What’s in your on board tool box?

[Jas]

What’s in your tool box, or maybe more specifically what are the essential tools you have on board? This may have been discussed before but thought it would be an interesting topic for everyone to pipe in on. Of course this is gonna be different for everyone, based on boat size and expertise, but here’s some of what I have on board, in no particular order.

Funnel, I go through a lot of Yam Lube.

Empty Yam lube container. Never know when you’re gonna need to mark something.

Extra Filter & filter wrench, grease.

WM tool set. Nothing special, $49.95 deal, but has most of the ratchets, needle nose, and pliers I need. Leatherman, always key to have.

WM screws, nut and bolt kit. (I swear every time I need a piece of hardware I check there first and it never matches!)

Hand pump.

Extra flat head and Phillips head screw drivers. Picked up a cheap set and almost every nook and cubby above and below decks has a screw driver in it.

Duct tape… duh.

Some electric stuff, tape, extra bulbs, fuses, zip ties, sand paper, glue, 3M 4200. Flashlight (s)

Paper towels and rags.

OK, there are a lot smarter guys than me on here. What do you guys carry?

 

[Strikezone]

In addition to most of the items you mention I also carry wooden plugs & rubber mallet. Somewhere I was told that a nerf football would also work to plug holes. I also keep a multimeter and a pocket knife with me at all times.

 

[LI Grady]

I've found that a small set of vise grips or Robo grips come in pretty handy.

And absolutly a multi meter.....worth their weight in gold at times

 

[sfc2113]

Great list! As the fuel filter goes, if it is a spin type make sure you keep it dry in a plastic bag, the cardboard box it comes in is not moisture proof and condensation gets into it and will rust the in inside parts that you cannot see over time.
Lesson learned from my prevous boat when I was on the water and replaced it, the rust clogged my inline screen filter in minutes, I was dead on the water scratching my head..... Mech pulled the fuel line and had a shotglass of rust.

I would also add 2 nerf footballs, one small and one large.

If for some reason you get a hole , lose your drain plug or thruhull the sponge affect can save yor boat from sinking. We put one in the drain plug of my Brothers bayliner and it saved the day when someone passed our boat to close and caught our 60lb mono line and the line actuallt got hooked on the hull plug and ripped it off! No kidding, I was on the boat.

The bilge pumps went on and the high bilge alarm went off, Andy grabbed the ball from the tackle drawer and jumper in and shoved it in the hole. 99cent ball saved us from sinking. We found a spare plug and managed to get the ball out and put in a new plug. I dont go out with them on board. Balls and Spare Plugs!

 

[Grog]

The nerf balls are a good idea but was the drain plug screwed in or the rubber expanding type?

 

[sfc2113]

The nerf balls are a good idea but was the drain plug screwed in or the rubber expanding type?

Rubber Expanding, but he did not have the screw in rubber one he had one with a flip lever that got pulled out.


I also used one on my stb thru hull in late may when it snapped off, looked pretty funny wint half a mini NJ Giants nerf ball sticking out the hole.
But it worked.

 

[gwwannabe]

Some great ideas here! While there are several things mentioned that I don't have on my boat (but will), I carry two things not mentioned yet. One is at least an extra gallon of oil and the other is a pair of good wire cutters. I've assisted several boaters who were dead in the water with crab pots wrapped around their props - not the rope but the pot. I've learned that some commercial pots have rebar in them and are a bear to unwrap.

Gary 89 Overnighter

 

[ahill]

Always a tool that I have that's not on the boat.

 

['84Offshore]

Definitly the multimeter and some jumper wire........not to jump start but maybe a length of 12ga incase you need to jump out a solenoid or the like. And some fresh water.........for us FWC'd users.

 

[Tucker]

How come nobody said zip ties?? That's like duct tape

 

[CJBROWN]

Yeah, zip ties, for sure, multi-meter too.

I have two bags, one of spares and such, one of tools. I put them together when we were jeeping off road. On the Rubicon trail there is no sea-tow or AAA. You better be able to fix your stuff or you're not getting out. Took three days to drive 11 miles. I kept those two bags and throw them in the bilge when we go out on the boat.

In spares bag, besides, zip ties of various sizes, there's wire, electrical tape, duct tape, JB weld, wire crimper and terminal set, hack saw, propane torch, tire patch kit, spare clamps, nuts bolts and screws, tube of 5200, some grease, survival kit, locktite, rags...from memory... it's fading. :wink:

In the tool bag, complete sockets and combo wrenches for sae and metric, breaker bar, ratches, 1/4 drive sockets, pliers, cutters, pry bar, ballpeen, torx set, assorted screw drivers of every type, air gauge, DC test light, and a whole host of other assorted tools I can't remember.

Plus a spare prop and nut/washer/key set.

They are pretty compact, the tool bag is heavier than sin, but I could rebuild an entire car in the field if I needed to. I've fixed a few people out there as well.

