Where I have them, I've included the non-800 numbers so that non-US readers can call these places. Typically I've used the phone number of one of the store showrooms, but they should be able to help with phone orders if you are lucky.
M&E Marine 800 541-6501; 609 858 1010: Inexpensive; recent reports indicate a dedication to good service, and their sailing hardware section is now excellent. In-store service said to be good, and a good discount section in at least one store. (jfh)
Bacon's (Annapolis area): 116 Legion Ave, Annapolis, MD. They have everything, new and used, from clothing to winches, stoves, line, you get the picture. They are also a national sail exchange. I think they maintain an inventory of about 1,200 sails, again some newer than others. (cr)
BOAT/US: 1-800-937-BOAT (orders); 1-800-937-9307 (customer service). Another user says: They offer their lowest price policy on anything. We recently wanted to purchase rafting cushions. Our local E&B store didn't have the size we wanted. They did have the lowest catalog price around. They would have special ordered them but I wanted to call BOAT/US first even though they were $8.00 higher. I called BOAT/US, told them the E&B price, and they gave us that price, less 10% of the difference. We didn't have to pay sales tax, and the shipping was much less. The only ``catch'' is that the prices must be the regular catalog price, not a sale price. The other good thing I have noticed about BOAT/US is that they really have low shipping weights. For the same cushions above, BOAT/US had a shipping wt. of 6 lbs each. E&B listed the weight at 15 lbs each. A BIG difference when you have to pay the shipping. If you order by 1pm they ship out UPS that same day. I called on Thursday 10 am and my cushions were at my house Friday afternoon.
Worton Creek Marina (upper chesapeake) has an excellent Marine store and parts dept. Located midway between the Annapolis Bay Bridge and the C&D canel. Great if you run out of food (frozen or fresh) or need a spare part or have a breakdown of one sort of another. Very accommodating and prices are pretty good.
South Coast Marine Supply, Larchmont NY: Much like M&E. Cheaper prices on a few things.(jfh)
Post Marine Supply (1-800-YACHTER); 111 Cedar St., New Rochelle, NY 10801. Lowest price in the Larchmont/Rye/New Rochelle area on bottom paint when I looked around, but I wouldn't buy anything from them if I didn't have to. The sleazy cover photo on their catalog might not be enough to put you off, but the rotten customer relations reported by at least one person suggest that you're better off going to West Marine (for mail order), which will match prices, and which has the best customer relations on earth, or Defender (if you're in the area), which is nearby and treats its customers pretty well, too, at least the walk-in variety.(jfh)
The Rigging Company in Portsmouth, RI, 1-800-322-1525: Unknown to me, but recommended by Roy Smith. They do sailboat rigging. See below.(rs)
Boat/US 880 So. Pickett St., Alexandria, VA 22304 (800) 937-2628;(703) 823-9550; Will meet other's advertised prices on anchors. I don't know about other things. It's where I bought my 35 lb CQR (ouch!). Their cordage is not particularly good quality, according to a friend who recently checked it out while looking for anchor rode.(jfh)
E&B Marine: 800 533-5007 *Good* prices on electronics, especially when they are on sale. Limited selection of sailboat hardware, but their in-store supply of fasteners is pretty good-if you need a 4" x 5/16" stainless bolt, and a nylock nut to go on it, they probably have it. If you want cordage, their pre-cut lengths are a pretty good deal. Their supply is otherwise limited. Rapidly going out of the sailboat hardware business, resulting in some incredible sale prices in the Providence store at least. This is also the place to get those mermaid-shaped fenders and signal-flag glasses, if you go for that sort of stuff.(jfh)
Jamestown Distributors, (800) 423-0030. Excellent source for marine hardware. Good place to look for stainless steel or bronze fasteners. As one rec.boat-er said ``I can't imagine starting a boatbuilding project without a call to Jamestown Marine.''
