Excess 14 Spares

Whether sailing locally, across the Mediterranean or doing an ocean crossing, there’s a set of spares you’ll want to have aboard. From our experience cruising the Mediterranean, getting parts is a major challenge. We were able to consistently find shackles, but that’s about it. From blocks to quality replacement lines, we struggled, resorting to mules (friends) bringing them from deliveries made to their homes.

Below is the list of stuff we’ve started to accumulate as spares kept aboard. We wish we had this list at the beginning of the season.

Safety/Prevention

• Sump Pump: We happen to have Sahara 2 S1200 but confirm you have the same.
  • Portable 12v sump pump with enough pipe to run from the furthest place on the boat, overboard. Also, make sure you have enough 12v cigarette lighter cord to run from the inside helm station.
• Sump Pump Backflow/Check Valve (1″ with extra barbs as you’ll need quite the wrenches to undue the factory glued in barbs). When these fail, the sump pump will continually cycle as the pumped water into the pipe is just enough to trigger another cycle. This can burn out your pump, so always listen for those different sounds.

Lines

The Excess 14 can handle strong winds, gusts and waves, but the stock lines can not.

Initially, I debated about having lines be “the fuse” to keep a sails and other parts from failing. Over the season, we’ve had too many lines fail, that can cause far more damage, so all new lines are Dyneema core, and lines that go into the clutch, consistently at the same point (jib & halyards), get Technora covers. We’re also experiementing wiht the Spinlock ceramic coated cams. The combination has made a huge difference in our confidence as the Meltemi comes.

Stock Lines

From the Excess Manual, here’s a quick reference, with a few notes(*)

For direct replacements, consider getting 1m longer as you can cut the 1m off, shifting the routine wear marks, extending the line for another season.

I’ve also added a column for what we’ve replaced the factory lines with. In some cases, like the sheets, the diameter is slightly smaller as the replacement is a Dyneema core and Dyneema inner cover for extra strength (Liros Racer.

I’ve alos chosen different manufacturers to have different colors, or different qualities for the specific application.

* The stock Spinnaker tack is short, with the clutch at the bow sprit. If you replace wiht a longer line that reaches back to the helm station, you can let the tack out in deep downwind conditions, using the winch to pull it in as you turn upwind.

List of Lines We Keep Aboard as Spares

The rule of thumb we follow:

What are the minimum spares we need to survive several weeks, and still use all our sails.

When we lost our main halyard from a blown cover in the clutch, we realized not having spares would be a huge problem for the crossings we had planned. We used our Code 0 halyard until we got a replacement.

The other logic is we know at some point we’ll need to replace all the lines. By keeping a full set aboard, we have all the spares we need, and we’ve bought them at a likely lower price than when we will swap them out.

• Code 0 halyard, which also covers the Main Halyard
• Jib sheets
• Reef 2, as it’s the longest of the 3 reefing lines
• 80m of 8mm, Dyneema core, for various things from dinghy davits (overkill), to the main sheet
• 5mm black bungie cord for the main sail.
• Deck safety lines are a likely item for the list. They’re small enough you may not have it when you need it most.
• Dyneema Chafe Cover (4-10mm) – slippery, not for gripping in a clutch
  Cover the reef lines as then enter the leave the mast, go through the tack friction ring enter boom, and go through the clew friction ring.
• Whipping supplies
  • Whipping Twine
  • Splicing Fids
• Spare Main Sheet Fuse: A new Excess typically comes with 2 spares, and the one already on the main. We were surprised to have ours blow while on an upwind sail.
  
  While replacing it, it blew off the roof and started floating away. A quick dive and it was saved, but it speaks to having only 1 spare. We keep two spare main sheet fuses aboard, which we’ve had to purchase through Excess.

The alterative view is to keep a minimal selection, where some lines can double as others. For instance, the toping lift can double as two Code 0/Gennaker/Spinnaker sheets (if a Dyneema core is used).

