We carry a lot of the spares that others have listed here, but not all.
The "cost" of down-TIME is what we are often concerned about when cruising. Spares can help.
There are so many things that can fail. It is tough to cover ALL your bases.
e.g. We have some heavy gauge wire aboard, but do we have the right crimp connectors to facilitate a repair with the heavy wire?! Can a jury rig with a soldering gun suffice?! OR do you simply want to suck it up and get it done right even when "on the road".
On our recent migration south from Canada to Florida, stopping in Long Is NY for two weeks, we had 3 incidents south of NY: 1) failure of several starter circuit components on our single screw 2000 Mainship 390 w/ CAT 3126. I did not have a spare starter aboard, but I DID have one of the relays that failed! Alas, there was a 130A circuit breaker that also failed, that the yard ((
River Forest Shipyard - Belhaven NC (252) 943-2151)) had to order out, and that's what actually cost us the most TIME. It was supposed to arrive on a Monday; it didn't arrive until Tuesday. The starter itself was covered under warrantee (11 months after a new one was put in). Only 1 day and zero $ expended for that! The mechanic lives near the local CAT dealer. Luck on our side.
Stuck in Belhaven for a few days…
Since arriving here in FL, I finally found a place to have the old starter rebuilt from last year, and dropped it off today here in JAX. ((
Lewis Starter & Alternator 904-764-0727)). It'll be ready on Monday! So, I'll have a spare starter aboard. (Sometimes it is better to "eat" the core charge and keep the old starter IF you know a place who will rebuild it for you (these type shops are increasingly hard to find)).
The other two incidents involved the generator. A failed hose, (
Service at Zimmermans – Solomon Is MD ) and 2 weeks later, the need to bleed air after the fuel filter, after a filter element change. I had the Racor Fuel Filter aboard, and was able to change that myself (had 2 spares), but the genset is really impossible for me to work on (to bleed the fuel lines). The normal "trick" to simply top off the fuel filter housing with fuel did not work on the generator like it does on the main engine. So I had to hire out the air-bleeding task to a younger mechanic who could fit into the tight space where our generator resides. I was 90% sure that was the problem, but simply said, "I'm going to let them fix it, whatever it is." ((
Jimmys Marine near Myrtle Beach NC
(910) 575-3600)).
IMPORTANT POINT:
The "cost" and "effectiveness" to get local help along the ICW to facilitate these repairs was reasonable.
The starter system would have only been ONE DAY to fix, if not for the 130A circuit breaker which made that into a 5 day delay which included a weekend. For the other two incidents, we were only delayed 1 day each. SO, we feel "blessed" that we were able to get help from "the community" of vendors along the ICW.
The vendors in the mid-Atlantic states are fantastic, and cheaper than NY and FL, in our experience!!!
................ Not just spare parts: REDUNDANCY plays a role .................
In addition to SPARE PARTS, "redundancy" is the other thing to strategize on.
e.g. We have TWO bilge pumps now in the aft bilge. If one craps out, the other takes over, and we also have an ALARM with a set point above both.
Redundant Bilge Pump & Alarm System
We have SOLAR. SO, could I have continued our voyage without a generator?
Yes. Solar = redundancy.
Could we have endured a week of rain? Not so sure. I love our solar set up, but the generator is a huge comfort... and on very COLD or very HOT nights, only the generator can give us some relief!!!
"I'm gonna try to get it fixed here, on the road." In both cases for the generator, we succeeded! Part of me did not want to arrive in JAX with a "long list" of stuff that needed to get fixed. It was relatively painless to git-er-done on the road! ((Certainly, some luck was involved.))
Again, we feel "blessed" that we were able to get help along the way in reasonable time and cost for our 24 year old trawler.
FINAL THOUGHT on spares:
"Propellers!"
It can take a week or two to get a prop job done. If it really bad, it *may* not be repairable and a new one is the only choice. It can take two+ MONTHS to get a new matching prop, according to my prop shop in Long Island NY. He has one commercial customer who lost most of a whole SEASON of income/business waiting for new props for an early season accident in the shallow waters of Great South Bay there.
He recommended,
"Find a spare that is a match or a "close" match." That will keep you able and going underway on your Great Loop Trip or whatever in the event of a really bad prop incident. My prop is a 4-blade prop. I found a deal on a used 3-blade prop 1" larger in diameter, slightly sharper pitch (Yes it'll fit). At slow trawler speeds / RPMs, it will be perfectly adequate to keep me going underway while getting my main prop "trued up" or replaced. I look forward to reporting on my experimenting with my spare in a few weeks. As we plan to get our 4-blade main prop trued up after several years of use, and a few "prop polishing" incidents over the years.
With regards to spare parts, know your points of vulnerability. "What is likely to take a
long time to replace???"
That's what you need to focus on first for spares.
Finding a place on-board for 1 or 2 spare props? That's another topic altogether! LOL
((Note that if you have twin screws, one prop is likely to be RH rotation, and the other LH rotation. SO, one spare won't cut it.))
