Spare parts recommendations for long cruise

[jen1722terry]

Hello fellow owners,

Jenn and I are well into a summer cruise from Portsmouth, NH over to Nova Scotia. We are presently at Northeast Harbor on Mt. Desert Is. (where we honeymooned) and plan to be here for two weeks.

After we leave here, we will be heading "Down East" and around to the southern parts of Nova Scotia, places not known for an abundance of mechanics or spare parts.

So, we were wondering what major spare parts you folks would recommend and where we might get them at a good price. Our Cd 31 has a Universal M-25-5411. We already have a good supply of belts, hoses, filters, clamps as well as a spare bilge pump, radio and GPS. What we're concerned about are more major spare engine parts and other parts for the boat that could be important.

Thanks again, and do all have a great summer!

Jenn and Terry

[Russell]

A rebuild kit for your raw water pump (or even better, but more expensive, a spare raw water pump). A few impellers as well of course.

Plenty of spare wire and butt connectors and ring terminals and such, never know when you might have to jury rig something.

Fasteners of various sizes, cotter pins and clevis pins.

You can go all out on spares, but for Nova Scotia I wouldnt get too crazy personally. You can get spare injectors, coolant water pump, lift pump, starter, altinator, etc... but I think mostly that is going too far for such a cruise.

[Jim Walsh]

In addition to what you've mentioned I carry a couple thermostats and gasket materials, oil filers, oil, fuel filters(several) and a spare starter I picked up on eBay from a truck supply house. Our components are Kubota so you can get a lot of parts for pennies on the dollar if you stay away from the marine parts suppliers.
I have a M25-XPB, not the original M25. I gave my M25 spares to a CDSOA member.

[Maine_Buzzard]

Plumbers putty and a wax toilet bowl ring to plug leaks.

A $100 Crescent toolkit from HD in Ellsworth. Wrenches, sockets, and Allen wrenches. You likely have that already.

10 and 17mm (or as needed) wrenches to bleed injectors and fuel pump. Wrap them in red tape and secure them near the engine. Injector wrench can be a tubing wrench, that surrounds the nut on four corners.

Sail Ripair tape? Extra lugs and needle& thread.

6' of vinyl coated steel wire to fish wires in tight spaces. It pushes better than spaghetti sized wire.

Spare incandescent light bulbs, inside and out.

5' of oak cut to 3/8 x 3/4" makes anything, goes anywhere. Put a screw in the end to grab junk in the bilge, tape a brush on to scrub a corner. Several oak dowels, 1/8 - 1"

An extra empty Plano parts box to chuck parts into.

A piece of 2x6 about a foot long to pound, cut, scrape and beat on instead of your countertop.


Hacksaw and blades. Compound tin snips.

[Neil Gordon]

>>... places not known for an abundance of mechanics or spare parts. <<

Two different issues here. You can't solve the first one by loading up the boat with emergency repair stuff.

[Russell]

>>... places not known for an abundance of mechanics or spare parts. <<

Two different issues here. You can't solve the first one by loading up the boat with emergency repair stuff.

Sure you can, its call do it yourself! Heck, I am in a place with no parts and no real mechanics and my transmission is shot. So I have parts being shipped in and will be doing the transmission rebuild myself, and I would hardly call myself a mechanic.

[NateHanson]

Welcome to the neighborhood! This morning's weather must have been exciting to ride out at a mooring!

Sounds like a great trip. I agree with Russell - Nova Scotia and Downeast Maine aren't exactly deserts of civilization. It's prudent to carry all the typical coastal cruising spares, but there are plenty of supplies along the coast, as there are tons of marine diesels plying those waters, and everyone knows someone with a small diesel tractor too.

If you find yourself needing something for your engine that you didn't bring along keep in mind that marine stores are replaced in these more remote areas by auto parts stores, and fishing supply stores. Even the smallest coastal towns have a NAPA branch that carries a good supply of boat and tractor parts. In Maine you'll find "Downeast Fishing Supplies" with general boat parts, charts, etc, and in Southern Nova Scotia you'll find a lot of that stuff at "Vernon d'Eon Lobster Plugs Ltd". Hardware stores also often carry more boat hardware than you might expect to find in a larger city, since about half of everyone's fix-it projects involve boats in those busy lobstering communities.

Enjoy!

[Steve Laume]

You have had great advise so far. On Raven I carry enough tools to fix pretty much anything. Rather than carrying spare water pumps, starters and alternators, I have either replaced or had them rebuilt recently.

One thing I would add to the list is some tubing and a bunch of fittings for your fresh water system. I had to do an offshore repair of my fresh water system last year somewhere in the Gulf of Maine. You also want to have some means of getting water from your tanks if the pressure pump should fail.

NS has a lot of fishing boats so I can't imagine finding a mechanic would be all that hard if it came to that, Steve.

[Neil Gordon]

Even the smallest coastal towns have a NAPA branch that carries a good supply of boat and tractor parts.

Sure, and in a pinch, you don't have to get the official "marine" version.

[Neil Gordon]

NS has a lot of fishing boats so I can't imagine finding a mechanic would be all that hard if it came to that, Steve.

Places that have lots of fishing boats and no mechanics have lots of fishermen who know how to fix boats.