50 Must Have's

[Rumrace]

Agreeable wife is number one.
(My wife made me post this)

[Rumrace]

I lent a car suspension tool to a fellow boater called a pickle fork. He was trying to take an old engine off it’s crushed rusted mounts.
I told him it was for adjusting doors on Ladas. Worked great so you never know when you’ll need a pickle fork.
I have three engines to worry about Yamaha for Dinghy, Yanmar and Onan. None are or have been an issue. The Yanmar has minor alternator mods, serpentine pulleys and alt.
The Yamaha get an impeller annually.
Spares are the list my tools focus on. In front of the Yanmar holds the tools
A crate in stowage has fuel pumps, filters,
Impellers.
I’m comfortable with my spares and tools to take care of electrical plumbing motors but I don’t have a clue what tools I may be missing to handle rigging of anything. I have a self tacking jib track no hardware, no self tacking sail. I’m more likely to remove it than buy hardware and tools. I’ve nothing to repair sails and no idea what I need.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by double u

absolute MUST!

I don't have a clamp ammeter but I do have, at the chart table, individual ammeters for all power sources - wind/water, solar, shore, and engine alt - all of which I can see from the far side of the saloon.

No need to go hunting for the clamp jobby , you know on the instant if something is not charging. Thats how I knew a few weeks ago that I had an alternator issue.

[Bowdrie]

I've always recommended something that seems to invariably be left off the list.
Something to pound on, a few inches of railroad track, or some kind of small anvil.
Whilst the typical "C" clamps are frequently mentioned a couple of sliding bar clamps are quite useful.
Hint: drill out the rivet/raised boss that's at the end of the bar, then the sliding part can be reversed, and the clamp used to push or spread things.

[ChrisJHC]

An often-overlooked one is a few wire coat hangers.

Can be modified for a wide range of uses, including hanging clothes up!

[MicHughV]

Prior to building my steel boat, by happenstance, I came across a 53' steel boat that had been built by a New Zealander somewhere in Canada, who was on his way back to New Zealand with it, but tied up in St. Augustine, Florida, when I saw it.

Invited on his boat, I discovered that his entire forward cabin and forepeak was stuffed to the brim with every tool he had used to build his boat.

Learning that I wanted to build a steel boat myself, he mentioned he'd be willing to sell all his tools to me.

Over the course of about 12 beers or so, we bickered back and forth, as to what the value of his tools might be, and in the end we settled on a sum of about $200.

It took me about about two dozen or more trips from his boat to my car. I first filled the trunk, then the rear seat, then the front passenger seat, finally resorting to tying some tools on top of my car roof. When I was done, there was not a square inch to spare anymore.

My car was literally riding on it's rims, it was so heavily laden. Welders, grinders, and every electrical tool you could possible imagine, plus about a gazillion other odds and ends.

Eventually a majority of these tools found a new home on my boat.
50 is child's play for me.

[ParL]

Originally Posted by Enfant Du Vent

I found from personal experience that for any complex / new-to-you repair a 6 pack of beer is ESSENTIAL.
This allows you to take a logical first step--open a beer--and ponder if "attacking the problem" has the risk of doing more harm than good!
And if you decide to proceed, then sipping on the beer will help calm your nerves.

I first encountered this problems solving strategy quite a few decades ago when veteran of a life in the mountains told me the steps in fording a river: first step as making a cup of coffee. Gave you time to ponder if it truly was a good idea to ford this river in this spot right now. He claimed that following this adage had served him well in turning a number of exiting adventures into boring routine events.[1].



I have tried to follow this -- except with tea; coffee is nasty, bitter and uncultured muck -- in all events that has the capacity to be exiting adventures since.





[1] These days one might say turning type 2 (or even 3) fun into type 1[2]
[2] The three types of fun:

1. Fun while it happens, (a nice sunset, an uneventful passage)
2. Not fun while it happens, but fun when you talk about it later. (the storm you rode out safely).
3. Not fun at all, ever. (dismastings, loss of body parts, etc).

[mlydon]

Some spare wire, and butt connectors to go with the crimpers previously mentioned.
Also not mentioned, but the absolute top must have, is a fly swater…….

Matt

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by StuM

Wot, no WD-40 or gaffer/duct tape ?

These are part of my “ always on board “ bits

[Atcowboy]

Originally Posted by Shrew

This is one of those weird "tell me everything I need to know" questions. If you don't know what tools you need in your tool bag, are you sure you know what to do when they're needed?

I went with the never take the tool of the boat technique. Refit the boat, all the tools used stay on the boat. I did put some effort into thinning out duplicates, and added some stuff that wasn't used (ex: 4' pry bar, 3' 3/8" extension).

Hell, I have a circular saw on board. Too much? I've used it once on each cruise.

My boat has an old small engine, YSM8. I've even thought it would be smart to buy a spare, they're relatively cheap, rebuild it and crate it. Leave it with someone who can get it to a shipping company. If you're on a cruise over seas and have a big engine failure, I would already have a known working engine ready to ship that I OWN and hopefully wouldn't need to pay duties on. Hopefully.

Cape Dory 27

- AT

[JDGreenlee]

Hat's off to previous posters. Spot on mostly! Consider the balanced 4-legged stool: tools, spares, food, toys. I found well stocked chandleries in/near all cruising areas & "treasures of the bilge" VHF nets in some marinas were gold mines. I wish I had floated less tools and spares. Likewise, food was overstocked. I eat less at sea and drag a hook in the grocery store. Take more toys! P.S. To some tools = toys but others not so.

[champ2kt]

Cordless drill, easy to recharge, battery’s can be Magyver’d to power almost anything. Drill can be a mill, grinder, mixer for the wife, wire wheel rust remover, small winch, or even in a pinch….. a drill.

Super handy but not mandatory is a small vice that clamps on.

[JDGreenlee]

Originally Posted by champ2kt

Cordless drill, easy to recharge, battery’s can be Magyver’d to power almost anything. Drill can be a mill, grinder, mixer for the wife, wire wheel rust remover, small winch, or even in a pinch….. a drill.

Super handy but not mandatory is a small vice that clamps on.

Never turn your back on a cordless tool on your boat. I say that with all seriousness. Search CF for my old post fire explosion rescue at sea.

[Airship]

Some of my favorite tools not already mentioned above:
A proper raw water impeller puller.
Oil change vacuum pump/container.
Automatic wire stripper
Grill lighter for heat shrink sleeves and rope end melting - like the Scripto one with a tiny blow torch end and blue flame.
Hot knife for cutting lines and canvas
Speedy stitcher for sail, canvas and splice stitching.

[Atcowboy]

Originally Posted by JDGreenlee

Never turn your back on a cordless tool on your boat. I say that with all seriousness. Search CF for my old post fire explosion rescue at sea.

And then, add up all the miles of all the batteries (Starter batteries, house batteries, phones, radios, headsets, headlamps, toys, laptops, tablets, flash lights, the list goes on of batteries and chemistries) on all the ships on all the seas that have made millions maybe billions of miles accross the ocean without incident and realize how infinitesimal the odds are that you'll have a serious issue with your drill battery. But there is a 100% chance someone will tell you about your imminent death online.

I don't mean to single you out or make beef with you JDGreenlee, it's just a pattern I've noticed on cruising forums.

- AT