What essential tools do you carry?

....and a Boy Scout for taking things out of horses' hooves. :rolleyes:

And on a really old boat, a comprehensive thread gauge and plastic caliper gauge for measuring the old stud or nut for which no tool is held on board, so ! can bring back the right one, next trip.

Also, and truly VIP, a hacksaw frame and pack of assorted fresh blades, in a sealed pack - for real emergencies.
 
john_morris_uk said:
Where do I start?

A VERY comprehensive socket set and spanner set with additional sockets for the removal of injectors and the nut on the crank-shaft pulley.
A complete set of screwdrivers of various sizes and cross and blade ended.
Hard and soft faced hammers
A puller (three legged and two legged)
A rechargeable electric drill
Grease gun
Feeler gauges
Hacksaw
Woodworking chisels (only one or two)
Measuring tape
Digital Caliper (as most will know, the sort that measures inside/outside and depth in mm or thou'
Small vice (to go with my personal large ones)
Set square
Electrical connectors with ratchet crimp tool.
Electrical multi-meter
Various files
Carborundum paper and emery cloth
Bolt/stud extractors
A small set of stilsons
Various adjustable spanners
Grease gun with various greases available
Strap wrench (two sizes)
Various punches (pin punch, centre punch etc)
Metal working scribe.
Torque Screw drives in various sizes
Paint brushes and cleaners.

I haven't started on the spares we carry - as you only asked about tools.

I am sure there are few I have forgotten, and I wonder what will end up on board if we start going blue water sailing in our own boat. One of the reasons I fancy getting a generator is that I could take some power tools with us as well. After all blue water sailing is just a name for mending your boat in nice places.
Click to expand...

You could have been describing my tool box !!
 
It seems to be a fact of life, almost as inevitable as death and taxes that tools on board will eventually be far too many for the space available, but still inadequate for the job in hand, so I reckon on something like this as a reasonable compromise:

Set of combination wrenches
Small socket set (3/8" drive)
Set of screwdrivers - flat & pozi + one Philips for the one screw on the boat that isn't pozi
Set of pliers
Mole grip
hammer
Digital test meter (you don't need a good one, it'll only corrode and work no better than a cheap one, so don't spend more than a fiver)
Wire cutters & strippers
Hacksaw & blades
Vice - I have a pound shop/Lidl/Aldi one with a suction pad that sticks it to the table
LED Head torch
WD40 is a waste of space, but ACF50 is a must, as are gaffer tape, insulating tape & cable ties.

As time goes by, you'll end up with:

Box of nuts & bolts with every size except the one you need
Box of screws, ditto
Box of electrical bits, ditto,
Engine spares, ditto
Another box of tools that you got because you didn't have what you needed in the main box, but still ditto.

The very cheapest of tools are a waste of space, but don't get expensive ones. They rust just as quickly as cheap ones and you swear a lot less when a cheap one goes bonk, bonk, splash.
 
Just break it down ( break eh?) into areas of likely failure and balance that with skill/time/ access to outside help..

Eg rip a sail seam? Thread and needle or sewing machine or tape or credit card and spare sail..
 
timmygobang said:
What's the difference/advantage of ACF50 compared to WD40 out of interest?
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WD40 is a water displacing fluid, although it does have many other uses (like removing sticky label gum for example). ACF 50 is an anti-corrosion penetrating oil, and is much better with stubborn screw threads, stainless/aluminium corrosion problems and preventing other general electrolytic corrosion problems.
 
srp said:
WD40 is a water displacing fluid, although it does have many other uses (like removing sticky label gum for example). ACF 50 is an anti-corrosion penetrating oil, and is much better with stubborn screw threads, stainless/aluminium corrosion problems and preventing other general electrolytic corrosion problems.
Click to expand...

I'll be adding that to my shopping list cheers :)
 
They rust just as quickly as cheap ones and you swear a lot less when a cheap one goes bonk, bonk, splash.

Yup, know that one.. Three halfords 10mm comb. spanners lost into the drink whilst mounting snap davits to the bathing platform. They stayed lost.

