Very Good Vendor Thread

[chef2sail]

I second Torrenson Marine with specialty parts for my C&C 35
Defender Marine
Dan at Sailrite in Annapolis
Harbor Haven Marina in Rock Hall for impeccable srvice and getting the job done on time and at the price quoted

[Shortman]

Hamilton Marine, prices comparable to Defender, good knowledge. Because much of their business is with fishermen, they have good practical foulies, yachtie & fisherman brands, great fastener selection.
Faircloth Sailmakers - great boat cover, great service.
John Williams Boat Co., Mount Desert Is., ME - allow helpful with DIY owners & put up with my excentricities.
Acadia Sails, Mt Desert - great service.
Old Lyme Marina, Old Lyme CT - parts dept very helpful with Yanmar parts.

[Korben]

Binnacle.com in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Friendly , good knowledge and bend over backwards helpful.

[wwilson]

Last fall ('09) I had Osprey Marine Composites, Deale MD located on the Chesapeake Bay at Herrington Harbor North, repair scratches and chips on my boat that surely must have been made when someone else was at the helm.

The repairs to 9-years of accumulated dings and scrapes came out very, very nicely, including a challenging color match on a shear stripe gouge (always break the raft before the thunder storm). Their price was quite reasonable for first-class work also, coordination with them via e-mail, phone and in-person could not have been easier.

I highly recommended this company. They also have expert reputation for Osmotic Blister Repair - but that is hearsay and I hope never to gain that particular first hand experience.

Feel free to p.m. if you are looking for similar services.

Wayne

[Brezzin]

I have to give a Hat tip to Cramer Custom Canvas in Pawcatuck, CT. They built the bimini and dodger for my boat. After the second season the Sunbrella Bimini began to fill up with water after a heavy rain and not shed it. When I called Chris Cramer about it he came right out and added an additional support for the Bimini. Hardware and labor free of charge. He told me that this should never have happened in the first place so it was his responsibility.

[tweitz]

The Canvas Shop in Huntington, L.I. got a lot of bad publicity a while ago. I mentioned then that they had done my dodger on a prior boat and the bimini on the current one and had done a fine job. Last season I got some pretty bad wear on the bimini, caused by my rolling it up without the supplied cover so it chafed badly on the backstays. The bimini had been through 4 seasons and it never even occurred to me to suggest it was their fault. I dropped the bimini off at the Canvas Store in the fall, they saw what was wrong, and did a nice job fixing it. I expected a bill; didn't get one. All I got was a call asking if I wanted to pick it up or if they should ship it. The only charge was the cost of shipping. Can't beat that.

[Capstan]

Originally Posted by Shortman

Hamilton Marine, prices comparable to Defender, good knowledge. Because much of their business is with fishermen, they have good practical foulies, yachtie & fisherman brands, great fastener selection.
Faircloth Sailmakers - great boat cover, great service.
John Williams Boat Co., Mount Desert Is., ME - allow helpful with DIY owners & put up with my excentricities.
Acadia Sails, Mt Desert - great service.
Old Lyme Marina, Old Lyme CT - parts dept very helpful with Yanmar parts.

Shortman,

I sail an Island Packet 35 on the great lakes now but I used to keep my boat (a Morgan 32) at Old Lyme Marina. You will never find a nicer more helpful group. It is a testament to the family that, when the original owner passed, his children took over and have kept the tradition for another 20 years!

As for Hammilton Marine-ditto They are the best place for quality line and other equipment at really good prices. They also have a huge store of classic bronze fittings by (the now defunct) Wilcox and Crittenden

Cheers

[davmarwood]

I would like to commend the personnel at Harken for their help in solving a problem we had with our 12 year old boat. The Harken outhaul car came up with a missing sheave and pin. Both online and telephone efforts to secure a replacement with the usual catalog suppliers could only produce a replacement for the complete outhaul car assembly at a cost of $319.00 plus shipping. A call to Harken produced a real human who said she would look and get back to me in an hour. During that hour she made the effort to look for and found the sheave and pin, put it on her desk, called me and quoted the cost at $28.00. Three days later I had the parts. Needless to say, I am pleased with this type of service!

[casioqv]

Since there's no "very bad vendor thread" I just wanted to warn people about marinenutz.com

I purchased a mount for my boat BBQ from them, because the product was discontinued but they were the only people on the Internet still listing them in stock. Turns out they were mistaken, and sent me a mount for a totally different BBQ, one that won't work and normally costs half as much money!

They have basically stolen my money, because I still haven't been able to get a refund after 7 months. They usually take about a month to respond to e-mails, and never answer phone calls. They did send a shipping label to return the incorrect product, but it arrived 2 months ago (it took 5 months of pestering from me to get a return shipping label)- and they still haven't refunded me any money.

[Faster]

I have to give props to a couple of outfits after today.

Keeping in mind that we have a relatively rare marinized VW Rabbit diesel engine (a la "Pathfinder")


Heading out yesterday, after motoring in calm for about an hour I decided to check the stuffing box gland (recently repacked).. it was fine but there was 2 inches of water below the engine itself

Further investigation showed that the pressure cap had failed/released, and that I was pushing water out of the reservoir.. Thought about that for a bit and realized that I must have a hole in the heat exchanger and had essentially a RWC engine. Fortunately the flow was that direction and there was no overheating.

Stuck on an island now with only phone service, I called a couple of friends, one of whom found a company in Washington state that built these cores on a per-order basis, with normal delivery 3-5 days. "Great", I thought.. holiday weekend coming up, good luck with that..... phoned them up anyway and I'll be damned if they didn't build one today, the employee took it home with him to Bellingham (a 1 hour drive across the line for us). We managed to nurse it home, sailing when we could, and now we have a brand new one in hand to install tomorrow. No extra charges, no fedex/customs broker fees - and even Canada Customs let us through on the way home.

So - kudos to Doug at AAA Marine Parts of Tacoma WA, and Dan at Seakamp Engineering in Bellingham, who built and handed off this part in 8 hours!!!


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