West Marine (1-800-538-0775), 510 532 0766. 500 Westridge Drive, PO Box 1020, Watsonville, CA, 95077, : Their normal catalog is a pretty informative thing. Their master catalog is something that every sailor should read. You know how you sometimes say "Jeez, I really need the 6 1/2 foot oars, but they only show 5' and 6' in the catalog."? In the Master Catalog, they show it all. And the little ``West Advisor'' sections are in there as well. Prices: higher than other discount places, but not full-price. I admit that I sometimes use their catalog to decide what to get, then look for it elsewhere. Usually not-I appreciate what they do so much that I pay the slightly higher prices in hopes of keeping them in business. When they say that they're shipping today, they are telling the truth. News Flash: in April 1991 I spoke to someone at West who told me they have a price-matching policy. Now there's no reason to go anywhere else. They print their catalog on glossy paper, which is environmentally bad, but they don't use peanuts for shipping any more, which is good.(jfh)
Goldberg's Marine (1-800-BOATING): Identical to E&B Marine.
Overton's (800 334-6541): 111 Red Banks Rd. P.O.Box 8228 Greenville, N.C. 27835 for technical assitance ask for ext. 286
They carry Pleasurecraft and Indmar Engines, and a wide selection of waterski gear. Lots of bathing suit ads in the last 20 pages of the catalog.
Defender Marine (1-914-632-3001; 1-800-628-8225 New Rochelle NY): Great prices, good selection, and reasonable warranty. Badly organized catalog, printed on newsprint: nice for the environment, but harder to read. Also, they tend to be a bit slow. Several netters (jfh, gb1) have had horrible luck with their mail-order business, having the wrong items of damaged items shipped, and then being yelled at when we wanted to send them back. Basically, I'll never mail order from them again. They do have a rigging service, but they send stuff off to Florida to be done (perhaps to Johnson Sails???).
Brewer's Hardware, 161 E Boston Post Rd, in Mamaranack, 914-698-3232. You can usually get things from Defender cheaper, but Brewers has a remarkable selection of hardware (like fasteners) and hardware (like Harken stuff). They're pricey, but the stuff is there.(jfh)
Shoreway Marine, Highway 73, Berlin, NJ 08009. Call 1-800-543-5408 for ordering and product information (609-768-8102 in NJ). This is what Larry and Irwin Goldberg did after they sold out to E&B. Well organised and printed catalog on recyclable newsprint type paper. Powerboat oriented with little of interest specifically to sailboaters but great prices on electronics and other common use items. (wms).
Marine Exchange, in Peabody, MA. According to one netter, ``They sell both new and used equipment and will also special order items for you. They also have a complete rigging service. The owner is Arlene and she is far and away the most knowledgeable person I have ever met in the boat supply business. She can help you figure out what you need for a project and where to find it. She can get it for you at a discount, and if she can't get it for you, she can tell you where else to find it. Not only has she found us a number of obscure items at substantial savings, but she's also told us where to find netting (at fishing supply houses; it's cheapest there); where to get the stern swim ladder welded; who in the area makes custom size, rigid holding tanks, etc., etc. They have hundreds of boating manufacturers catalogs and will look up items, prices, specifications for you. They're a great outfit to deal with.''
Hamilton Marine, Searsport, Maine. ``Good prices, mail order.'' (ph) Hamilton Marine in Searsport, Maine is (207) 548-2985 They have a lot of good gear, a nice catalogue, and are strong on many fishing/lobstering supplies (claw bands, freezer gloves) that are missing from yacht chandleries. Plus they have a lot of bronze fittings around. (db)
Marine Center, 1150 Fairview Ave North (retail outlet); PO Box 9968, Seattle WA 98109 (800 242 6357) ``They are a catalog company in Seattle that I have dealt with a dozen or so times. Prices lower than local retail; 180 page annual catalog + 2 sale catalogs per year. General marine supply: electronic, sail and power equip. Outstanding selection of small specialty stuff: switches, lamps, lifeline stantions to name items I have bought.
