How often you used a spare?
- Thread starter Hawgwash
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HopCar
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You bring up a real issue. Spare parts, especially those with rubber components have a limited shelf life. Impellers are changed often enough that I'm comfortable putting in the spare in the pump and buying a new spare. My spare mechanical fuel pump, I wouldn't be comfortable using it if I had access to a new one.
A few years ago I had the belt break on my engine. I had a spare belt and could have easily changed it. It was late in the day, my guests were tired, the beer was cold, I've been paying for unlimited towing for years and never used it. I made the call. That was the only time I've been towed in in more than fifty years of boating. So no, other than light bulbs, I've never used an onboard spare.
A few years ago I had the belt break on my engine. I had a spare belt and could have easily changed it. It was late in the day, my guests were tired, the beer was cold, I've been paying for unlimited towing for years and never used it. I made the call. That was the only time I've been towed in in more than fifty years of boating. So no, other than light bulbs, I've never used an onboard spare.
Pure pleasure
Senior Member
I have used spare belts offshore and impellers but if it's hard to change you got to think will I do this when out or will I get a tow in
dhays
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Dang Hawgwash, you come up with some great questions.
Never needed to use a spare, but then I only have a spare impeller, fuel filter, and belt. The belt is probably too old to be any good to be honest.
Never needed to use a spare, but then I only have a spare impeller, fuel filter, and belt. The belt is probably too old to be any good to be honest.
MurrayM
Guru
You (actually everybody) should read Vigor's Black Box Theory;
Good Old Boat - Vigor's Black Box Theory article
Good Old Boat - Vigor's Black Box Theory article
Jay N
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Hawgwash says: "Everyone has a supply of spares and I get the why.
But, how often, while away from home, have you actually used a spare; pump, alternator, starter, voltage regulator etc. etc? How do you know your spare this or that is even any good?"
During cruising, I've had to install my spare high output alternator and fresh water pump assembly.
When I purchased this boat in 1997, one of the first things I did to learn the boat was to take all of the spares and put them into service. This means I needed to have the proper tools and procedures in place to make it happen. The removed spares were then evaluated for remaining service life, rebuilt if needed, and put back into spares if appropriate.
This means that I have replaced raw water pumps, coolant pumps, starters, belt tensioners, both low and high output alternators, heat exchangers, transmission coolers, low pressure fuel pump and injectors. All while at my dock.
Certain spares have a calendar life, such as belts and impellers, after 8 years they get replaced with new.
But, how often, while away from home, have you actually used a spare; pump, alternator, starter, voltage regulator etc. etc? How do you know your spare this or that is even any good?"
During cruising, I've had to install my spare high output alternator and fresh water pump assembly.
When I purchased this boat in 1997, one of the first things I did to learn the boat was to take all of the spares and put them into service. This means I needed to have the proper tools and procedures in place to make it happen. The removed spares were then evaluated for remaining service life, rebuilt if needed, and put back into spares if appropriate.
This means that I have replaced raw water pumps, coolant pumps, starters, belt tensioners, both low and high output alternators, heat exchangers, transmission coolers, low pressure fuel pump and injectors. All while at my dock.
Certain spares have a calendar life, such as belts and impellers, after 8 years they get replaced with new.
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markpierce
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Never.
markpierce
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Broke an alternator/water pump belt in a fairly remote area offshore from the Everglades. The previous owner had carefully stashed a spare on board. Assured the Admiral that we'd be back underway soon. WRONG... was the wrong size and no way in hell to make it work. The fix required a long Seatow.
Blew an oil cooler on main engine in the Bahamas. No worry... only took two days to find the spare. (Yeah, I know...make an inventory location list). Install was no problem and cruise continued.
Blew an oil cooler on main engine in the Bahamas. No worry... only took two days to find the spare. (Yeah, I know...make an inventory location list). Install was no problem and cruise continued.
markpierce
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Everything is fine here in the engine compartment.
Have professional maintenance annually. That's cheaper with one engine rather than multiples. A fallacy of redundancy is when one does not maintain.
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MurrayM
Guru
Capt.Bill11
Guru
Use spares all the time.
I know they're good because don't keep useless spares onboard.
MurrayM
Guru
You win!
Ski in NC
Technical Guru
It's not that you expect to use the spares, it is to appease the gods of machinery that you respect them and take reasonable precautions. They approve of your effort, and therefore they prevent any breakdowns.
Except the things you don't have a spare for, right?