Unique to Excess

There are a few items that are either unique to Excess, or difficult to find, so you might as well get them from Excess.

• Spare steering dyneema line
  We’ve noticed sme chaffing and this is not something you want to suddenly be without. We just tossed it in the rear of the engine bay, hoping to never need it. But if we ever do, it will be the best decision we ever made.
• (2) each – Bow navigatoin lights (Port & Starboard)
  We were navigating through the Old Evipros Bridge, which requires you to wait ’till they open the bridge due to current. At 3:30am, we were woken up by the radio saying they were ready for us. We went to lift the anchor and switched from our anchor light to our steaming and navigation lights. The nav light switch was blinking, indicating a blown fuse, …great. A quick check of the wires, and the starboard bow nav light wire just popped off. A reset of the fuse and they worked, minus the starboard nav light. With no spares, and no place to find a match, we’re waiting weeks for a delivery from Excess to some location we’ll be in the future.
• We lost our steaming light from a jib hit. Excess is sending a new one. As we learn the part number, we’ll likely get another as they’re also pretty unique.

Blocks, Clutches, Winches

• Main Halyard Block
• Main Sheet Blocks
• Spare blocks for things like bypassing the through-deck block for the davits
• Winch handle – have at least 2 aboard, preferably 3.
  We recently lost a handle when the bow sprit tack for the gennaker partially closed when dousing with a gennaker sock. With the added tension, the sail was flaling, the sheet whipping at the helm station, and it just happened to catch the which handle and tossed it overboard.
• Shackles – lots of spares as they rust, and they’re relatively cheap,
• Clutches/Cams
  We’ve seen wear on the cams, particularly on the high-use clutches like the jib sheets and halyard. If we’re going to replace them, we opted to use the ceramic coated cams.
  • (2) Spinlock Ceramic Replacement Cam Modules (6-10mm)
  • (1) Spinlock Ceramic Replacement Cam Modules (8-12mm)
  • (3) Spinlock Ceramic Replacement Base
• Assorted Stainless key rings for safety lines and misc
• Deck Organizer Sheaves: first, make sure you have the Spinlock upgrade to the deck organizers. Unfortunately, it doesn’t include the Antel jib sheet guides.
  
  We’ve worn a few of these, and expect it’s a combination of salt buildup, and the limited angle the Antel guides provide. I’m considering replacing with Spinlock TSR30 Standard (tall) sheaves that provide the proper angle from the clutch to the winches.

Electrical

• HVAC Motor Starting Capacitors.
  When you want AC, you want it. We blew what we think was already a replacement capacitor. They come in CBB65 (the higher quality ones) and CBB60, the lower quality ones that we had fail. We were able to purchase a CBB60 from an electrical shop, but we don’t trust it. The CBB65’s are hard to find, so have some spares aboard.
  • (1) Saloon  35 uf 370V 450V AC CBB65 Motor and Fan Starting Round Capacitor
  • (2) Port/Starboard 30 uf MFD 370V 450V AC Motor and Fan Starting Round Capacitor
• Fuses
  • 1, 3, 5, 10, 20, 30 amp standard spade fuses.
    You can get these ATC/ATO Fuse Breakers which are awesome to just press the button, then figure out why it’s tripping.
  • Maxi fuses
    • (2) 40amp: electrical cabinet
    • engine compartment

Engine spares

There’s the normal engine spares to keep aboard for the Engines, Geneset and your Dinghy.

• Engine Oil
• Coolant
• Oil Filter
• Fuel Filter
• Belt
• Impeller

Yanmar sells a Engine Service Kit with Fuel and Oil filters, a Belt and an Impeller. Keeping 2 aboard provides for your next service, or an emergency with a spare.

Other Stuff

• Water Maker filters
• Jabsco Joker Valves/Repair Kit: cause they’re easy to replace, and you don’t really want your toilet full of what you flushed last time.
• Hose Clamps – cause…