It also might have to do with the fact that the wholesale price of 316L stainless steel has nearly tripled in less than two years. It's fast becoming a case of buyer beware when you buy anything made of stainless. Take a magnet with you. If it sticks, it ain't 316L (the L is for low carbon) and it will rust. I've seen a lot of the stuff that's showing up that looks like 304 s/s, which is cheaper--and rusts in no time.
As for WM, well, they've basically bought out all of their real competition, so they can get away with just about anything they want to.
As for
Lewmar in general, I'm going to try and avoid them if I can. They just don't stock parts for a long enough period after they stop production of a piece of gear. To make matters worse, they use the same model numbers over and over, even though two units made a month apart might not even vaguely be the same. Their
hatches and windlasses are good examples. There are five, count 'em--five versions of the Model 3000
windlass, and none of the parts are interchangeable.
Oh, well.
