I fleet a baseline colonizer with an armored repair DD (ARDD). You almost never lose the colony module. I use that to establish a colony with a SY on the far side of the cranky sector, and use that SY to build more colonizers. Meanwhile I send the ARDD back through the cranky sector. Then I send pop using armored transports fleeted with the ARDD. Of course, you have to modify this procedure if someone is waiting on the far side.
Edit: make sure that first bridge, then engines are tops on your repair priority list.
[ 15 April 2002: Message edited by: dmm ]