Spare Prop and?

[ctjstr]

I suppose this could have gone in general discussion, but....

Curious how many folk carry a spare prop on their travels. On my just sold boat, (4388 Bayliner) I carried both spares and even a spare shaft. Thought it would be easier pulling one out of the engine room than having it shipped if I were some distance from home.

I don't have a spare on the new Camano I'm buying, but will probably watch for one.

As far as that is concerned, any other "absolute gotta have" spares folks carry? I'd expect normal stuff like impeller, filters and belts, but others items?

thanks


toni

 

[Sabre602]

I have a spare prop. They're quite soft and are easily damaged by such things as crab pot lines, gill nets, etc. We have LOTS of the above, never mind the deadheads. Just simple peace of mind.

Spare lamps for the running lights comes to mind. I also have a cable and pulley engine control system, so have spare cables for that. Oh, and a spare anchor and rode.

 

[tiltrider1]

For twenty years I Carried a spare shaft and two props. Never needed them. I have not bothered acquiring such items for the current boat.

 

[Wxx3]

Really is function of the type of travel you do.
I have spares for most of everything since I figure if in a foreign port, it's difficult to get anything sent (bc of customs bureaucracy) from USA.
I don't have a shaft, but do have a prop, since it was already on the boat. But props and shafts are NOT unique items to the boat.

 

[psneeld]

I dont bother, but I might keep and eye out for a spare prop at a good price.

Often the hidden costs in replacing stuff like that while cruising is time spent where you dont want to be and shipping, plus the cost of an emergency replacement prop.

Once the shaft needs replacing, you have to get hauled and at that point the total costs tend to bury the extra expenses of not having one on board anyhow.....to a point.

 

[Larry M]

....Carried a spare shaft and two props. Never needed them. I have not bothered acquiring such items for the current boat.

Same here. We had spare props and shafts on various boats and never used them. We’ve found that either through DHL, FedX or locally we can get pretty much anything anywhere in the world. We lost a refrigerator compressor. Ordered it via the HF radio and it was in Mayotte before we were. Shipping was more than the compressor. It beat carrying one.

You can’t have spares for everything, just pick the ones that seem to have the higher failure rate.

 

[Ski in NC]

If prop is protected by a full keel, it is much less likely to damage it. Except for deadheads, but on a singe they often get pushed off to the sides.

If prop is lowest thing on the boat (like mine, or a twin, whatever) much more likely to damage.

I don't carry a spare, but I know it is a calculated risk.

 

[caltexflanc]

I have paid for life insurance my entire adult life and never used it either, and don't plan to in the near future. I carried two spare props and a spare stub shaft. The props came in very handy, never needed the shaft.

We had a boat with a lot of storage capacity so carried all kinds of spares of things that could be show stoppers if in the middle of nowhere, or hard to source in the boondocks of civilization. Glad we did.

 

[The Other Gary]

I carry 2 spare props, and one each of alternator, turbo, starter, raw waterpump and complete heater harness for my twin cummins 6bta engines. plus a load of impellers, filters etc. for both engines and genny. I also carry 3 spare contacters (solenoids) as they use the same item for both the starter and heater harness.

 

[koliver]

Mine came to me with a spare pair of props.
After I repowered, I was able to experiment with re-pitching the spare pair. I was happy with the results, but the spare pair are a lot lighter weight than the others, so I was able to re-pitch those too and then swap them. I have been running on the better props, with 4" more pitch than original, for 16 years now without any complaint. The spares don't take up much room.

 

[diver dave]

You haven't lived until you see your boat bouncing off a reef, far from home, without spares, while you watch helplessly in a snorkling mask. I carry spares plus the tools to put them on. And, in high risk (coral in my case) areas, I tow the Avon for quick access to the little tug boat. .

