Dear friends,

Just before Christmas, we had a question regarding the tools on board Impi.  So as an introduction to our new website, we thought to answer this question in the following days and link it to our Impi store on Amazon.  We hope it will come in useful if you are preparing your boat to head off on a long journey. Of course, your own technical skills will in a sense dictate as to which tools you are comfortable to use, but this is what we have in our electrical/electronics toolbox on Impi.

When we asked our electrician Sam Brown at Overkill Electrics what the best electrical tool on board would be, and he said  “The best electrical tool, me of course” .  The word tool used here in its original meaning though and no reference to Sam’s character!

Maybe with the January sales now on, you can acquire them for less money. Alternatively, by clicking on the image you can buy them via our Amazon store.  You pay the same price but a small percentage will be paid in commission to us.

Battery terminal lug crimping tool

This is a hydraulic crimper tool that can help you crimp wires and butt connectors much easier.

Jumper cables

Try to find long cables with a high peak amperage.  These jumper cables on Amazon are designed for trucks with a peak of 900 A and are 25 feet long.

Wire stripper

This device is used to strip the electrical insulation from electric wires. 

Side cutters

They are specially designed with a cutting edge that goes down to the tip of the pliers. The advantage being that you can get into tight areas to trim wires. 

Fuses

A fuse is nothing more than a short length of wire designed to melt and separate in the event of excessive current. You need them in several sizes.

AC/DC True RMS Clamp Meter

Digital clamp meter measures AC current to 400 amp, AC and DC voltage to 600V, and resistance to 4 kilohms

Soldering Iron

Self-igniting soldering iron that supplies heat to melt solder so that it can flow into the joint between two workpieces. 

Soldering wire

Solder is basically metal wire with a “low” melting point, where low for our purposes means low enough to be melted with a soldering iron.

Soldering Suction Tool

This tool is used to remove solder from a circuit board.

Surgical clamp tool

This tool is used for holding wires together whilst soldering.

Wire Snake

This tool is used to thread wires through difficult places.

Short handled cutters

Very handy to cut wires in difficult areas.

Magnifying glass

To examine detailed work

We will shortly be publishing a more general tool set as well as an electrical tool list on board Impi.

We have followed the advice of our electricians in the selection of our tools, so we hope you will find this useful.  However you may wish to purchase different brand cheaper tools. Impi Out!