How often you used a spare?

Spare parts give peace of mind!

Hawgwash said:

Hah! Again. How does a bloke properly run into you? Or is that another Ozism;
"G'day, mate, ya wanna move ya boat? I got no reverse and might properly run into ya."

Click to expand...

Wifey B: Ah, the difference a comma makes. "when other folk, who can't drive their boat in or out of the marina properly, run into me"

Yeah, thanks wifey B, Hawg's just being pedantic, eh..? 'course, I coulda said "improperly run into me", and then you could leave the comma out...

Hawgwash said:

Now, see, that's the part I don't get. What good is it, lugging around a bucket full of used spares with no known life expectancy?

Click to expand...

On Beast my oil pressure sending unit started leaking. The old one that did not work also did not leak. It was still in my bucket. I swapped the leaky one for the broken one. It worked until I could get to a city to buy another.

Having tools and hardware are equally important.

Tools are critical. I'm watching a neighbor now on day two seeking a tool to get to his transmission seal. He requires a 46mm spindle nut socket, or something (anything!!!) to get this blasted thing off. And no, we cannot find one locally -- not yet.

Perhaps there is a marine transmission shop STILL OPEN here in St Pete. We were directed to two different ones today -- both closed with no signs of life. The tranny is back in his backyard.

We tried eBay. Nothing. Ditto Amazon. The man has no way of replacing the seal (and o-ring) unless he can get to it. And so far, he cannot.

It does zero good to have a spare part if you have not the tools required to install it.

It reminds me a bit of people I knew who were preparing for a hurricane. I asked what they had for food. They said they bought about 20 gallons of water and had at least 20 cans of canned food, from soups to meats to vegetables. I said that sounded very good and asked if they were going eat it cold or hot. They said heat it on their gas grill. I then asked if they had pull tops to open or required can openers. They said "can openers." Next question was if they had any non-electric can opener and saw the sudden look of panic on their faces.

Now, I only thought of that because when we lived in NC, we were preparing for a possible ice storm and power outage and realized all our can openers were electric.

Sometimes you have to be a bit resourceful.


I've made my own spindle nut socket out of a piece of pipe using an angle grinder and a file.
Opening a can without a can opener is fairly straight forward. I'm sure anyone could work that out after a day or two without eating. A pocket knife, a hammer & chisel; I'm sure a pointed rock would open a can of soup.

Ski in NC said:

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.

Click to expand...

I have a saying that reflects my conservative nature and somewhat superstitious leanings.

The size of the disaster is inversely proportional to level of preparedness.

My 35 year career has allowed me ample opportunity to validate the truth in that statement.

Peter B said:

Sorry Aus, but why on earth did you shut down your engine while waiting in a lock for water levels to equalise..? In every lock we went thru in the UK in the canals, I never turned the engine off in the lock once - that appears to be the perfect invite for Murphy's law, don'tcha know..?

Click to expand...

Pete

Don't know the specifics of the lock in question, but the east coast of the US/Canada has hundreds of locks. I can remember many times shutting the engine down once we tied up to the walls.

The wait time, depth of lock and number of boats all were factors.

"Sorry Aus, but why on earth did you shut down your engine while waiting in a lock for water levels to equalise..?

In many US systems , to shut down is the rule.

FF said:

"Sorry Aus, but why on earth did you shut down your engine while waiting in a lock for water levels to equalise..?

In many US systems , to shut down is the rule.

Click to expand...

Maybe so, but once again, can I point out, not everyone in the world is in the US. AUSCAN, as his name implies, is in South Australia, in the marina at Glenelg I think, and is referring to the modest lock I think he has to use to exit his marina, for some reason, (not sure why), so long waits would be rare, I suspect. Just sayin'...

No doubt he will soon put me right, if I'm wrong...

Greetings,
Indeed, engine shutdown is a requirement for locking through in several locales but we have found where it is NOT required, in some of the deeper lock chambers it is to our advantage to shut down voluntarily.

It does not take too long for a deep chamber to fill up with exhaust fumes whilst awaiting a slow filling and it's not so much the slim potential of CO poisoning, it's more the concentrated smell of the exhaust.

We DID lose our single engine on a previous boat while locking, were manually towed out by the helpful lock staff and subsequently had to have our starter motor re-built. We now carry a spare starter motor.

Our Tolly always carries a spare starter... as well as every other spare engine part that could be needed... on its spare engine!

makobuilders said:

Does anyone carry a spare starter motor and had to use it?

Click to expand...

Yes and no. Since I have twin engines (and a standup engine room with good outboard access), in a pinch I could start an engine then move its good spare to the other engine and start it.