One £50 Snap On screw driver did the absolute classic bonk, bonk... teeter..... willitwon'tit... splash. I had to get wet to get that one back..

Now all tools used on the exterior or on open tanks get a bit of string tied to them (tied off somewhere convenient). Not dropped a single one since I've started using the string method!
 
Agree with all above plus
Axe
Lump hammer
Pruning saw
Tennon saw
Hack saw
Junior hack saw
Hand drill
West 5 min epoxy kit
Mallet and chisel set
Soldering iron, solder and flux
Sandpaper - useful for cleaning contacts etc as well as decorating!

And a few useful materials like

Copper nails and plate
Spare sail material for patching
Red lead putty and white lead paste
Loads of wood in all sorts of sizes
Small tarp to protect areas that I'm working on /in
 
rosssavage said:
Now all tools used on the exterior or on open tanks get a bit of string tied to them (tied off somewhere convenient). Not dropped a single one since I've started using the string method!
Click to expand...

When I'm doing something really precarious like bow nav lights, I hang a big garden bag (the kind of thing used for sweeping up leaves) underneath to catch any tools or parts making a bid for freedom.

Pete
 
PhillM said:
Agree with all above plus
Axe
Lump hammer
Pruning saw
Tennon saw
Hack saw
Junior hack saw
Hand drill
West 5 min epoxy kit
Mallet and chisel set
Soldering iron, solder and flux
Sandpaper - useful for cleaning contacts etc as well as decorating!

And a few useful materials like

Copper nails and plate
Spare sail material for patching
Red lead putty and white lead paste
Loads of wood in all sorts of sizes
Small tarp to protect areas that I'm working on /in
Click to expand...

God Bennet! An axe and how many saws?

I forgot the soldering iron (two sorts) and solder. etc that I keep on board.

I didn't list nuts and bolts etc as the OP said tools. I can start listing spares but I think you lot's eyes would start glazing over. Suffice to say it includes gasket material in various thicknesses. Lots and lots of nuts and bolts so I occasionally even have the size I am looking for.

One thing that gets used a lot is one of those 'turbo lighters'. I burn off the ends of whipping twine once the whipping is finished which sort of seals the knot together.
 
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john_morris_uk said:
God Bennet! An axe and how many saws?
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Don't forget he's on a wooden boat.

Our new boat has a lot of very built-in furniture obstructing access to the hull and bilges. I've actually gone to the extent of putting a medium-sized hatchet in the Damage Control bag in case, god forbid, I ever need to smash some woodwork out the way in a hurry to get at a leak.

Pete
 
prv said:
Don't forget he's on a wooden boat.

Our new boat has a lot of very built-in furniture obstructing access to the hull and bilges. I've actually gone to the extent of putting a medium-sized hatchet in the Damage Control bag in case, god forbid, I ever need to smash some woodwork out the way in a hurry to get at a leak.

Pete
Click to expand...
I'm trying to work out how my typing Gordon Bennet turned into God Bennet. But I am posting with my phone whilst lying on my bed in an RAF Mess I am staying in for a couple of nights. (My bedside light doesn't work and I cant find a drinking glass either! :( :( )
 
john_morris_uk said:
".....lying on my bed in an RAF Mess I am staying in for a couple of nights. (My bedside light doesn't work and I cant find a drinking glass either...."
Click to expand...

That would NOT be the Sergeants' Mess. They simply do not have problems like that.....:cool:

And as for essential bits 'n bobs, one might fruitfully add the very specific 4.5mm Allen key for the Barlow winches, together with the small spares one suddenly needs many miles from anywhere and on a Bank Holiday Monday, and that other essential wee tool that just fits the screwheads for the very inaccessible impeller cover plate. Together with the right-sized ring spanners for tightening up the packing in the stern gland, they should be 'colour coded' with 'lecky tape and kept in a Special Place ( or Box ) so they are more likely to be found when needed.

And let us all say a prayer of thanks for the inventor of Plus Gas.... :rolleyes:
 
Useful threat this. Helps with prep etc.

Must buy a fuel filter strap and impeller puller.

Oh and a mirror so I can put in my contact lenses might be a good idea.
 
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