 

[tadhana]

Single prop protected by skeg. We carry a spare prop. Needed it once in 3 years ago. We hit something late in the afternoon in the middle of the chesapeake. No hard hit, just the boat slowed the boat by a knot. Thought it was a rope. Backing and filling would not free it so we proceeded 3.5 hours to a boatyard to be hauled. Turns out it was a large sheet of clear polyethylene. It knocked our prob out of pitch and rake, so off with the old and on with the spare.

 

[aboatman]

I carry a spare prop but only because it was on the boat when I bought it. I don't really know if it fits or is the correct pitch.

It would be great to have a spare for everything on the boat that might fail on a cruise but that might require a bigger boat. And if you don't need them you will never recover the cost. My boat has a full keel so there's less chance of prop damage than with some other designs. I wouldn't have bought a spare prop.

 

[tadhana]

As far as spares go, I try to keep a spare of anything which might stop a cruise. We cruise full time and are often in sort of remote areas. Things which are not available in a local chandlery or hardware store. With fully electronic engine, failed alternator will be a problem. So I carry a spare alternator with pulley installed. I want it to be plug and play. I also carry a spare for almost every motor. Spare fresh water pump, bilge pumps, shower sump pump, macerator pump complete becasue if the existing pump fails it is easier to plug and play a complete pump, and then rebuild the existing pump later. We also carry a spare outboard engine for the dinghy. We cruise with a dog and if the dinghy engine fails, I want to be able to swap out and replace with a running engine.

 

[Mule]

I have a 21/21 fresh balanced 1.5 bore RH for sale.

 

[SoWhat]

Props are expensive so I picked up a new set that were kept as spares on a similar sized boat. Very low price made it an easy decision. I don't have a machine shop on board so spares are limited to things that are likely to break, easy to replace, and would leave me dead in the water. I have a spare starter but no need for a spare alternator.

I would include bulbs, fuses, and a set of hoses in the "normal" spares.

 

[ctjstr]

I carry 2 spare props, and one each of alternator, turbo, starter, raw waterpump and complete heater harness for my twin cummins 6bta engines. plus a load of impellers, filters etc. for both engines and genny. I also carry 3 spare contacters (solenoids) as they use the same item for both the starter and heater harness.

Holy Buckets...with all that do you tow a barge to hold it all?


If I had cummins, I think my solution would just be to travel with you. ..
I had to have a few parts shipped up to Ganges in BC and it was a pain,
both in time lost and cost. Its what prompted me to start carrying some spares. I'll likely end up with far less than you. I'll probably focus more on what to carry in my tool box. I've got much less room in the new boat and will likely cut back in that area as well.

 

[psneeld]

One thing I find interesting is not only what people determine to be a problem, but the severity.

Sure a bent prop with mild vibration....sure a leaky water pump....sure an alternator without output are problems. But yet a boat can run hundreds of hours without developing more serious issues till the problen can be fixed. So a spare is nice, but not always a big deal.

I used to follow all the magazine and book instructions, and be worried like so many recreational boaters here on TF....but after 15 years of commercial operations, thankfully I have learned the diffetence between "issue" and "problem".

Sure, always defer to the safe way out...but no need to always wory too much about it. Go to a couple pros and hear what they have to say in private.....the rest is white noise.

 

[boathealer]

.....the rest is white noise.

....and marketing.

 

[psneeld]

....and marketing.

Stopped listening to marketing when I realized I could read and talk.....to those other than salesmen, boatshows and boating mags.

Once in commercial vessel operations, I started learning about vessels and how to opetate systems at a rate 20 times what I was absorbing as a recreational boater.

Sure there is top drawer in many things people do in life...... not all of us or even most people in life run in that lane....or need to.

 

[diver dave]

One thing I find interesting is not only what people determine to be a problem, but the severity.

....sure an alternator without output are problems. But yet a boat can run hundreds of hours without developing more serious issues till the problen can be fixed. So a spare is nice, but not always a big deal..

