50 Must Have's

[aqfishing]

LEATHERMAN!!

[moodyfinn]

absolute must have is a vacuum cleaner which sucks and blows with a fluid facility. never had to use a dinghy pump!
dremmel is useful.
rechargeable american fireman’s torches, wonderful things and very reliable for obvious reasons.

[Mr. Breeze]

There is an old bit of advice that goes, "If you can't fix it with a hammer, it is an electrical problem." Everyone has their own "must have" list. Boat/US has a good list. You mechanic at the marina you use to haul-out will give you a good list. Any good basic list will do and it should be a set of tools only for your boat. Keep it aboard. After a year of boating, you will find which tools you need to add. Try to avoid buying every new tool you read an article about or become an impulse buyer at every hardware/boating store. Good regular preventative maintenance goes a long way towards preventing your boat from becoming a floating, over-loaded toolbox.

[dannc]

Originally Posted by JDGreenlee

Never turn your back on a cordless tool on your boat. I say that with all seriousness. Search CF for my old post fire explosion rescue at sea.

Or in a house. I had a NiMH battery short out, start smoking, and if I had not found it, I think it would have started burning, which would have burned down our house.

I lived without a cordless for many years there after, both because of the fire risk and the cost of batteries. Recently, I had to buy a new cordless drill using Lithium batteries to do work where there is no power available and I will only charge it in a location where a fire won't cause damage to anything but the battery and charger.

People may poo poo the risk, which may be minimal, but the penalty for failure is severe. We came too close to that failure for my liking and we now take simple steps to nullify the risk.

Later,
Dan

[ocean5ail5]

Originally Posted by dannc

Or in a house. I had a NiMH battery short out, start smoking, and if I had not found it, I think it would have started burning, which would have burned down our house.

I lived without a cordless for many years there after, both because of the fire risk and the cost of batteries. Recently, I had to buy a new cordless drill using Lithium batteries to do work where there is no power available and I will only charge it in a location where a fire won't cause damage to anything but the battery and charger.

People may poo poo the risk, which may be minimal, but the penalty for failure is severe. We came too close to that failure for my liking and we now take simple steps to nullify the risk.

Later,
Dan

If you really want to play it safe, I know you get fire boxes specially for charging like bicycle batteries which would be a solution.
Personally I only charge appliances when I am around and awake.

[SuW]

A Leatherman multi-tool.

[dannc]

Originally Posted by ocean5ail5

If you really want to play it safe, I know you get fire boxes specially for charging like bicycle batteries which would be a solution.
Personally I only charge appliances when I am around and awake.

Now, I just charge the batteries where they can do no damage if they catch fire, and since they charge quickly, I keep an eye on them.

In my case, the NiMH battery was not abused in any way, yet it shorted out after being used to drill 6-10 holes in plastic, and put back in the charger. If I had not smelled the smoke....

We looked at an AirBnb where one of the house rules, was no unattended charging of phones, laptops, tablets, etc. Why? The owner had a laptop battery that caught fire.

Later,
Dan

[Sailmon]

Great responses. We carry most of the listed items. One item I didn’t see mentioned is a siphon for transferring fuel from jerry cans to boat tanks. We have 2 (one for gasoline, one for diesel) dinghy outboard type hoses with pump ball and no end fittings. Allows me to transfer diesel to boat tank & gasoline to dinghy tank without spilling a drop. Also works well in conjunction with filtering funnel when transferring questionable diesel.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Sailmon

hoses with pump ball and no end fittings.

They're great until the pump ball splits or gets punctured

I prefer the jiggler type- just a hose with a brass fitting on one end.

[Buzzman]

Originally Posted by JDGreenlee

Consider the balanced 4-legged stool...

Just so we're all clear, a four-legged stool is NOT inherently balanced. That would be a three-legged stool.

How do I know this? It was a question in the 4-unit Senior Math exam in my final year at high school, and one of the geniuses sitting the paper didn't know the answer and was bemoaning the fact in the seniors common room afterwards.


The question was:
"Explain in terms of mathematical principles why a three-legged stool is more stable than a four-legged stool on uneven ground".

The answer, for those who haven't twigged, is "three points fix a plane".


When I told him this, he duly smacked his forehead and groaned.


Needless to say, I had only sat the 2-unit 'Z' Math - the math paper for non-math-heads....

I was kinda proud of that. My one - and only - mathematical victory!

And I still need a calculator to do anything above 2 + 2 = 4

[Brioche]

A few repair items I didn't notice yet -- butyl tape, sail tape, wet-setting epoxy tape (sometimes called repair tape or plumber's tape), and plumber's epoxy (the kind in the tube that you knead like clay. Also, advice someone gave me about spares like impellers and belts, change them while they are still pretty good and keep the old one as a spare.

[svloki]

The top 50 is pretty easy, be sure to include a few sizes of vise grip pliers, and lots of steel or stainless wire.



It's all the tools that get rarely get used that are still needed on a cruising boat that push you way over 50.



Prop puller, gear pullers, vernier calipers, slide hammer, big pry bars, 1/2" impact driver and sockets, box of c-clamps, cable or chain hoist, hose splices, hole saws, taps and dies, thread recoil sets, soldering iron, battery cable crimper, big rigging cable cutter, machete, dental picks, files of all sizes, tapered reamer, compressed air source, die grinder, face shield, heavy work gloves, torch for heating parts, hearing protection, big pipe wrench, dirty big crescent or offset wrench, extra combination wrenches that you can bend in custom angles, magnetic pick up tools, pop rivet gun, battery acid hydrometer, impact screwdriver, various chisels for metal and wood, strong vise.



Ok not everyone will know how to use all those, but eventually will need along the way.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Buzzman

J
The answer, for those who haven't twigged, is "three points fix a plane".

Which milkmaids have know intuitively for many centuries

[CAVOK]

A Drone retrieval device. Must have a dive capability to 20 metres.

[Orion Jim]

J-B Weld, multimeter, MC 4 connectors, Tef-Gel, Ancor ratchet crimp tool, windvane spares kit, Felco wire rigging cutter……