Engine Spares for Blue water cruising

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the lloyds

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We are loading up for a slow circumnavigation starting in June this year, across the Atlantic in late dec etc

We have a yanmar engine . I am interested to know what engine spares you would take. Normally we do our own servicing, oil/fuel filters, coolant replacement, clean out heat exchanger etc

So far I think

Quantity of raw fuel filters
Quantity of fine fuel filters
Quantity of oil filters
V belts
Impellers with o rings
Thermostat
replacement Fuel lift pump
Replacement pump for saltwater side plus lipseal
Complete set of formed engine hoses
Gaskets for heat exchanger ends
Spare normal hose for salt water side , several metres
oil
gear box oil
coolant

Possible spare alternator
possible exhaust elbow[but it is 411 quid]
Considering head gasket

Starter motor? Probably not
relays various

What have I forgotten? Thought I might get the pros in to check timing/valves/injectors and to spot any looming problems.
 
Thats quite a list

Most engines have known 'issues', one way or another so may I suggest poking around the US, Oz and UK internet...

For example ( I too have a Yanmar) the raw water pump may or may not be trouble..I carry a large vice( or more boom boom) and the tools and bearings and seals to 'do' that one in about an hour in the cockpit

Starter, alternator, spare hose and clamps, the belts and fuses and pins to tinker with the gearshift mebbe and def the fuel side o rings and copper rings and stuff..

What else? Dunno. I have a gasket set and gaskety material, a head gasket, no spare injector ( naughty)

Stuff to bipass electrical and watery and exhaust bits to 'get you along to a decent port'..

I have a home made extractor for the cutlass bearing and some quite sexy gasket stuff that you can genuinely use with diesel. And some spare neoprene to address a full fuel tank cleanout via the inspection hatch

...And some of that spares 'stuff', in ziplok bags, has been there a while!

Ah, I have the full paper workshop manual, and parts list, now that does help

Really good sockets and wrenches and spanners and ratchet spanners...Tools, that will fit those back of engine/manifold/alignment/altrrnator adjustment/injector stud restricted areas?
 
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From talking to a few..an alternative means of starting if the batteries are low. Some sort of spring or hydraulic start. I assume there is no hand start?

Re your list: Anodes? As for the elbow etc. How old is it? List sounds good.

Much depends on how power hungry you are. Mate just sailed to Porto Santo (Madeira) with no engine in a 13 ton ketch. But he will fit one before he carries on. He also sailed it solo from UK to the Algarve non stop with no electrics at all..
 
We have a Yanmar 4J4HE.
We had the starter motor fail.
I needed a new one there and then so bought one off Yanmar dealer at some ridiculous price. I now carry a spare starter motor (about £100 off eBay.)
I also carry a spare injector. (Managed to source a new one from the States for a third the price they are here.)
We've got through 2 thermostats. (Now £80 a pop.)
I carry a spare fuel lift pump.
I have a spare elbow but this is only because I took it off to replace it with a high riser mixer.
I don't carry a spare alternator but I did convert the engine to twin alternators.
I think the engine panel is an area you could potentially have problems with. Consequently you may want to carry a couple of spare switches that can cope with higher currents. One should be a momentary switch and the other latching.
This is so you can improvise engine start/stop.

Engine hoses wouldn't be on my list.
 
I bought a little 2 stroke generator that runs on same fuel as the dinghy outboard and a 20 litre fuel can.
Had hardly any spares as you can get them easily for Yanmar.
Being able to charge batteries though was an essential requirement for the radios (SSB and VHF) , autopilot and nav equipment.
I think you will find that all you need is to get into shallow water to anchor then use the dinghy. You can manage without engine power.
A really good toolbox is essential.
 
You don't say what your boat is. Assuming it is a single engined sailing yacht of the usual 13-15 m length:
1 DO NOT overload you boat with unnecessary spares. Too much weight, they take up too much space, and ther deteriorate whether they are used or not. Most basic parts are available in most places provided you don't want Yanmar Brand .... and even so Yanmar produce a lot of industrial and agricultural engine that have similar parts. You can have parts flown in within a week or so in most places.
2 Learn how to sail you boat on and off the anchor. It is really quite easy and improves your confidence.
3 Forget the shaped hoses, just get a few metres of standard hose sizes, fuel, water ..... and don't forget the best quality hose clamps too.
4 starter motor is essential if you can't hand crank the engine, as is a replacement alternator and raw water pump.
5 liquid gasket, fuel filters, oil filters, air filters, alternator and water pump belts. Make sure you have the industry equivalent numbers so you can get non-Yanmar branded.
6 Bearings and water seals for the raw water pump. Water seals will last about 8 month to a year on a 3GM30 and you definitely want to replace it before it fails or you will be replacing the bearings. Industry standard bearings and seals are fine and a fraction of what Yanmar charge. Spare fuses.
7 WD 40, Epoxy Metal in tubes, cable ties, liquid gasket, self-amalgamating tape, crimp electrical fittings, heat shrink insulation, anti-corrosion spray grease .... fit for electronic circuit boards, and really good quality sockets and spanners.
 
