Marine engine spare parts are like breath mints: you really hope you’ll never need them, but you know you will eventually, so you might as well stock up.
Okay, so I might be the only person with a pallet-full of spearmint Tic Tacs in his garage, but keeping spare vessel parts on hand is a habit every boating enthusiast should start, and start right away. It’s more than a question of convenience, and it’s more than a question of efficiency.
It could very easily be a question of survival.
A scenario, if you will. You’re driving down the road in your pickup truck, when suddenly your engine dies. No warning, no apparent cause, just poof… dead. You coast to a stop by the side of the road and pop the hood to see what the damage is. Oily smoke billows out and you step away, waving your hand in front of your face. There’s nothing to be done. You need a tow truck and probably a few days in the shop.
In the above situation, it’s incredibly unlikely that you’d be traveling around with the truck bed groaning under the weight of an entirely new engine, or even an assortment of spare parts, just in case you ever broke down on the side of the road in a hypothetical Internet article.
Would you ever let yourself go out on the open water without the necessary marine engine spare parts and tools? As though you were just going for a drive down a dusty country road in a truck? No. Of course you wouldn’t. The stakes are too high.
Keeping your craft stocked with the right parts and tools is crucial, no matter if you use your vessel for recreation, travel, or your livelihood. Making sure those parts are all in tip-top working order is also important. And if you do make an out-at-sea repair, your local marine spare parts suppliers should be your very first call when you make land, to replace the parts you used.
A life at sea is a life of readiness and knowhow. Don’t ever get caught unprepared. Be sure to always have the parts you need — even the parts you only might need — to keep you afloat when you need it most. See more.
