After graduating from our boat repair class in the UK we decided it was time to dive in and buy some tools. The shocking part is how little we know about tools. The nomenclature of socket wrenches and electric drills is mystifying. After a bit of web surfing I learned that a driving drill pulsates like a hammer and is good for placing bolts into concrete. Hopefully the boat is not made with concrete so we passed on the driving drill. If your plan to learn about tools is to go to Home Depot and have the staff tutor you then you should work on your plan B right away. The Long Island branch reps are not like the ones in the commercials but in the end we were able to buy many tools from our list. We got a great list to start with from s/v Field Trip and s/v Escapade. Click on what to buy for an Antares to download the excel file. We then added to the list some items we had been told about in our maintenance classes. Craig from s/v Alberta Crewed advised us on our Sears purchase when he was staying with us in NYC.
Before ordering we looked at our current supply of tools. As we are long time Manhattanites, this consisted of a hammer with flowers on the the handle (Thanks Mom), a screwdriver and a number for a handyman. We grabbed the credit card and hopped on the Sears website. I will give the short version of the story which lasted 2 hours. It was hell after the credit card was rejected for “our protection”. I am not sure whether to be angry at Sears or American Express, I settled on being angry at both. I had to ask Gail to leave the room since she was about to travel through the phone and wring some necks.
We set up a a Bento Database to track all of our purchases. When the list is complete, we will post a PDF of everything that came aboard. This supply mission is something the US Army would be proud of. Tools and other items will have to travel a complex supply chain from store, to apartment, to rubbermaid box, to plane, to storage facility in Buenos Aires, to Two Fish and finally to a the proper storage locker.
Now lets highlight a few tools:
Puller
Impeller Puller: Impellers are used in engines to promote the flow of coolant (typically sea water). These little rubber paddle wheels need to be changed and checked on as when they fail they can send debris into the heat exchanger. Buy the right tool and a tough job becomes easy.
Protection: We bought gloves, eye protection and even a full bunny suit for messy jobs.
Bosun’s Chair
Bosuns Chair: This chair can be renamed Gail’s aerial throne and will be used for sending Gail up the mast for fixing broken anemometers, installing chafing sheaves, taking aerial photos and for quiet time.
Multimeter
MultiMeter: Gail will very much enjoy this tool. It is the first step in tracking down issues with the 12 volt system. 12 volt is too weak to kill you unless you try hard while 110 is fairly dangerous. So amateurs are encouraged to stick to the weak stuff. Same advice works at bars by the way. Coors light is 12 volt and dry martini is 110 volt. The multimeter we chose is the Fluke model number 117. It can measure voltage drops and a other metrics to confirm that your system is healthy or to diagnose that dead switch
—Jason
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