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Old 03-08-2017, 13:04   #31
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Re: Spare nuts, bolts and screws

Liveaboard, 54' cutter
5kg of nuts, bolts, washers, screws
Deck gear apart...

I notice that many technicians/mechanicians ashore have many fewer tools than me..

Maybe I spent some 4000$ in fittings, tools. Nuts&bolts
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Old 03-08-2017, 15:14   #32
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Re: Spare nuts, bolts and screws

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Have always kept an assortment of nuts, bolts, screws and a few odds and ends fasteners in my spares. A couple of times it has paid off big time. Once on a cruise the gooseneck ripped out of the boom. We motored to the nearest island, disassembled everything, found appropriated bolts, drilled and tapped the holes one size larger and a day later were better than new.

Things are a bit trickier now the world is a mix of metric and SAE standards. Even on my 30 year old engine I have both which can be annoying. I've got a stack of six parts boxes, about 30 cm X 50 cm full of mixed sizes, probably 5 Kg total of SS parts and half the time I still end up going to the store for the right size. Still in an emergency I could almost always find something that I could make work.

When I do buy a size I don't have for a repair I try to buy a few extra to toss in the spares bin.
Running a charter fleet in the 90s in Greece, we had a mix of UK/French?Greek built boats. Plumbing for the most part metric but Greek Imperial. Perkins UK/ Volvo/UK/? Yanmar? You stock as many as you can and improvise when you ain't got non!
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Old 03-08-2017, 15:50   #33
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Re: Spare nuts, bolts and screws

Many years ago when I was building my boat, I was directed to a wholesaler who sold all kinds of stainless fasteners in bulk. I purchased all I needed and a bit more. I still have quite a lot of those wood screws of various sizes, lots of nylon lock nuts, ordinary nuts and loads of machine screws with a variety of heads. I'll never get rid of them because I use them at home too. When I'm dead and buried, my son will fall heir to my workshop and all its contents ... worth a small fortune. Power tools, and machinery as well. You can never have too much "stuff" ... if you don't have tools, how can you repair anything at all? My shop is like an old time hardware store. Rarely have to go to a store to purchase anything any more.
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Old 03-08-2017, 16:11   #34
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Re: Spare nuts, bolts and screws

I too, am a "binner." When I was a child, my Dad had a large bucket where all fasteners were mixed. He was convinced that if I only spent enough hours stirring through that damned bucket, the part needed would always magically appear. For free. My time being free. This theory was disproven time and time again, the hard way.

I won't go into my inventory right now, but the corollary to this is that when some odd screw or pin is removed from the boat, I try to replace it (and all of its buddies) with one of the standard fasteners from my stock. I'd love to be able to get the whole boat converted to just four or five standard fasteners. Some how, the boat seems to swallow up endless quantities of 1-inch #8 phillips machine screws.
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Old 04-08-2017, 01:28   #35
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Re: Spare nuts, bolts and screws

I have containers with little bins in them for bolts Etc that I have in large quantities. I've also gone the route with mayonnaise or peanut butter jars but it's very hard to pick out the one bolt, screw or washer you want. So I highly recommend buying Tupperware type shoe containers. It allows you to quickly sort through and just as importantly being able to throw your spare bolts Etc in without having to sort in individual little bins is incredibly convenient . you might need more if you've quantities of metric but I get by with one shoe box for bolts that may or may not have nuts and washers attached, one box for screws and one box for washers. I also have one for small miscellaneous stuff. For me boat projects are never ending. I probably go through these boxes at least once a week and it is a huge difference from trying to find stuff out of jars.
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Old 04-08-2017, 14:04   #36
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Re: Spare nuts, bolts and screws

Buy your nuts M2 to M12 including some lock nuts but instead of buying bolts buy some metre lengths of bolt material cutting bolts as you need them. Use either a lock nut at one end or two nuts clamped together.

Simples. Easy to store and great value.
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Old 04-08-2017, 15:17   #37
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Re: Spare nuts, bolts and screws

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Take a hundred dollar bill to Lowe's or other home improvement store, buy a a half dozen cheap plastic storage boxes and go to the nuts and bolts section and buy 10 ea of everything you think you could possibly need in SS.
You have just bought at least $500 of hardware if you buy it in those marine kits
Yes,but be carefull for the kind of stainless steel they are made of. To my dismay, I discovered a nut suposedly holding a large zinc anode made of SS that was completly eaten by corrosion. The bolt itself was perfect, so I presumed that the SS nut was of terrible quality. It came from a large chain store. 316L stainless steel, passified if the thing to have on boats.
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Old 04-08-2017, 15:22   #38
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Re: Spare nuts, bolts and screws

Well, plus for the cost of buying "ten of everything" in those little plastic bags at Home Despot, you could get a whole box at a real hardware store. And HD won't have the right sizes or they'll have a screw but not the matching nut...
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Old 04-08-2017, 15:31   #39
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Re: Spare nuts, bolts and screws

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Yes,but be carefull for the kind of stainless steel they are made of. To my dismay, I discovered a nut suposedly holding a large zinc anode made of SS that was completly eaten by corrosion. The bolt itself was perfect, so I presumed that the SS nut was of terrible quality. It came from a large chain store. 316L stainless steel, passified if the thing to have on boats.


Almost always, unless it specifies differently, SS hardware will be 18/8 which is same as 304. You can find 316, but I'm sure it will tell you it's 316 and you may pay a little extra.
Most often the rust you get on hardware is surface rust, and just like rigging wire etc, it often comes from the tools that made it contaminating it with mild steel, passivating is the key here
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Old 04-08-2017, 15:57   #40
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Re: Spare nuts, bolts and screws

I have started passavating hardware myself. Old stuff, new stuff, everything gets a citric acid bath in the sun. I use a pretty strong batch, more is better maybe? I do know that it burns a little and it bubbles so it must be good.
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Old 04-08-2017, 17:05   #41
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Re: Spare nuts, bolts and screws

Where do you get the citric acid?
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Old 04-08-2017, 17:09   #42
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Re: Spare nuts, bolts and screws

At the brew and wine making supply store.
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Old 04-08-2017, 17:31   #43
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Spare nuts, bolts and screws

OK so it is food grade, that was pretty much all I could find, just didn't know if it was strong enough or was it too weak.
You mix the crystals with just enough water to dissolve them I assume, and how long is the soak?
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Old 04-08-2017, 18:08   #44
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Re: Spare nuts, bolts and screws

OK you have it. Very very concentrate stuff. They use it to adj the Ph of wine. It does not seem to matter how long but warmer the better. I remember 1/2lb per gal. of water. It comes like coarse sugar or salt.
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Old 04-08-2017, 18:11   #45
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Re: Spare nuts, bolts and screws

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Thurlow View Post
Buy your nuts M2 to M12 including some lock nuts but instead of buying bolts buy some metre lengths of bolt material cutting bolts as you need them. Use either a lock nut at one end or two nuts clamped together.

Simples. Easy to store and great value.
Good idea. A little extra work to cut off the right lengths but I keep extra long bolts and do the same if I need shorter ones.

Another option, instead of lock nuts or double nuts use acorn nuts.

By the way, "over here" it is called threaded rod and comes in inches.
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