DC36Monk
Veteran Member
Always carry a rebuild kit for the heads. **** happens. And I needed to use the kit. Everyone else went for a dinghy ride with the Admiral well I fixed the "problem with the guest toilet."
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Never - not even close. However, we never do huge distances. Our biggest daily distance was 200nm.
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No, but ironically that is the one part I did have trouble with not long after I bought the boat some 14 years ago now. However, it gave out slowly, announcing the fact by sometimes, often when you most needed it to work quickly, (like in a blow, caught on a lee shore, and dragging), but even then hitting it with a mallet while the wife turned the key got it going in time, and even if I had had a spare, there is no way I would have tried to change it out then. So I had time to get it reconditioned back at the dock, and that reconditioned one has never missed a beat since. So they are very reliable, and the odd hiccup a worn one gives, like I mentioned, means taking heed of that and getting it serviced then saves a change at sea. They seldom just die completely and suddenly, so unless planning to travel huge distances, I would not have a spare. They are not easy to change in real life either, so unless you have practised it at the dock - forget it.
MurrayM
Guru
Similarly to Pete, our starter started showing signs of a slow demise when we bought Badger. We ordered a new starter, installed it, and had the original rebuilt to live again as a spare.
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O C Diver
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My other boat is a charter boat. I use to run 100 trips a year with it. Use anything enough and in spite of preventative maintenance, things break. From memory the spares I've used:
Racor filter (changed every spring) got bad fuel.
2 Delco alternators
Serpentine belt (now change it every spring)
Raw water impeller (changed every spring) factory defective
Head raw water pump
Air conditioning raw water pump (keep the customers happy)
Hose clamp on raw water system (22 GPM into bilge) (all are now double clamped)
Nuts, bolts, screws and several light bulbs.
I follow a PM procedure of using my spares each spring and replacing the spare with new. Also follow the principle on many spares that they have a limited shelf life and put them into service based on time as spares.
Have spare Starter, alternator, raw water pump and fresh water pump.
Ted
Racor filter (changed every spring) got bad fuel.
2 Delco alternators
Serpentine belt (now change it every spring)
Raw water impeller (changed every spring) factory defective
Head raw water pump
Air conditioning raw water pump (keep the customers happy)
Hose clamp on raw water system (22 GPM into bilge) (all are now double clamped)
Nuts, bolts, screws and several light bulbs.
I follow a PM procedure of using my spares each spring and replacing the spare with new. Also follow the principle on many spares that they have a limited shelf life and put them into service based on time as spares.
Have spare Starter, alternator, raw water pump and fresh water pump.
Ted
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Boat came with a 2 boxes of spares parts the last owner as anal 
. But as luck has it the few things that have let me down won't in the boxes of spares. .
One thing I have learn't with boats ,cars machinery its the things like rescue tape .fencing wire .different glues .box of mixed screws nuts and bolt clamps can get me out of trouble .
. But as luck has it the few things that have let me down won't in the boxes of spares. .One thing I have learn't with boats ,cars machinery its the things like rescue tape .fencing wire .different glues .box of mixed screws nuts and bolt clamps can get me out of trouble .
twistedtree
Guru
Exactly! A spare on board is a guarantee that you will never need it. It's like buying a snow blower. It stops the snow fall dead in its tracks.
psneeld
Guru
Have used two injector lines in last (1600 hours) 4 years/snowbird cruises.
Fuel filters.
Engine zincs.
Alternator belt.
Complete oil changes (done in port but while on long cruises).
Battery cable fuses.
Lights, bulbs of all kinds.
Various electrical switches.
GFI outlet.
Water filters for galley.
Fuel filters.
Engine zincs.
Alternator belt.
Complete oil changes (done in port but while on long cruises).
Battery cable fuses.
Lights, bulbs of all kinds.
Various electrical switches.
GFI outlet.
Water filters for galley.
Within the last year we have used a spare; alternator, gear box cooler, hose from the cooling header tank to the engine, several hose clamps and domestic water hose. That doesn't include oil, filters and things that we consider consumables.
twistedtree
Guru
On a more serious note, I think this is one of those questions where the answer is, "it depends". If you are coastal cruising in generally populated areas, aka pretty much all of the US coast line, I would carry minimal spares.
- Under any circumstances I would carry a bunch of racors (or whatever brand you use). You can get a bad batch of fuel anytime. And you can make your own bad batch of fuel anytime by getting caught in rough seas and stirring up settled crud in your tanks.
