What Spares to Carry for C-18’s?

It depends on how far, remote you travel.

Raw water impellers, I've never seen the need to carry spare air filters, a boost sensor is good to have, a complete pump in addition to impellors is a good idea. The C18's are Cats best engine and most reliable, followed by c32's.

Murphy's law says that no matter what spares you carry it'll be the one you don't carry that will fail. However spare belts and hoses, lot's of clamps in various sizes and some Flex tape are always good to have.

Ah the ole run forever, fix anything anywhere yourself Detroits. Pretty soon you'll need a computer and a factory mechanic to check the oil on some of these motors.

Gregory poole cat rep recommended I carry a spare rebuild kit for fuel primer pump, the hand operated one. He stated thats the only issue they hand on c 18's. We've put 1500 hrs on in 2.5 yrs. With zero issues.

From what I'm reading here, beyond the basic maintenance, the only thing to know that will help is the phone number of the factory tech with the computer programs.

Carry a spare flange clamp for the water pump. This is the clamp that secures the flange where the raw water line enters the rw pump

Also carry 2 spare “slute” tubes. The 6” long soft silicone tube in the exhaust line forward of the turbo (reddish color).

Both these parts fail, are difficult to source, and easy DIY repairs.

On that point, every time I used my hand pump on the c15's it needed to be replaced, losing its seal, allowing air to be introduced. They were a real SOB. Yes, carry a spare pump aboard, too, unless Cat advises this historical issue has been corrected. Eventually I plumbed my transfer pump to be used to prime the engines so that I never had to touch that forsaken hand pump. Serves a great purpose, but is kicks your shin, too. I hope they remedied this...

Oh, and pencil zincs.

At the point of fuel return there is a check valve that restricts fuel to support the pressurized rail. I actually installed a t-ball-valve at the hose ahead of this check valve which allowed me to push fuel completely through the filters and rail system, clearing all air, and minimizing cranking. Of course you have to return the valve to the check valve flow position prior to that cranking...but it was foolproof if you didn't foolishly leave the valve in the bypass mode...

I would check the zincs monthly, to start. On a set of 3406's I took care of, the lower heat exchanger zinc was completely gone to a nub in 30 days, but all others remained serviceable. That yacht sat at the dock most of the time during winter, and the engines were run to near temp, in gears, at the dock bi-weekly.

You're absolutely right. Owner shouldn't touch. It was more a continued discussion about the priming of these...