Hi all

am in the early stages of retiring and after a lifetime of the usual sailing that most of us do, am now planing the retirement of sailing up to the whitsundays each year. (sydney based)

Essentilly living up that way for 8 months a year. So was pondering one aspect. What are the must have and also nice to have tools in ones toolbox and of course spare parts

Yes got a fair idea of course but hey i thought why not see what the rest of u good folk have on yr boat

Battery angle grinder with plenty of cut of blades. They will just about cut anything.

Gee where do you start. I based my boat in Scarborough marina for two years to make heading north easier. The spares were simply filters,belts,impellers,oil,auto trans fluid, hoses and clamps ,assorted stainless screws,bolts,washers etc, rigging spares as in split pins, extra rigging wire and swages. Electrical wire,solder and soldering iron,battery leads ,fuses, globes, epoxy and fibreglass resins , glass Matt, a small sheet of marine ply,aluminium flat bar,stainless flat bar, stainless threaded rod and nuts ,washers to suit. Drill bits,hacksaw,circular saw,grinder,drill,multi tool ,jig saw etc . Bolt cutters just in case. I dedicated one locker to spares and another for tools. Standard tools were carried,socket sets,Allen keys etc, maybe I carry too much ,but I am a fitter as well as an electrician. Did I use them . Yes . Fixed a mates boat, replaced the rear bulkhead in mine when I found some rot. Installed an anchor winch ,all without the stress of not having tools and the gear to fix it. The most important thing was the "bits bag" you know the bag where all those left over cable ties ,screws etc go. Every thing you needed seemed to be in there.

Beyond brilliant oldboyracer............so you are nearly running a mobile chandlery right there which I totally agree with..........assume your tools and spares for the diesel covered it suitably - age and condition dependent obviously. Also shaft coupling / fasteners and shaft gland spares, emergency tiller, teak plugs for all skin fittings, spare skin fittings and valves, utilux clamps and reinforced hoses.........

Yep, oldboyracer has make a good list. I would add WD40, Duct tape and zip ties to that list (although he probably has these anyway). The amount of redneck fixes you can make with those three items is unbelievable .

As they say "Its better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it"

I'm interested in Gulnare's journey, something I'd like to do, sometime soon!
One thing I took up there, on my 2019 6-month Sea-Batical was a hooker compressor, pretty extravagant, but aside from hull cleaning & some diving. It was handy to have compressed air for blowing out blocked hoses etc. cheers Richard

Hi guys and laddetts. wow quick responses for which i am very grateful for and yes i have taken note of a few items.

Stockie......... thank you for your interest. Well the plan is too sail up from sydney each year around Feb / March / April (NE Trade season) and back again in the Oct/Nov when the NE trades set in. Basic passage planning completed with info from many websites and also some great info when following youtube (look at simon Carter for example) Plenty of info on things like the wide bay bar etc etc. Conceptually thinking of 4-6 weeks each way but of course very fluid. I dont envisage any time frames just pull into each port and good people and bars means more time

Anyone with any ideas on such a plan your most welcome to point out anything you like

Again thank you to all of you replied to my question and hoping many can learn a new thing or two

Regards Rohan

Rust mostly...

One of those really small socket sets for getting into tight places. Normally to get hose clamps off that someone managed to put in a position that's impossible to remove. Always put the bolt ontop so when it leaks it dosn't rust and seize the bolt. Always grease or vas them too. Always 2 on anything under the waterline.
Did a battery drill get mentioned?
A big flat head screw driver that you can get a spanner on.
Hammers! Not a ****y carpenters claw hammer a proper lump hammer!
Lots of hacksaw blades,good ones not cheap ones. Selection of different teeth sizes.
Hammer, and some good drifts.
Beer fridge.