- Additionally, I'd carry spares for maintenance and wear items. So impellers, belts, and other filters. Also fuses and some basic electrical components (wire ends, etc.) and some misc plumbing parts like misc hose and clamps. Maintenance parts are going to get used within a year anyway, so you know you will use them and you know they won't have time to go bad. So other than space, no really downside to having them.
- Regardless of what maintenance spares are on board, I'd think carefully about what repairs I would realistically do at sea vs getting home via one engine, a wing engine, or a tow. Repairs are much easier at the dock, especially when you discover some gasket or o-ring that you need, tool that you need, or when you break something else on the boat in the process. This is the voice of experience
- Once back at the dock, the only advantage to having spares on board is time. You can use a part that is on-hand, or you can go to a local supplier, or order via mail. But for anything you need to order, you can probably get it next day if you want it badly enough. So having spares on hand saves you a day or so, maybe.
All this suggests carrying minimal spares, thanks to widely available get-home techniques (alternate propulsion or towing), and exceptional mail-order suppliers.
However, things are much different when you start traveling to remote destinations. Even the Bahamas counts as remote, though physically it's not far away. I had a watermaker part sent to me overnight in Hopetown which is a populous location, and it took a week. I hear regular stories of parts simply never arriving because someone somewhere along the way decided they liked the package and kept it for themselves. This is where there is a whole different reason to carry many, many more spares.... time.
If you are in a far away place and something breaks, even something non-critical, repair can be a real logistical nightmare and cause significant delays simply because of parts. You can frequently find a local mechanic or technician, but without parts they cannot help you. Our parts sparing is based on this view point. I look at important systems, what is most likely to fail, and I come up with some action plan in the event of a failure. If there is a long term way to work around it then I might not carry any spares, but more often than not I will. So I have a spare fresh water pump, manual holding tank discharge pumps, spare fans, hydraulic parts, battery chargers, monitors, critical electronics parts, lights, etc. Basically I want to avoid getting stuck somewhere waiting for parts.
Of course any sparing strategy is a gamble, so you are only improving your odds. In reality we all know that the spares you have are the ones you won't need, and the spares you don't have are the ones you will need.
- Under any circumstances I would carry a bunch of racors (or whatever brand you use). You can get a bad batch of fuel anytime. And you can make your own bad batch of fuel anytime by getting caught in rough seas and stirring up settled crud in your tanks.
- Additionally, I'd carry spares for maintenance and wear items. So impellers, belts, and other filters. Also fuses and some basic electrical components (wire ends, etc.) and some misc plumbing parts like misc hose and clamps. Maintenance parts are going to get used within a year anyway, so you know you will use them and you know they won't have time to go bad. So other than space, no really downside to having them.
- Regardless of what maintenance spares are on board, I'd think carefully about what repairs I would realistically do at sea vs getting home via one engine, a wing engine, or a tow. Repairs are much easier at the dock, especially when you discover some gasket or o-ring that you need, tool that you need, or when you break something else on the boat in the process. This is the voice of experience
- Once back at the dock, the only advantage to having spares on board is time. You can use a part that is on-hand, or you can go to a local supplier, or order via mail. But for anything you need to order, you can probably get it next day if you want it badly enough. So having spares on hand saves you a day or so, maybe.
All this suggests carrying minimal spares, thanks to widely available get-home techniques (alternate propulsion or towing), and exceptional mail-order suppliers.
However, things are much different when you start traveling to remote destinations. Even the Bahamas counts as remote, though physically it's not far away. I had a watermaker part sent to me overnight in Hopetown which is a populous location, and it took a week. I hear regular stories of parts simply never arriving because someone somewhere along the way decided they liked the package and kept it for themselves. This is where there is a whole different reason to carry many, many more spares.... time.
If you are in a far away place and something breaks, even something non-critical, repair can be a real logistical nightmare and cause significant delays simply because of parts. You can frequently find a local mechanic or technician, but without parts they cannot help you. Our parts sparing is based on this view point. I look at important systems, what is most likely to fail, and I come up with some action plan in the event of a failure. If there is a long term way to work around it then I might not carry any spares, but more often than not I will. So I have a spare fresh water pump, manual holding tank discharge pumps, spare fans, hydraulic parts, battery chargers, monitors, critical electronics parts, lights, etc. Basically I want to avoid getting stuck somewhere waiting for parts.
Of course any sparing strategy is a gamble, so you are only improving your odds. In reality we all know that the spares you have are the ones you won't need, and the spares you don't have are the ones you will need.
