Experienced cruisers know that the surest way to guarantee a part won’t break while out cruising away from “Civilization” is to carry a duplicate as spare. But there is also a second part to that cruising saying that jokes about the only way to carry enough spare parts is to keep a sister-ship in tow! So part of smart outfitting for a cruise is knowing what spares to carry and just as importantly, which parts to not consume precious storage space aboard and cruising kitty funds carrying. This can be a question with different “right answers” based on the varying needs of different cruisers. A cruiser spending 4-6 months a year on the boat in relative “civilization” can have a different looking spare parts locker than a cruiser crossing oceans or planning to spend years abroad in remote locations.

So if I was setting up my Schenker spare parts kit, what would I carry based on doing Schenker customer service for a living with cruisers around the world? Let’s look at that list, along with explaining my mindset.

First, as big as the world it, DHL shipping makes it smaller. So knowing that going in means it’s not an unrealistic expectation to be able to ship any Schenker or boat part to any port in the world in 5-7 days on the quick side to 7-14 days on the long end. Now of course there can be (usually are) Bureaucratic and Customs Drama on the receiving end and sometimes International shipping costs can be a shocker. For example, to ship a 6” cube or a 12”x12”x5” box weighing under 5lbs to Tahiti in the South Pacific, will cost about $175 in Freight/Agent fees! So that $10 5-micron prefilter element now becomes $185. Many times we will ship parts to the cruisers family and friends coming to visit for them to “mule down”, it’s just part of the Cruiser Experience.

The Must Haves:
If I was heading out cruising, I would at minimum carry the needed Consumables along with the No 1 maintenance item, the Feed Pump.

So for me, that looks like:
Qty 6 of 5-micron prefilters
Qty 2 of Activated Carbon filters
Qty 2 of the SC1 system Pickling and Scale Cleaning reagent
Qty 1 of the SC2 Organics system cleaning reagents.
At minimum a Feed Pump Head rebuild kit, and my preference is to carry a complete feed pump.

Remember, all the watermaker, “Needs” to make water is a functioning feed pump. So you can loose all of the electronics and controls and still be able to make water with a running feed pump in manual Bypass Mode. However, Lose your feed pump and you lose your watermaker.

In what I call an “Advanced Spares Kit”, for someone willing to work with a Schenker tech remotely over Email/Phone/WhatsApp, I would Cary:
Qty 1 of a ERS Pump Seals Kit
Qty 1 of a ERS Check Valve Kit
Qty 1 of a Valve Rod and Main Rod

With this “Advanced Spares Kit”, you have the ability to completely rebuild the moving parts inside the ERS Pump. I have walked cruisers through this process step-by-Step over WhatsApp. I will admit that it’s intimidating at first (it was for me as well the first time), but once you get into it, the ERS Pump really is quite a simple device. If you are patient and follow directions, you can do this yourself.

The RO Membranes.
While I frequently get asked about carrying a spare membrane, it’s something I rarely advise doing. There are two main reasons for my thinking here.

First, RO Membranes don’t typically make good water one day and then fail the next. Membranes usually degrade in performance slowly over time and that’s something you can see happening and plan for replacement.

Secondly, properly storing an RO membrane on a boat isn’t easy and if you don’t, when you need your spare membrane it could be dead! Membranes have to be stored wet and below 140F. The pickling reagent inside the shipping bag easily dries out and is only good for one year.

Perhaps the Best Watermaker Spare to Cary, isn’t an actual part, but rather taking proper care of the parts you already have! It’s oftentimes a bit shocking to me the lack of proper maintenance and care some cruisers give such important and high dollar cruising gear. I can personally relate because as a cruiser myself, I’ve damaged a set of membrane (ok two) by being careless and a bit lazy about proper maintenance. Of co I had the luxury of being able to pinch a few new membranes off the shelf and call it “spoilage” from the inventory to hide the cost from my wife, you may not be so lucky