Nice issue - let me add my experience to the discussion. We cruised 7
years in the Pacific from the Aleutians to New Zealand, from Japan &
China to LA and many islands. We have a 52' glass boat, 4-236 Perkins
and 6 KW Northern Lights genset. Getting ready to go again later this
year.

1st, your location - you'll be in the easy access islands in the
Caribbean - you're not going to Mars, or even the space station. St.
Thomas is regular US territory - complete with NAPA, Autozone, UPS, US
Mail service, etc. You can buy oil filters, Racor filters, hose
clamps, wrenches, even rice and farm raised fresh salmon to your
hearts content. Trinidad is not exactly the remote Amazon basin
either. You're not going to be in Papua New Guinea for 6 months like
we were. What I saying is that all cruisers (even us starting out)
spent way too much money on "what-if" stuff (food, tools, spares) and
dragged too much never needed crap around. Save the money and the
weight. You'll need the space for duty-free liquor.

2nd, some stuff is hard to buy (or very expensive) even in relatively
civilized places - like really good batteries. Friends had a gel 8D
battery crap out in Fiji - they only had 2 8D's. Ended up flying one
in from LA. Big $$$. Don't leave home with crappy batteries. Buy new
now and buy flooded ones. Also things like the rudder - you can't take
a spare and it's hard to get one built - triple check it for integrity
before you leave - even if you have to drill a dozen holes in it to
ensure it's clean inside. Friends lost their rudder (broke off and
sank) 20 miles before arriving in the Marquesas - cost them $1200 for
the tow in and 2 months of talking, waiting, wasting time.

3rd, the stuff that breaks and causes big immediate problems are
things like the alternator and belts, impellers, the autopilot, the
stove & propane system, rigging spares, depth sounder, outboard spark
plugs, steering system, windlass, fresh water pressure pump, those
kind of things. They impact you immediately. You need to prepare for
these situations. Eg, you can get an auto elect shop to sell you or
build for you an exact duplicate drop-in alternator - so you can
change out a dead one in 10 minutes - no spacers, no belt size diffs,
no wiring connector changes. Why take spare bearing and diodes and try
to repair yourself.

4th, other junk like the wind generator (you'll be getting rid of this
if you really like peace and quiet), winch grease, and the other 1000
things can wait - you can live without for a few weeks if something
happens.

I still have 1200 ft of 5/8" nylon line new but 15 years old (and
never used - or needed), old sanders I never use, and on and on -
clogging up the boat.



On Wed, 04 Feb 2004 19:21:42 GMT, "Skip Gundlach"
wrote:


It's a 46 foot ketch with a Perkins 4-154 and a Northern Lights 8kw genset,
both in the "mature hours" segment of their lives but surveyed as sound. It
has the usual assortment of electrical stuff which I hope to mostly keep
happy with ample solar and some wind generation plus more storage than is
currently (pardon the pun - about 440AH) available, as peace and quiet is
high on my list (vs running engines and gensets). Unfortunately to my
taste, a great deal of the electric stuff is 110, but it's got lots of
inverter capability, so the trick will be to keep power happening (see
solar, etc., peace and quiet, above).

The storage available is pretty good, so space isn't a particular challenge,
though, of course, every boat has a limit. For at least the expected first
year, we'll be island hopping, working our way from Ft. Lauderdale or
equivalent to Trinidad or so, and back to our expected Saint Thomas base,
ETD/ETA Nov 04/05.

So, the question is, for a full-time cruising boat equipped as above, what
tools and spares would you bring along? Would you bring specialized tools
(such as some electronic diagnostic/reading stuff) or spares (ability to
rebuild stuff)? If they're not commonly available, I'd appreciate sources,
as well.

Thanks...

L8R

Skip and Lydia