Who says W. Marine is overpriced?

[sailingdog]

A good point is that most of the ATC blade-type fuses are exactly the same, regardless of where they're sold. You can buy the ones at WM for $5 for three or get the bulk pack at Pep Boys.

Some stuff just isn't "marine grade" regardless of where you buy it.

BTW, computer stores do this a lot too. Price an external USB hard drive in the "Mac" section of the store, and it will often be a few bucks more than the identical "Windows" version.

[chandlerman]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

Some stuff just isn't "marine grade" regardless of where you buy it.

so true. You can say the same thing for many different types of things. But too many people don't know enough to understand the implications of the differences, and so they pay for the premium just to avoid the risk of failure.

Originally Posted by sailingdog

BTW, computer stores do this a lot too. Price an external USB hard drive in the "Mac" section of the store, and it will often be a few bucks more than the identical "Windows" version.

Strongly agree here, too, but at least that's just walking from one side of the store to the other.

The issue that I find most disturbing is how a manufacturer will produce the "same" product for two different retailers, one of which is high quality and one of which is low, but with the same or almost the same (say, a "123e" instead of "123") model #. Wal-Mart is notorious for squeezing suppliers to produce lower-quality versions of products this way. This is also why you can't buy (or couldn't a couple years ago) Snapper lawnmowers at WalMart. Snapper refused to play ball, so they were dropped.

[arbarnhart]

Originally Posted by Freesail99

Andy,

I am not so sure I agree with you about Mas epoxy being inferior to West Systems. Having worked with both, I much prefer Mas. If you have facts rather then opinion, I love to see it.

I don't agree with me either.

My point was that they only offer the more expensive brand. The high ratio hardener is a point that advocates of West use as justification and while I agree that I cannot percieve the difference in the applications I use epoxy for, I can logically understand the difference. A higher percentage of the mix is epoxy solids if the epoxy to hardener ratio is high. Epoxy doesn't shrink up when it dries, so the stuff in the hardener is in the dried "epoxy".

Some pople use the 1:1 bar top stuff for laminating even though most people agree it's too soft and it's difficult to thicken enough to fair and still adhere well. 2:1 seems to be fine for laminating over an existing hard surface, 4:1 definitely is and I think it is rigid enough to mold with (assuming the proper glass mat is used). 7:1 is taking it to an extreme that I don't think most applications require.

Anyway, that's why I said it isn't apples to apples. I think Mas makes a fine 2:1 product and for work on boat decks it as just as suitable as West (IMO).

[merttan]

I do...
Bought the Garmin76 for 100$, SH matrix 3000 vhf for 125$ at defender march clearance....
WM is just easy location, that's all...