Whick Toolkit?

Daydream believer said:
However, I certainly do not take unnecessary extra gear when cruising
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and 'unnecessary' is the difference. I suffered a major toilet problem that required a good deal of work with tools when anchored off a remote island with an official population of two. My pop rivet gun has been used in a number of similar locations and I have lent it to other owners in desolate spots. My Zyliss vice has been used in anchorages all over the Aegean. I am not suggesting that my boat is a sailing hazard on its last legs but when aboard for six months of the year, constantly travelling, there is ample opportunity for things to go wrong.

All my pre- and post-season maintenance and renovation is done in a boatyard where there are no maintenance facilities for yacht owners. It is essential for me to be as self-sufficient as possible. I have fitted three toilets and two holding tanks during my ownership, all in locations hundreds or thousands of miles from home. (Doesn't say a lot for toilet design!) Lesser jobs have been new instruments, plotters, bimini, rudder fittings, lots of rewiring, panels, cleats and clutches, winches, windlass replacement, and so the list goes on.
 
I carry quite a bit in the way of tools .... accumulated over 25 years of ownership...... much of it spent sailing in remote areas.

I don't mind borrowing a tool.... once

These days I don't seem to borrow any..... once I have seen the need for a particular item I will buy one at the next opportunity.

One nice little item I bought a few years ago was a hex bit socket ( just the one... not a set ) .... makes the task of removing and fitting my Volvo dripless stern gland ever so much easier...

How often do I use it? not very often.... same as 90% of my other tools

https://images.homedepot-static.com...n/husky-socket-sets-h3dmm7pchbssr-64_1000.jpg
 
Sometimes when you are up Ship Creek and your paddle is broken you have no option but to borrow.....

That said... my experience is that the skills required to sort the most complex issues are often readily available.

The tools and ... more often... the spare parts... not so much....
 
True, and the skills are frequently accompanied by the tools.

I stick with the "carry the essentials and leave the rest at home" idea, but Viv's boat is his home for months at a time. I'd carry a lot more if I were sailing for months at a time in remote locations - and I'd have a bigger boat to carry it all, but I potter round the Solent and live 20 minutes from the boat, so not having a tool isn't a disaster.
 
Daydream believer said:
I sympathise. I do carry a decent medical kit of course:encouragement:
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Haha, but it would have struggled to fix a Jabsco Lite! After years of keeping it going, fortunately not spending much money but hours of sailing time, I reached a point where the macerator pump bearings had seized when we returned to the boat at the beginning of last season. Stripping the whole unit again freed them and we used the toilet for a month but the noise they made suggested they would not last long. I then found that Jabsco only supply a complete pump unit, not separate bearings. On a USA website I managed to identify the bearing type which I probably could have bought but replacing them would have needed better facilities than I have on board. So I bought a new Twistlock in Lakki for less than the replacement pump would have cost and consigned the Lite to the skip.
 
Daydream believer said:
That being said, a medical kit comes in handy for lots of jobs on a boat. Not just "toilet" problems:encouragement:
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Indeed it does. One of the bonuses of sailing in Greece is that we can buy our medications over the counter without a prescription. In UK we have only been able to obtain three months-worth of prescriptions to take with us, so this has been very useful. This morning we were advised that we can now only obtain two months-worth, a further blow. We can also buy many other medications at relatively low cost.
 
Boathook said:
Vyv. I assume that the riveters are the items with red handles in the grey case standing up at the back. What make are they and would you buy them again. My riveters seem to be reaching the end of their life.
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They are by Toolova, a German company I think. I bought them at the Amsterdam boat show quite a few years ago, mainly because of the Rivnut tools that came with the kit. It has not had a great deal of use, so much so that I brought it back from Greece last season. Has always been good but there is an odd fault with the design of the riveting tool, the nozzle does not seem to be long enough. Works well with it unscrewed from the main body a few turns. At home I mostly use a lazy tongs type that I have owned since 1970 and it wasn't new then!
 
Halo said:
The first priority is to be able to get yourself in if the engine or gearbox fails. So I would suggest getting a basic sets of spanners, sockets, screwdrivers, hammer, mole grips plus a mulitmeter etc then servicing the engine and gear box yourself. This will likely throw up any unusual kit needed. The likely causes of failure are belts, hoses, blockages in fuel, dud batteries and cooling water failure or leaks. If you can tackle these problems then you should be ok and can expand your kit over time and as you need it.
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Or a set of sails?
 
If you're using the engine, it's probably because there's a good reason for not using just the sails, like entering or leaving a marina, or getting yourself off a lee shore in nasty conditions. Having said that, those aren't times when your toolkit will be any help, no matter how good it is; your best bet then would be the dinghy outboard on a bracket
 
I haven’t noticed anyone mention a soldering iron yet. I just have a 240v type but I do keep wondering about a gas powered one. Also gas blow lamp. I use Duck oil on all my tools, fresh spray every year. In a marine environment they are always going to suffer.
Aldi do a small portable vice, dirt cheap and does the basic job.
 
I have taken Vyv’s excellent adVICE (sorry!) and it just arrived. I knew there was a reason why Camper and Nicholson cabin tables are absolutely bomb proof!



I do carry a Camping Gaz blow lamp but Paul Rainbow has made me promise never to solder an electrical connection ever again! He even frogmarched me to Tool Station and told me what crimping kit to buy!
 
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