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The $tingy Sailor

Diy trailerable sailboat restoration and improvement without throwing your budget overboard.

The 6 Best Sources for Sailboat Parts and Supplies

This blog is big on saving money while doing restoration and improvement projects. I’ve literally saved a boat load of money by doing almost all projects myself, buying gently used parts, and shopping for bargains online. As of the time I wrote this post, I’ve saved over $10,000 compared to the suggested retail price of the parts and supplies that I actually used. If that sounds incredibly high, consider Chip Ford who has spent over $40,000 on his C-22 and is now trying to sell it. Boy, I hope he doesn’t have regrets. Good luck, Chip!

Even though I’ve saved 72 percent on average off of retail prices, that also means that I’ve spent a lot of money on the projects you read about here. You can do the math to estimate how much I’ve spent. It’s actually slightly higher than that because I’ve made some minor improvements that have no corresponding savings. So to me, being stingy doesn’t mean being cheap or a miser. If I were truly cheap, I wouldn’t have a boat at all! It just means not paying more than I have to.

In some of the posts here, particularly those that use specialized parts, I mention the sources of the parts and supplies that I used, but in most posts I do not. That’s primarily because in most cases, you can buy the parts and supplies from multiple sources.

Most skippers have their favorite sources for parts. You probably do too and so do I. But if you’re new to sailboat restoration and improvement or just to certain types of projects (such as canvas or electrical), you might be wondering what are the best sources. If that’s you, the following list will give you a jump-start on finding what you need at the best prices.

This is my favorite sources list. These sources are where I’ve actually spent the most money. I’ll give a short description of the types of parts and supplies that I buy there and why. When I buy new retail parts and supplies, I usually try to group as many items together from the same source to take advantage of free shipping offers or to lower the shipping cost of each item.

Understand that this list is very subjective. It’s based almost entirely on the lowest prices. These sources do not necessarily have the best choice of every type of part, the best customer service, return policy, lowest shipping costs, etc. Also, these are general parts sources, not specialists for things like rope, wiring, canvas, wood parts, and so on. I’ve also made many one-time purchases from other suppliers. If there’s enough interest, I might write a separate post about specialty suppliers.

So without further ado, I present a countdown of my 6 favorite sources of parts and supplies in classic Tonight Show ascending order:

What boat owner doesn’t know about  West Marine ? Their biggest advantage is that there’s probably a store near you. Second is they carry just about everything you could ever want. Their prices are usually the highest that you’ll find for most items but they hold frequent sales (usually during the holidays) on popular items like life jackets, electronics, and maintenance supplies that make them worth considering sometimes. For their best prices, watch their website home page for Fantastic Friday sale items each week.

One thing that I can wholeheartedly recommend buying from West Marine is rope. Once or twice per year, they put all bulk rope on sale around 40% off for one day. That beats everybody else by far and you can buy top quality rope for less than even lower quality brands. I’ve bought all my running rigging this way and saved hundreds of dollars.

For sailing gear, I’ve found that it works best to order items online and take advantage of the free shipping to my nearest store. I get a phone call the following Friday telling me that my order is in and I can go pick it up without worrying whether the items I need (or enough of them) are on the shelves.

The stores are run by knowledgeable, experienced, and friendly staff in my experience. I shop there when I can’t wait for shipping from online retailers, I just need a few fasteners to finish a project, or if I only need one or two items and the extra shipping costs to order them elsewhere cancel out the price savings. For example, when I ran out of varnish for my exterior teak restoration project , I bought more from West Marine instead of waiting for delivery from the east coast.

Plus, I like to support my local store a little to help make sure they’re around in the future. They benefit the local economy and provide a valuable service to the local boating community. It’s also about the only place in my area to see and try electronics like a GPS, chart plotter, or VHF radio before buying.

Sign up for the Silver (free) or Gold ($24/yr.) level of their West Advantage Rewards program and you can earn points back for qualifying purchases and receive other benefits.

Nautos USA is the US distributor for Nautos Industria Metalurgica Ltda, a manufacturer of sailboat hardware and accessories in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. In my opinion, they make products that are every bit as good as their American-made competitors but at a fraction of the price. If you’re tempted to buy Chinese hardware because of the price, buy Brazilian instead. I’ve been very happy with the quality and they have a surprisingly broad choice of products. For some items, you can find more technical information to help make your selection on the Nautos factory website .

I purchased all the blocks for my lines led aft and cruising spinnaker projects from Nautos as well as some other hardware. Shipping from their warehouse in Florida has always been fast and their customer service is excellent. They recently introduced free shipping on orders of $50 or more. Download their PDF catalog and subscribe to their newsletter to hear about upcoming sales, which are often 20% off everything online. They also offer many of the same items in their eBay store .

If you need of any parts or accessories that are popular and common to both sailboats and motor boats, Wholesale Marine offers attractive prices. They also stock sailing-specific gear from Ronstan and Barton Marine. Although their selection isn’t large, they’re a good place to go for basic items. For example, when I did my complete rewiring project, I especially appreciated that they sell Ancor marine grade wire by the foot and connectors by the piece and don’t force you to buy more than you need. They too have an eBay store where you can sometimes find extra bargains.

An even better source for electrical supplies only is GenuineDealz.com .

Second only to West Marine in promoting their own brand, Jamestown Distributors is an old school chandlery that caters especially to boat builders. Their prices aren’t as low as some others, but their selection of raw materials and building supplies is unmatched. For example, when I refinished my swing keel , JD had all the supplies that I needed so I could place one order with free shipping, something none of the other suppliers could match. If you’re uneasy about mixing and matching products like resins, paints, primers, and adhesives, you’ll appreciate JD’s own TotalBoat line of products that all come with free shipping.