Fawcett Boat Supplies, 110 Compromise Street. (410) 267 7547. They have almost everything in stock, and can locate anything else. Unfortunately, they are not cheap. Their self-proclaimed nickname is "Tiffany's on the Severn.'' (ag)
Signet Marine: Several people have posted requests recently for information on parts and service for Signet Marine instruments. Signet Marine went out of business a few months ago. However, Signet has been "reconstituted" under new ownership recently. (mt)
You can contact them at:
Signet Marine Service 505 Van Ness Ave. Torrance, CA 90501 (310) 320-4349
Sailrite Kits, 305 W. VanBuren St.,PO Box 987,Columbia City, IN 46725. 1-800-348-2769, FAX 219-244-4184. They can sell you precut kits, custom stuff and even a line of heavy duty sewing machines, some of which are built to run on 12V. Lots of help for the nervous rookie as well. Good people (no, I don't work there). (sm2)
Nilcoptra 3 Marine Road; Hoylake, Wirral; Cheshire L47 2AS; United Kingdom; tel. 051 632 5365 (eb)
G.L. Green; 104 Pitshanger Lane; Ealing, London W5 1QX; United Kingdom (eb)
Department B; Chevet Books; 157 Dickson Road; Blackpool FY1 2EU; United Kingdom (eb)
Mr. Reginald H. Stone; Red Duster Books; 26 Acorn Avenue; Bar Hill; Cambridge CB3 8DT; United Kingdom (eb)
Gerald Lee Martin Books; 73 Clayhall Avenue; Ilford, Essex IG5 0PN; United Kingdom (eb)
McLaren Books; 91 West Clyde Street; Helensburgh; Dunbartonshire G84 8BB; United Kingdom (eb)
Seafarer Books and Crafts; 18 Market Courtyard; Riverside, Haverfordwest; Pembrokeshire; United Kingdom (eb)
Companies specializing in used and out-of-print books:
W. Weigand and Co.; PO Box 563; Glastonbury CT O6033; [Smaller, general list, periodic mailings.] (eb)
Fisher Nautical; Huntswood House; St. Helena Lane; Streat, Hassocks; Sussex BN6 8SD; United Kingdom; [Huge list, periodic mailings. You can ask to be placed on the ``Yachting Only'' list. General list has the most amazing stuff on it: Admiralty reports, old ships logs, sailor's diaries, shipwreck reports, and on and on. Occasional curmudgeonly newsletter from the proprietor. Very good at searching for specific books.] (eb)
Columbia Trading Co.; 504 Main St.; W. Barnstable MA 02668; [Mid-sized list, periodic mailings. Seems more attuned to the serious bibliophile, e.g., pricey first editions.] (eb)
Safe Navigation in Long Beach, CA is a VERY complete book/chart store. You can get Admiralty, Canadian and US sailing directions, courtesy flags for many many nations, lots of books for the yachting crowd, plus fascinating tomes like "How to store cargo", "Sailing Distances Between World Ports" and "Self-Study Guide for the Merchant Marine Ableseaman Exam". They try to stock a complete set of NOS and DMA charts and also have (so they say, I did not check - yet) Canadian and British charts, perhaps others as well. They do mail order. (db)
The Nautical Mind, (416) 203-1163. Bookstore in Toronto. They seem to have an extensive set of titles in stock. Good source for obtaining European cruising guides on this side of the Atlantic. The only bookstore I could find which carried any British canal guides.(al)
International Marine - A Division of McGraw-Hill Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17294-0840 US 800-822-8158 FAX 717-794-2080 Foreign orders 717-794-2191 8:30-5:00 EST or FAX, use credit card IM is both a major international publisher and a mail order vendor. They put out a flyer about once a month which covers about 300 boating titles, with descriptions. They offer discounts on new releases and on close-outs. They have extensive listings on design, building, maintenance, navigation, cruising guides, fiction, etc., etc. Typical shipping is $3 to $6 in US, $5 to $8 foreign per order. Great catalog, good service (wv)
J. Tuttle Maritime Books; 1806 Laurel Crest; Madison WI 53705; [Smaller list, periodic mailings.] (eb)
Diesel Engines: Info about Perkins deisels is available from Perkins Group of Companies, Eastfield, Frank Perkins Way, Peterborough, PE1 5NA, England, Phone: 44 733 67474