Engine Spares and Navigation stuff, er Shopping

Self sufficiency, a continuous rant of all the famous sailors out there. Its the reason I have part of my engine torn apart right now, trying to figure out why fuel is not making it to the cylinders. And a week ago, I didn't have a clue about diesel engines. Thank you Nigel Calder!

During this whole learning process, I tried to come up with an idea of what spares I might need for our trip. I came to the conclusion that aside from a major rebuild, I wanted all the little things that could stop our trusty Yanmar from operating. That means fuel, and air. Plus I wanted to cover all the simple maintenance procedures that keep a marine diesel in a good mood.

Oil changes, Yanmar recommends every 100 hours. That is a lot of oil changes down the east coast. The previous owner was using a Fram oil filter from Canadian Tire. I continued to do the same, but I ordered 6 original equipment oil filters. They are surprisingly small compared to the ones I have been using. The price was a little bit more, but to me it makes sense to use the one recommended by the manufacturer. I'll keep the Fram number handy, just in case.

 Secondary fuel filters, these are the ones that go in the engine mounted fuel filter. Cheap insurance, every 250 hours.

 Spare air filter. I have a spare from the previous owner, now I have two. They are quite inexpensive, and clean air is really important to a diesel. A little dust can do a lot of damage, apparently.

 Starting at the top going clockwise. Water pump gasket. I have two of these, and 3 spare impellers. Important to keep the diesel cool. Incidentally, I am also installing a water strainer to try and keep debris out of the water pump. Next is an O-ring for the fuel filter, in case I accidentally break one while changing the filter. Zincs, 3 sets, the Yanmar has 2 on the engine, both the same type. Cheap insurance against engine rot. And lastly, a package of gaskets for the zincs

 A new set of belts. Although, the larger alternator belt may be obsolete when I install the Balmar 70 Amp alternator I just ordered. I will however keep the original 35 Amp Hitachi alternator as a backup.

Add to this the new Racor 500MA with 4 spare filters, and we should have a fairly good set of spares that will keep our little 13 Hp diesel in good shape. Assuming I can get the thing running.....

Yes, we went to Toronto to pick these up, and while we were there we stopped into The Nautical Mind. I decided to go ahead and get the one Waterway guide I was missing that covered New York, The Hudson, and the rest of the North East US. Its only money right.....

I also decided to pickup the Intracoastal chartbook by John Kettlewell. We already have the guide book, and this new addition of the charts was just released, so made sense to us. I am glad I picked this up, after looking at it, I had no idea how specific the route was. Its a big area with a lot of places to get lost.

We also picked up the last of the three Bahamas chart books. If for some reason we decide to travel down to Georgetown, or jump over to Cuba, we are going to need this. We were told that buying them down there is expensive, so we took the plunge.

Lastly, I caved and picked up the chart for New York Harbour. I am really looking forward to this part of the trip, and although I already have this chart on the computer and the chart plotter, nothing makes things so clear as a full size chart. Did I need it, no, or at least probably not, but it makes me feel a little more confident about sailing around one of the busiest areas we are likely to go through.

It was a nice trip to the city. Hot and sunny, we got a little too much sun, but worth it. We stopped and had fish and chips at an Irish Pub down on the waterfront, washing it down with a cold pint. Walked around the harbour, went to the candy store, aka West Marine, which incidentally is getting more and more expensive. We picked up a couple of small items we hadn't found elsewhere, but other than that Marine Outfitters in Kingston is way cheaper, even before the frequent shopper discount.

I think that I might like to take a berth down there for a month some time, just to soak up the atmosphere. Maybe next year....