Like West Marine, JD promotes customer education through their many product demonstration videos and how-to articles. Their website is perhaps the most powerful of all the major retailers in that you can narrow down your search using multiple criteria such as by type, brand, size, price, and rating. The JD print catalog is great for wintertime project planning and seeing some good craftsmanship.

Defender has an excellent selection of general marine parts and supplies including sailing hardware from Andersen, Harken, Lewmar, Ronstan, Schaefer, and Samson ropes. They offer good prices and frequent sales but do not offer free shipping no matter the size of the order. Their customer service has been good in my experience, such as when I placed a special order for mounting parts for my Raymarine autopilot . Their website is relatively easy to use even though it requires you to drill down through category levels. Sign up for their email list to receive sale notices and for their print catalog, which makes good browsing material while you’re um…on the captain’s chair.

By the way, though not as economical as  Sailrite , Defender is an alternate source for Sunbrella canvas.

If I know exactly what I need and can find new parts at auction or Buy It Now prices, the cost is usually lower than even the online retailers. There are exceptions, though. Some dishonest sellers list items at higher than retail prices, sometimes much higher. Or they will try to entice you with an extremely low listing price and hope you don’t notice the ludicrous shipping price that more than makes up for the difference.

Secret confessions of an eBay sniper

I try not to pay more than 60% of retail for used parts unless it’s something very rare. For used parts, it’s most important to know how to recognize excessive wear from normal use, what’s acceptable and you can refurbish, and what’s not acceptable and you should pass up. For that, it pays to do your homework in advance with online research.

For rare parts, you have to be patient and wait for listings to appear. I use search alerts extensively so that I’m notified by email when a part I’ve been waiting for pops up. If I’m lucky, it has a reasonable Buy It Now price and I’ll buy it immediately. If it’s an auction listing, I’ll try to snipe it in the last 10 seconds of the auction. Sometimes I lose, but I often win and lock out other bidders.

If you’re not already an active eBayer, you might be suspicious of getting ripped off, which can happen if you don’t know exactly what you’re buying or don’t ask the seller the right questions in advance. In my experience from almost 300 buying and selling transactions, I’ve only had a couple that didn’t work out as expected. Even those, I was able to work out to my satisfaction by being firm and patient. Trust is the foundation of eBay and their system works well.

Where do you shop?

There probably weren’t any surprises in that list for those of you who have been working on your sailboat for very long. Well, maybe the conspicuous absence of a popular online Catalina parts retailer, which is the last place I go for parts, but that’s a different story . There just aren’t many sources to choose from at the national level. Of course, there are some excellent regional sources as well.

Share this:

7 thoughts on “ the 6 best sources for sailboat parts and supplies ”.

Another great post full of knowledge, and I love the poll widget! #nice

Haha just read your conclusion & yes love the idea of polls, but rarely do I actually click on them #lol

Thanks for the recommendations. A couple comments and additions:

I shop at most of the same sources, but I’d put West Marine a little higher on my list. With a little attention to sales, coupons, double- or triple-points days for their loyalty program, etc., I can usually average 30-40% off their regular prices. And they ship free on orders over $49, so the net price is usually better than Defender. And WM’s return policy and customer service is very good – if necessary, I can return items purchased online to a local store, which is a great option. I still order from Defender as well, but mostly for items that WM doesn’t stock.

One story – I bought a new Lifesling from WM (naturally, when it came on a good sale) before a trip to the Puget Sound. When we were packing the boat, I told my wife to leave out the old horseshoe throwable. But then I left the Lifesling, in its box, on the living room floor, and didn’t realize it until we were 4 hours from home. I talked to the local WM, and they let me buy another one in Olympia, and return the new one I’d left at home when we got back to Oregon. I like customer service that gets me out of my own stupidity! 🙂

For electronics and similar items, I recommend checking AnchorExpress. I bought a VHF, a bulkhead compass, and a few related items from them at very good prices. I believe we also bought our inflatable PFDs there, again at a very good price.

For electrical supplies (wire, heat-shrink connectors, battery lugs, etc.), I heartily second MaineSail’s recommendation of GenuineDealz. In my experience (and MaineSail’s, which is much more informed than mine), the parts they carry are at least equal in quality, and in many cases superior, to Ancor, at a fraction of the cost. Also, they seem like the best source for high-quality heat-shrink tubing. And they don’t charge shipping, so you can order just a single bag of connectors if you need to replenish a particular bin in your parts tub (I try not to abuse that too much, as I’m sure they don’t net much profit on a $4 order…). The only time I interacted with their customer service was when they shipped a bag of the wrong part – they immediately shipped replacements, and didn’t even ask me to return the others.

Nobody doubts with the #1

How do you keep the interior of your 22 so nice. Have you painted the interior ?

No paint, I’m just a bit of a neatnik. As small as a C-22 is inside, you almost have to be if you want to be able to use what space there is and find what you need.

These projects made a big difference and were a lot of work so I like to keep them looking that way: How to Sew Cabin Cushion Covers Refinish Your Interior Teak to Better Than New Sew Your Own Cabin Cabin Curtains and Save Brighten up Your Cabin with LED Strip Lighting

I have a new-to-me Ranger 23, so I’ve been stalking your archives and found this. I had never heard of Nautos – thank you! One of my sources which is not on your list is Garhauer. They sell solid, if a bit heavy, gear at good prices. I think they actually OEM a lot of the Catalina equipment.

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