[PUP] Double checking your spares, money well spent

[keith at anastasia3.com]

Some of these comments really bother me, Scott, especially D, "If it ain't
broke, don't fix it".
 
Are you saying you don't do preventative maintenance,
preferring for something to break before you replace it? They don't break
sitting at the dock! One of the first things I did on my 15 year old (when I
bought it) Krogen was to replace everything rubber on the engine. Belts,
hoses, impeller, etc. I saved all the old ones and they can be pressed into
service at any time, although starting with new ones, I hopefully won't need
them. I replaced every rubber hose from a seacock with new, wire reinforced
hose. I know all that stuff is good. I wasn't about to wait for an old rotted
hose to break off while underway in the ocean. Also, if you're scared of
working on your systems while at the dock, what do you plan to do underway in
a rolling sea in a hot engine room? If you're not comfortable working on every
system on your boat, you have no business being out in the ocean. 
 
You have
to use what I posted with some common sense. Of course you wouldn't take a
brand new boat and start replacing things. But an older boat... that's a
different story. 
 
C. Who said anything about selling spares? That's a sunk
cost, and you shouldn't expect to strip the boat and sell all the spares.
Whether they're used or not, you might get 50 cents on the dollar for ew ones,
and less for used ones. Except in rare cases, the price you get for your boat
will be the price that the cheapest boat like yours just sold for. Most people
don't care about how well it's maintained, spares, etc... they just look on
the various sites and say "hey, that (insert brand here) sold for $xx. That's
all I'll give you. Occasionally you MIGHT find somebody who really appreciates
good  maintenance, but it's rare. If you're buying spares as an investment for
resale, you're barking up the wrong tree. 
 
B. You're right, time is always a
challenge. But if you rush out into the unknown unprepared, Mother Nature will
smite you at a most inopportune time. Again, see comments on new boats vs.
older boats. 
 
A. The advice I received and passed on seeks to change this
paradigm. If you want to run your boat until it fails, then figure out if you
have the right part, tools, knowledge, etc. Go right on ahead. Not my
preference. These failures never occur while sitting at the dock or in a nice
safe anchorage. They happen when you least expect them and can ill-afford
them. 

I'm not being combative here, I just really shook my head at some of
these philosophies. 

----- Original Message ----
From: Scott Bulger
<scottebulger at gmail.com>
<minimal snipping>

I'm not sure I agree completely
with the advice "If you have a spare,
install it".

While there are certainly
benefits to this approach, I can think of a few
reasons NOT to take this
advice carte blanche.

a.  Spares are by their definition a replacement for a
failed component.
They aren't consumables like filters and such.  When
installed you now have
to do something with the previously in service
component.  If it exposed to
the oil and fuel systems it needs to be cleaned,
greased and repackaged for
storage.  If you used your spare gasket to install
the spare component, your
now left with a used component and a used or useless
gasket.  

b.  Time preparing for an adventure like this is always a
challenge.   Taking
time to replace perfectly good components may take away
from time you need
to accomplish other important details.  An argument could
be made that if
the spare would never have been used you did work you may
never have had to
perform, very inefficient.

c.  When you sell your boat your
spares kit may be appropriate for your next
boat (possible but unlikely).
Regardless the presence or absence of your
spares kit isn't going to influence
the price a buyer is going to offer you.
A prudent seller may show the boat
and make reference to the spares kit
(demonstrating an approach to maintenance
and readiness that makes a buyer
happy) but then NOT sell it with the boat.
Piecing it out on EBAY may yield
a 50 or 75% return on the invested parts,
rather than giving them away as
part of a boat sale.  Who knows, maybe the
boat buyer would be the top
bidder?  If these spares were previously
installed, they are worth much
less.

d.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Anytime your working in and around an
electrical system you run the risk of
breaking wires or damaging components.
I recently had the oil pressure sending
unit wire break because the diesel
engine mechanic was doing a valve timing
job and got a bit close to the
wiring harness.  Now you can argue that having
it fail now was a good thing
and that its better to have it happen under
controlled circumstances, but
there are innumerable failures that could be
induced that would make this
statement untrue.  Also you could introduce the
beginning of a failure that
doesn't surface for some time.

In summary, I
believe this is sage advice within reason.  A prudent person
might look and
insure they have a complete set of tools to perform the job,
but as was noted
you really don't know until you do it.  Do I have a
serpentine belt tensioner?
No, but I have a Zyliss portable vice that can
be pressed into service to do
the same thing, hopefully.  Am I going to open
up my Northern Lights 8kw
genset and install my replacement raw water pump?
No, I'm going to go wire my
Airmar ultrasonic weather station!

Of course, some may ask, why spend the
time on this email?  Because it helps
me organize my thoughts and serves as
fuel for our blog:
www.alanui.talkspot.com

As always, this advice is worth
what you paid for it  ;)

Scott Bulger, Alanui, N40II, Seattle WA