TradewindSailor said:
...Water seals will last about 8 month to a year on a 3GM30...
Click to expand...

Good grief - sure you aren't out by a factor of 10? Maybe there's something evil in your local waters - I replaced mine after 1400 hours and 8 years. Admittedly not a Yanmar; a Beta which has a standard raw water pump made by Jonhson, but can Yanmar really be that much more failure prone? Living aboard one might use the engine more, but still I'd expect them to last ~1000 hrs of use.
 
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I have a Yanmar 4jh2-hte

The fuel and oil filters and impeller and belts are 'consumables', replaced on the recommended engine hour schedule.

I carry a complete set (4) of spar injectors. That way if there is a problem, or I want to get them serviced, I just swap out the full set and don't have to mess around figuring out which is bad/worst.

I carry oil for 3 oil changes, because you need at least 2 changes if you get water in the engine, which is more common offshore than anyone will admit. BTW, the trick if you do get water in the engine is to drain the oil, pull all the injectors, throw a towel over the top and spin the engine - makes a small mess but gets all the water out and is quite fast if you know what you are doing.

Other than that, the only thing that has 'broken' is a cracked alternator spreader arm. We had a mexican machine shop make up a new one, twice as thick as the yanmar one, for 1/5 the yanmar price. We have twin alternators on the engine, and we carry a honda, so one alternator going down is not a crisis.

We have changed the exhaust elbow (in NZ, got a bronze one rather than the standard aluminum) - it developed a pin hole. I was able to 'fix it' with marinetex epoxy, until we got the replacement.

After 16 years, I have just gone thru and replaced all the major hoses, had the turbo bearings replaced and the water pump rebuilt.

I carry a bunch of spare stuff (including a whole water pump and full gaskets) but have never used any of it (Note: twice around the world)
 
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I would carry a starter motor before an alternator.

I would only carry spares that I could change at sea. Fedex goes everywhere.

Spare hoses are good. Both water pumps are worth carrying. I am not sure I would carry injectors as they rarely fail but maybe the longest injector pipe which could be bent to fit the others.
 
On my Atlantic Circuit I carried a spare alternator, already wired for an Adverc connection. It was never used, but having seen a chum get royally stiffed when his packed up in the Bahamas, I'm pleased I did.

Raw water pump kit, get someone to press the bearings on before you go, don't try and bodge it yourself (speaks a voice of experience!). Water pump seals only seem to last 1,000 hours.

I'd invest in spare engine mounts before injectors.
 
Have glow plugs (not sure about my spelling) been mentioned (unless it's the same as thermostat)?
Also, not necessarily engine related but a spare cheap fixed blade prop.
 
cmedsailor said:
Have glow plugs (not sure about my spelling) been mentioned (unless it's the same as thermostat)?
Also, not necessarily engine related but a spare cheap fixed blade prop.
Click to expand...

No glow pugs on a Yanmar.
I should have added I also carried a complete spare raw water pump. Glad I did.
I needed to fit it last year. Wear on the housing side considerably reduced the pumps efficiency. It reached the stage where only small amounts of water were coming through the exhaust. The pump housing was the last thing I suspected.
Our engine is only 7 years old but gets some hours.

The trick to keeping the costs down on engine spares is to purchase well in advance. Not when you need them. Then you can keep watching out for items on here or ebay etc.
 
One thing that I STILL haven't got round to doing is changing the syphon break device for a 'piddler' tube. I quite like the idea of seeing the catenary of flow and finger testing the cooing water temp.

( though Salty Johns Cooling Overheat Alarm, available in this very parish, looks pretty good indeed. Proactive n all that).
 
We carried the top list except the fuel lift pump plus a spare alternator that we used. What I did before setting off was call the manufacturers, explain that you are going long distance sailing, and ask what will break. I did that for every bit of kit such as electric pumps, anchor winch etc except radar, VHF radio etc since electronics tend not to break. Everyone I spoke to was very helpful and surprisingly honest. We had a Volvo engine so I called Keypart since they sell the spares.
 
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