What are the essential tools to keep on board?

[JimS123]

I got BoatUS membership, A 2000 amp Noco unit, and a hand held VHF.
If a prop is serviced every other year, should I carry an additional prop? Can they really just fall off and how often?

In the old days props had shear pins, so you carried a wrench and spare pins. You could "usually" reach out back far enough to change a pin on the fly. Today, with rubber hubs there is no more pin.

A spare prop takes up valuable space. What if the water is too cold to go swimming? Then how do you change it? Besides, most damage will still allow you to idle home. It's a huge accident that TOTALLY renders a prop useless.

I always carried a small tool kit - pliers, screwdrivers, etc. Plus an "emergency" clip together fan belt. A couple spark plugs as well. With today's computer controlled engines, not a lot you can do on the water anyway.

 

[JASinIL2006]

I got BoatUS membership, A 2000 amp Noco unit, and a hand held VHF.
If a prop is serviced every other year, should I carry an additional prop? Can they really just fall off and how often?

Depends a lot on where you boat. If you're somewhere with lots of underwater obstructions (rocks, wing dams, stumps), it probably makes good sense to have an extra prop and hub. I carry one; I'd rather change the prop than try to make it back to the boat launch 20 miles upriver with a damaged prop. I'm a lot more likely to change a prop while out boating than I would be to fix my carb or replace the alternator or replace a steering cable.

 

[H20Rat]

JasinIL beat me to it. It all depends on where you boat. For me, a boatus membership might be useful as kindling if I need to start a fire. Zero use other than that. Same goes for a VHF radio. I could talk to myself all day long.

What you bring also depends on what you can repair. If you aren't comfortable replacing a starter in your garage, not going to happen when out on the water.

 

[Lou C]

If you have a Volvo DP you need a special wrench to change those props, but if you have the standard single prop you can swap a prop on the water if the design of the boat allows it. I have been able to do it on my F/W with the OMC Cobra. If I tilt it all the way up and tie the prop wrench onto one of the rear tie downs just be careful not to drop the prop nut, castellated nut and cotter pin. So to add to spares, yes a spare prop (esp if you have an aluminum prop) prop nut, spacer castellated nut and cotter pin.
With an alu prop its very easy to bend and then you will have a lot of vibration which is not good for the drive propshaft bearings and seals. So yes it is a good idea to see if your boat's design allows for changing the prop in the water and if so you should carry a spare prop.

 

[Monterey296Twin5.0Gi]

I just wanted to share that while we will never travel out of range for Boat US towing, I think it is a good idea to have tools. It could take hours for a tow to arrive and in that time you might be able to fix something or at least band-aid it up. Even for quick maintenance, if you notice a floppy fan belt.

We tried assembling a set of older and cheaper tools for the boat, but we always were missing something when the time came and they were disorganized. So after rounding off a bolt or two we skipped the cheaper all-in-one sets and bought a good mid-range socket set, it had metric and SAE with more emphasis on SAE, extensions, u-joint. Having good quality 6-sided sockets made all of the difference on our older stuck bolts to prevent rounding them off. Also a set of good quality box wrenches. My outlook now is: why even carry tools if those tools fail when you need them most.