Stocking up your Boat
Ieuan Dolby
There, you have just got a boat. A nice new hobby for the weekend
and it is time to stock it out. It is time to get all that
equipment and gear that you have read about in all the magazines
and that you have dreamt about for so long. Time to fill that
boat up with all the latest goodies and set sail into the
unknown. Sail out and over the horizon, ready for all that may be
placed in your way!
The engine has always been my greatest problem and I have this
constant nightmare of breaking down whilst away from shore. The
last thing that I want to do is to call for help and admit to
everybody that I was not ready. Spanners, screwdrivers, engine
tool kit and a few essential spares are of course a necessity but
the Chain Block and the torque wrench, the hydraulic spanner and
the ten-pound hammer? I am not so sure that I will ever really
need them at sea.
What are you going to do with them? Lift the engine off the block
and do a complete strip down whilst bobbing on the water? Let us
look into this before we dive in and fill the boat up full to the
brim with unessential items. Before we fill up the cabin drawers
with tools of all shapes and sizes and electrical equipment that
would stretch your power supply to its limits. It must be
remembered that if the problem is a serious one then nine times
out of ten you will not have the correct spare part anyway! So
what do you really need before you make a storeroom out of every
available space onboard?
Tools are essential and maybe the saving grace to any that lose
their power at sea. Tools are required to unblock a fuel filter
or cure a leaking pipe, but you are not going to be doing a
complete overhaul so leave the 18” monkey wrench behind along
with the engine lifting frame and the welding machine. Leave them
safely at home in the garage and set sail with the minimum of
required tools for essential repairs. Have in your boat enough
tools to do the job and leave plenty of space for all the food
and goodies that will make the trip into what you dreamt it would
be like. Don’t turn your boat into a nightmare with unnecessary
tools falling out of cupboards and leaving oily stains
everywhere, just have what you need and set sail happily. Don’t
have your friends and guests complaining of stubbed toes and
bruises on the head as they work there way through the cupboards
whilst searching for some food to eat!
The crucial point to remember about engine maintenance and repair
is that it should all have been done before you left port. The
engine and auxiliary equipment should be in a good condition and
able to do the job it is meant to do before you take the last
rope off the jetty. So any repairs and work should have been
carried out before you even thought of stocking up for the trip.
When you set sail you should have underneath you a boat ready and
prepared for all occasions, one that you can trust in to do the
job that it is required to do.
In many situations the amount of equipment that you carry does
depend on the skills that you yourself possess. First of all, if
you are not very good at engine overhauls then it is pointless to
have the larger pieces of equipment anyway. If you are good at
doing engine overhauls and have knowledge about what you are
doing then you should not have set sail with a faulty engine in
the first place. It is possible that you breakdown through no
fault of your own but it is far better to have a good
communication system to call for help and swallow your pride than
to try and fix the engine yourself.
Essential items therefore consist of a set of spanners, a couple
of hammers, a set of screwdrivers, and an adjustable wrench. One
monkey wrench of a small size, filter removal strap for the Fuel
filters and LO filters, hand crank handle if the engine is small,
a spare set of batteries, some spare Lubricating Oil and some
odds and ends of screws and nuts and bolts. Along with these
items should be the engines tool kit, essential spares for the
engine including a couple of injectors, fuel filter and LO filter
inserts and anything else that the manufacturer recommends for
that engine.
Leave behind the Chain Block, the large Monkey Wrench and the
Hydraulic Spanners. Leave behind the spare heads and the spare
crankshaft and all the spares that require the use of a chain
block. Make sure before you leave that the engine is in top
working condition and that you can trust in its ability to take
you where you want to go without breaking down on the way. And
finally make sure that your communication system is suitable and
in a good working condition, so that if a problem does arise help
is not far away.
There is no pride to think of when you breakdown. Safety is of a
higher priority.
Ieuan Dolby, from Scotland is an Engineering Officer in the
Merchant Navy. He has been traveling the world for 15yrs on an
endless tour of cultural diversification. Currently based in
Singapore he writes various articles for magazines and newspapers
and is working on a marine glossary.
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