Alternators. I'm sure you will appreciate this as a pilot. I was flying something small from andros to PBI with a zero output alternator. It was a "problem" but not yet "an issue". Landed with a radio, barely, but then at customs could not restart the motor to cross the field. It become an "issue" when I had a passenger do a prop start.

 

[AusCan]

I have a spare prop. It's an old one which is LH rather than RH and is somewhat over-pitched but it will get me home if needed.

I wouldn't go out and pay $1500 for a spare if I didn't have this one, although if I had twins with exposed props I might consider it. With our isolation and lack of towing service it's nice to be self sufficient.

 

[tadhana]

...sure an alternator without output are problems. But yet a boat can run hundreds of hours without developing more serious issues till the problen can be fixed. So a spare is nice, but not always a big deal.

With these electronically controlled Tier 3, Common Rail engines, when the alternator fails, you can only run until the battery voltage drops below the threshold low voltage value. Then the engine stops. I do not know how much current it takes to run the engine, and i cannot find it anywhere on the Cummins site or in the Cummins literature. But, having lost all electrical control once due to a lightning strike, i realize how important it is to have an electrical supply to the engine control system. We do run offshore and we do run overnight offshore. For our cruising, a spare alternator makes sense.

 

[GFC]

Beachcomber has 28" props that run north of $4,000 each and I would need to have two spares. Not only does the cost of toting around two props "just in case" become an issue, storing them is another issue.

I have spare belts, impellers, filters and a few gallons of oil on board. Oh, and spare bulbs for nav lights and a pretty good collection of stainless nuts, bolts, etc.

 

[psneeld]

...sure an alternator without output are problems. But yet a boat can run hundreds of hours without developing more serious issues till the problen can be fixed. So a spare is nice, but not always a big deal.

With these electronically controlled Tier 3, Common Rail engines, when the alternator fails, you can only run until the battery voltage drops below the threshold low voltage value. Then the engine stops. I do not know how much current it takes to run the engine, and i cannot find it anywhere on the Cummins site or in the Cummins literature. But, having lost all electrical control once due to a lightning strike, i realize how important it is to have an electrical supply to the engine control system. We do run offshore and we do run overnight offshore. For our cruising, a spare alternator makes sense.

I would just run my genset or even little honda to keep the batteries up and keep going.... no big deal...and if I believe all of them, quite a few people have reported doing this.

there are lots of ways to keep going that many boaters shut down for and wait for a tow. ...not me.

 

[Ski in NC]

Half (ok, well a bunch) of the boats I do engine surveys on have a dead alternator on one engine or the other. Gennie or the other engine takes care of charging. Owners have no idea.

As long as you have multiple ways to charge, alternators are not mission critical.

 

[AKDoug]

I would just run my genset or even little honda to keep the batteries up and keep going.... no big deal...and if I believe all of them, quite a few people have reported doing this.

there are lots of ways to keep going that many boaters shut down for and wait for a tow. ...not me.

That's my backup rather than to carry a spare alternator. I have a Honda 2000i with the 15A outlet, my shore power cord plugs directly into it and will power up the battery charger so the batteries don't run flat if the alternator fails.

Lots of oil, filters (oil and fuel), belts and tools. No spare prop, but I run in virgin waters mostly with very little debris and too deep or too exposed for pots to be an issue. The prop damage I see up here is usually from running aground because the operator wasn't paying attention to where they were..

 

[Waterford]

I've had two alternator failures in five years so I now carry an older OEM alternator as a spare. That probably guarantees I'll never need it. Like most others, I carry spare water pumps but I don't have a spare prop.

 

[psneeld]

I only need the spare alternator to hold the belt for the water pump..... electric is nice but not needed all the time.

 

[Ken E.]

I don't carry either spare alternators or props, but I can get them out of Seattle and up to Alaska readily when we are up there. In the meantime, I have options with twin engines and multiple charging sources, as Ski described. A new layer of redundancy that I'm presently installing is 700 watts of solar panels as an adjunct to genset, alternators and shorepower charging.