 

[ksgoldman]

I would add Rescue Tape or Atomic Tape to the list. Although pretty expensive stuff, it's better than duct tape for a number of repairs. I also keep a large rubber mallet (for when you need to hit something but don't want to damage it), a pry bar (haven't needed it yet - but will someday), and stainless steel seizing wire. In addition to my Leatherman, I keep a few inexpensive rigging knives on the boat (so that I can always find one). Electrical tape is a must, as are a few coat hangers (my dry cleaner provides me with plastic coated ones that are terrific for making into "stuff"). A 12 volt test lamp is sometimes easier to use than just a multimeter. Although I don't like crimp style electrical connectors, I keep a whole assortment on the boat for quick repairs. I also have a butane powered soldering iron and heat shrink for doing electrical repairs the right way. My son laughs at me because I have several tool boxes on my boat (I have the small Plano orange water tight boxes). My tools are separated into (1) basic tools; (2) wrenches and sockets; (3) electrical; (4) parts like screws, washers, misc. That way I don't have one tool box that's too heavy and have to dig down to the bottom, and the Plano boxes stack nicely.

 

[Z4J]

motor boat, sailboat

Sailboat: almost no tools on the sailboat, too much weight, we take a small plier and some o-ring cotter pins with a couple of extra clevis pins and plenty of tape. if the engine fails we can sail home. we do carry an extra spinnaker and headsail.

Motorboat: we take a small tool box and our tow-boat card in the motor boat. inshore unlimited towing which we have never had to use.

i think it is great that some boaters can anticipate their next failure and have the tools and parts available for the fix, it is beyond my skill level.

 

[gradyfish22]

My boat has an extensive list of spare parts and tools, I have a crasftmen full mechanics tool set with everything you can imagine, you need both metric and strandard tool sizes, this is a must, most boats a strandard, and engines have metric or both. I have multi meter, a spool of 50 ft of wire for smaller applications, and a 2 wire spool of heavier wire for a main run in a 40 ft length. I carry 2 qts of extra steering fluid and 2 qts of engine oil for safety. Extra cotter pins, 15 ft of hose to replace sea cock hoses if anything comes off or breaks. A full roll of dut tape, electrical tape, tons of SS fasteners, when I buy some to do a project on the boat I buy extra to carry onboard. I have a rubber mallet, hammer, rubber plugs, 2 part epoxy resin, a tube of 3M 5200, tons of extra fuses in all sizes and styles, extra bulbs for everything onboard. I have 2 extra fuel filters, prop puller wrech, filter wrench, zip ties in all sizes, extra hose clamps in all sizes. I have extra battery terminals onboars that can just have a nut tightened onto the wire to hold in emergencies. I've seen it all go wrong so I carry as much as I can fit within reason. I run my boat 110nm offshore sometimes so I need to have as much as possible onboard and need to be abkle to fix most things myself. I also take a cordless drill and drill bits when going offshore. Needed it this year, my upper electronics box lost power, wire rattled loose, well I have fluch mounts so it takes maybe 25 min with a screw driver to get it off to access above, with the drill it took us 3 min. I carry tons of heat shrink onboard along with new electrical connectors that also have heat shrink on them, electrical tape in various colors, so I can mark wires if I need to and not confuse them. Of course screw drivers in various sizes and styles, pliers, wreches, vise grips.

I built a custom mount under my V berth for my tool kit so its locked away and keep my bigger tools in there in one compartment all neatly stacked and stored, and the rest go in a smaller tool box with more generic tools and smaller items under my one helm seat, and some in my storage draws.

 

[Strikezone]

Gradyfish,
Do you do anything special to keep things from rusting? With the humidity we have in SC I have to put light machine oil on most all my screwdrivers, wrenches, sockets, etc. to keep it from rusting. I try to keep a simple set of metric and standard tools on board at all times but some of the extras are only brough aboard when I'm going offshore.

 

[JUMPNJACK]

Tools? Yeah Buddy!

Carry all of the above, but no doubt you will need exactly what you don't have! I carry plenty of everything because I always seem to find Jokers out in the Gulf with all kinds of problems and nothing to work on the boat with but a paddle! Sea Tow and Tow Boat are busy boys in my area. The mechanical types will survive!

 

[blackdiamond296]

everybody and every boat's going to be different- my best piece of advice is any tool you need to work on your boat should stay on your boat. it sounds obvious but think about it- how many times have you fixed something and then taken the tools off the boat and put them back in the garage?

Our mechanic hit us with this little gem a few years ago- what an expensive weekend that turned out to be!!

 

[sluggoe]

for a seacock failure, do you guys carry a wooden plug (usually made of pine)?

i have heard these are the best but cannot seem to find them anywhere -- if not what is the alternative (a rubber plug)....where do you get these?

--slugg

 

[Freedom 205]

No one, I think, mentions bringing an assortment of extra fuses.

 

[seasick]

My Boat US info
I carry a few tools but not a ton; two screwdrivers, a strap wrench, a channel lock pliers and a test lamp. I pretty much stay inshore and nearshore. If I am dead in the water, I will call for help . I make make sure I have an extra anchor.
A cutting pliers is handy not so much for 'repairs' but rather to cut a fishing hook, should someone get hooked.