Since my boat spends time in foreign countries at locations in which even basics are not readily available, I started with the normal compliment of spares, none of which I have needed to use. Since then, every time something fails, I buy two. In that regard, I have extra blowers for the engine room, extra pumps for the big ice maker, air conditioning bait tanks and holding tanks, extra joker valves for the heads, extra bulbs for nav lights. Over the past 6 years, each of those spares has been used (and replaced).

Interesting, and at the same time reassuring, none of which were fundamental to the safe functioning of the vessel.

Peter B said:

Interesting, and at the same time reassuring, none of which were fundamental to the safe functioning of the vessel.

Click to expand...

Most fundamental item to the function of any vessel is a wise Captain.

Nearly any mechanical or electric or material part missing as a spare can often be overcome/supplanted-for by the wisdom of a good Captain's "spare" thoughts for making things work - no matter what. Of course quickly available, usable spare parts are always appreciated by the Captain when needs arise.

And... For sharing "spare" thoughts to help elevate the wisdom of Captains in general... of the one spare part that exists in the hundreds, maybe thousands on TF - Wise Captains abound!!

Art said:

Most fundamental item to the function of any vessel is a wise Captain.

Click to expand...

Wifey B: We carry a spare one of those too.... Most of the time more than one spare. Can never have too many spares. We cruised to the Bahamas this past week. 7 people on board. 4 were licensed captains (all at least 200 Ton) and 1 was a licensed engineer. Think we had that covered?

Other random demographics on that trip. 6 females, 1 male. Average age of females 27.5, of the males 45. I was the oldest female...omg....don't tell me I'm getting old.

Art said:

Nearly any mechanical or electric or material part missing as a spare can often be overcome/supplanted-for by the wisdom of a good Captain's "spare" thoughts for making things work - no matter what. Of course quickly available, usable spare parts are always appreciated by the Captain when needs arise.

Click to expand...

In almost 20 years of summer-long cruising the only spares I remember using was a coolant hose and the usual "consumables: fuel filters, raw water impellers, hose clamps and fluids (oil, distilled water and coolant).

But I have resorted to lot's of epoxy putty; various tapes; cable ties; and engine starting fluid (for the dink's OB) to improvise and keep things ticking over until i made it back to port.

Peter B said:

Sorry Aus, but why on earth did you shut down your engine while waiting in a lock for water levels to equalise..? In every lock we went thru in the UK in the canals, I never turned the engine off in the lock once - that appears to be the perfect invite for Murphy's law, don'tcha know..?

Click to expand...

Peter, It's a 10 minute wait or so, in a very small confined lock, so I'd prefer not to gas myself in there.
From now on though, I think I'll risk the chance of asphyxiation and let her idle.

Spares have made life easier during our Great Loop trip in the last year. Domestic water pump, shower sump float switch, Engine water pump, battery combiner, engine stop solenoid and 2 fuel pumps. In each instance the swap out was easier than looking for or waiting for a part and it didn't impact the trip. I one case a stop solenoid failed in the morning before entering the South Mills lock on the Dismal Swamp canal. The failure was easy to identify because it leaked out the back of the connection. Pulled the boat over to the wall above the lock and changed it out in less than 30 minutes. The trip progressed as planned.

If I have a spare, it never breaks! Last week the davit chain snapped off the Tohatsu fuel line connector leaving the engine useless for a while. NO ONE carries them in stock so I ordered 3 from amazon and had them shipped to my next stop.

OMG! I've replaced a couple of Racor fuel-filters over the past four years from spares. That's all.

markpierce said:

OMG! I've replaced a couple of Racor fuel-filters over the past four years from spares. That's all.

Click to expand...

Just a hunch, but spares used might be proportional to hours on an engine.

Needed and used two spare NPT to hose barb fittings w a small bit of hose to replace a cracked pipe nipple.

We were venturing out to go around Cape Caution where it is open to the ocean in semi-nasty weather when our "Murphy Switch" sounded it's alarm letting us know that our coolant was low. The Murphy Switch saved our bacon. Coudda been pounded on the rocks.

MurrayM said:

Just a hunch, but spares used might be proportional to hours on an engine.

Click to expand...

Yes. 4616 nm and 254 hours so far in 2016. A little over 1000 hours in 2015.

manyboats said:

We were venturing out to go around Cape Caution where it is open to the ocean in semi-nasty weather when our "Murphy Switch" sounded it's alarm letting us know that our coolant was low. The Murphy Switch saved our bacon. Coudda been pounded on the rocks.

Click to expand...

Yikes

Some day, when we digitize our old sea kayaking slides, I'll post a photo of what was left of a barge that was pushed right up into the salal near Cape Caution. Easily in the top ten worst locations on BC's coast for a breakdown!