Credit where credit is due

Lots of new experiences with our Gulf 32 Boundary, brings us into contact with lots of different marine vendors and service suppliers.

In the interests of helping others out we’re going to try to keep some up to date reviews of products and businesses that have treated us well in our current adventure.

SERVICES / SHOPS

Seaview Boatyard (Seaview North) – http://seaviewboatyard.com

  • This is the Bellingham branch of Seaview based in Seattle. Aaron and the rest of the crew took great care of us in our major “fix the underwater stuff” haulout in March of 2016 (http://sailing.pictureofnectar.com/yard-life)

Scanmarine Equipment Seattle – https://www.scanmarineusa.com

  • U.S. importer for Wallas stoves, sold us our Wallas 30DT (click for full review), but went above and beyond when it came to pre purchase product information AND post purchase tech support… we were told “if you have ten questions, call ten times”… I only had two questions on the install that required a phone call but they were extremely helpful both times.

Redden Marine Bellingham – http://www.reddenmarine.com

  • Close to the marina, they’re also very pleasant and very helpful folks… not the selection Defender or West has online but no bricks and mortar does, and they have a good selection of the sorts of things you need RIGHT NOW, and if they don’t they’ll do their best to help you find it.

LFS Marine Bellingham – http://www.lfsmarineoutdoor.com/retail-store/

  • Even closer to our slip, we missed stopping in here at first, thinking (very incorrectly) it was more of a sea kayaking / water sports kind of store. Not so… got a great price on anchor chain there, have had a lot of help on other products, and they sure have just about everything.

Northwest Rigging Anacortes – http://northwestrigging.com

  • Kent came up from Anacortes to do the install on our Hood 707SL roller furler, and to replace the headstay. Very nice gentleman, very competent, happy to have us help to keep the cost down, and full of lots of good knowledge about boating life in the Pacific Northwest.

Marinebeam – http://www.marinebeam.com

  • Save yourself the headache of trying to buy cheapo eBay LED lights… Marinebeam has great fit choices and bases that will fit just about any crazy fitting you might have, and it’s amazing the decrease in power draw and heat with the LED’s.

Roche Harbor Marine – http://rocheharbormarine.com

  • We were at their mercy when our fresh water pump failed in Roche Harbor, but they didn’t take advantage of us. Just the opposite, they went out of their way to try to solve our problem (when I thought it was just a bad belt the gal I first talked to offered to pick up belts for me at Napa in Friday Harbor while she was in town doing errands), tracked down a replacement Kubota part (available, not backordered, and a third the price of the Westerbeke part that wasn’t available anyway), and got it all installed – including a good fix of a broken bolt head – on a late Friday and Saturday morning. Maybe I haven’t experienced enough in the marine world yet but their effort seemed above and beyond to me. Plus they were all really nice folks.

 

PRODUCTS

Wallas 30DT diesel furnace – http://www.wallas.fi/index.php?id=45

  • Quite simply “the bomb”. Warm, quiet, dry, low power draw, relatively easy install. Already part of the family… we’ve named him “William” (as in William Wallace from Braveheart). For details on install and use you can read our post on the subject.

Hood 707SL roller furler – http://www.pompanette.com

  • OK, I have no other comparison for this than the old dual line / line drive system that was on Boundary when we bought her, but that thing was a piece of junk, couldn’t reef with it could only furl all in or all out. This appears to be a nice, solid (not necessarily light) furler that has worked impeccably for us so far. And Pompanette offers BIG discounts to anyone with the line drive systems who wants to upgrade to the single line… we paid less for our furler and the install than we would have paid for a standalone furler at retail price.

Raymarine i50 depth and speed instruments – http://www.raymarine.com

  • Not that easy to find standalone depth and speed instruments anymore, but these were just what we wanted… two separate large screens (can read the depth, mounted in pilothouse, easily from cockpit wheel) that just show depth and speed… true no one in the cloud in Boston knows my depth but that’s not what we wanted, just simple and easy. And the speed transducer removes reasonably easily – to be replaced with a plug of course! – so we can keep it out when we’re not on the boat and hopefully limit the marine growth that way.

Snapit Products

Engine Watchdog

  • We bought their TM4 dual temperature sensor alarm and have been very happy with it. Reasonably priced even with shipping from Australia. For a detailed review see Some Like It Hot blog post.

 

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