys and floats the rope to the surface. You pick up the balloon and haul your string of traps aboard. (See www.trapsaver.com or (203) 554-0993 for more information.)

Future product number two is the Knight Underwater Bearing, designed by Maine fisherman Rick Knight Jr., who is also a marine engineer.

The beauty of the KUB is that when it’s time to change out the shaft bearing that’s just before the propeller, you don’t have to haul your boat to remove the prop, and then go at the bearing with hacksaws, clamps and a hydraulic press. And it eliminates the few times when a shaft and rudder have to come off.

In fact, the boat can stay in the water while a diver or two with socket wrenches can replace one of Knight’s bearings in a fraction of the time it would take otherwise.

The KUB’s secret is that it’s a split bearing. Just remove eight through-bolts, and the retainers holding the bearing halves come off, exposing the bearing. Remove the bearings, inspect the shaft, put the new bearing on, bolt the retainers in place, and you are good to go.

KUB also has alternative waterflow ports. When rope gets wrapped around the shaft, choking off the aft end of the bearing, water still flows through the bearing. (See www.kubearing.com or (207) 251-0001.)

Both products are still waiting for production to begin, likely by summer.