Chandlers - the good, the bad and the ugly

[Graham W]

Living far from the sea, I'm almost completely reliant on online chandlers for my bits and bobs and have tried quite a few of them over the years.

Anthony's difficulties with oars for his BR17 prompted a large excursion off topic on problems with Marine Megastore and its astonishing number of ugly relatives.  See here for when things started to go off topic http://www.swallowyachtsassociation.org/smf/index.php/topic,1103.msg7846.html#msg7846

Chandlers aren't all bad.  A similarly landlocked Julian has commended Force 4.  I think Seamark Nunn, Baseline, Seascrew and Marine Superstore are good even if a bit more expensive than the out-and-out discounters.  But the latter wouldn't know what a stock item was if it bit them in their nether regions, even if they pretend otherwise. 

Any other recommendations or warnings from anyone, either in the UK or elsewhere?

[Anthony Huggett]

Good call, Graham! I fully agree that part of the problem is that MM's representatives have no idea of what they are selling.
But doing your customer service only through live chat (not email and not telephone), and only in office hours (often with no-one available for hours at a time) doesn't help anyone.

[garethrow]

I have found Northampton Sailboats quite good for some things but also use Force 4. The most difficult / expensive thing to get is flares - because of the delivery charge - typically £12 or more.

Regards

Gareth

[Michael Rogers]

Force 4 and Marinestore (Maldon) are the main ones I have used. Sailboats and Trident UK have been OK. I agree about shipping costs, and not only for flares! It does push up the cost of getting hold of bits and bobs, some of which are 'essential' sometimes. I envy Julian's pole position for Force 4.

This playing on reputable names can be mischievous: Graham has given some fruity examples. We came across this recently in a non-nautical context. 'Victoria Plumb' is a well advertised posh brand for baths, loos etc. We have just bought a new bathroom suite from 'Victorian Plumbing', although actually the experience was positive - quality, price and service were all good.

Michael

[Matthew P]

Norfolk Marine have been useful to me, especially high quality quirky bits like 14mm ID rowlock sockets that fit Bayraiders.  You can even choose between chrome plated and solid brass if you like polishing.

http://www.norfolkmarine.co.uk/shop-online/rowlock-socket-chrome-p-763.html

Matthew
BR20 Gladys

[Graham W]

Browsing the web for bits and bobs is one thing but it's difficult to beat leafing through a printed catalogue.

Gareth's Sailboats do (or did) a good one but the best I've come across is from German-based SVB http://www.svb24.com

Possibly even quirkier than Matthew's Norfolk Marine is this lot http://www.classicmarine.co.uk/boatstore/prodtype.asp. I don't think they do a printed catalogue but some of their online technical articles are priceless.  This US outfit is also interesting http://www.duckworksbbs.com

Perhaps I should get out more...

[Peter Taylor]

My recommendations are Force 4 - who are now ubiquitous around here! Otherwise, by post Seamark Nunn. For stainless stuff, if not available from Force 4 I use Baseline Marine.   For more sailing dinghy orientated stuff I use Northampton Sailboats or Trident. 

When Seatern was being built I made a list of gear I needed (radio, chart plotter, tiller pilot, etc. etc. etc.) and got quotes for supplying the complete list.  Force 4 at Bursledon gave me a very good discount on their normal prices.  I also checked their quote against buying items individually from the cheapest available sources on the web and in so doing found that Force 4's normal prices were generally near if not the lowest in any case.

Since I bought all the gear a couple of things have not worked properly and again,  I got good service from Force 4. The last item was a "stainless steel" outboard lock which turned out to really be an un-holy mix of alloy and stainless metals and which had therefore corroded internally. I took it back after 18 months mainly just to show them how badly made it was... and they gave me a full refund without me even asking!  They were also interested in details of the new, better lock I'd bought elsewhere and were considering stocking it themselves.

Peter

[Jonathan Stuart]

Force 4 have always served me very well and I would recommend them, and Sea Screw have always delivered for anything stainless I have required. A few eBay purchases have come from Pacer Marine and they have always had competitive prices and good service. I found another stainless supplier (http://www.a2a4.co.uk) on Sunday at Beaulieu boat jumble and they have a few things that Sea Screw don't stock but I haven't used them for mail order yet. I also like Jimmy Green marine but don't use them often because they fast delivery prices have been too high.

[Julian Swindell]

I've used a2a4 for stainless screws for years and they have always been very good. I got the threaded stainless rod for my rudder modification from them too.

[Jonathan Stuart]

Thanks Julian, that's good to hear. Odd that I hadn't come across them until I saw their stall at Beaulieu but I've since been on their website and it looks good.

[Anthony Huggett]

However good the chandlers, they are completely let down by Royal Mail/Parcelfarce. Their signed for next day delivery service is basically a lie.

[david]

Here is one that I have used and been happy with the service and quality of the parts.

http://www.marinepartdepot.com/index.html

They ship world wide for free, if you spend $200+

[Ian Loveday]

Peak dinghy in Chesterfield do general dinghy chandlery and make and repair sails.  I took my Jib in to have a hole repaired and was expecting to have to wait a week or so but they did it while I was there.  They also do GRP repairs which hopefully i'll not be needing.  They're worth a look if you need sails repairing.

http://www.peakdinghy.com/

[Graham W]

Northampton Sailboats (sailboats.co.uk) have now let me down twice in quick succession.  I shan't be using them again.

[Graham W]

Marine Megastore of Morpeth (the one with the unfeasibly small UK warehouse stocking over 75,000 items) continues to spawn ugly internet sisters.  Here's a new one http://www.expressmarine.co.uk.

Expressmarine states that some of its stock is lying in its mainland European warehouses and that delivery may therefore be delayed.  I've already made up my mind which part of this statement is true.

Interestingly, they claim to ship to over three hundred countries worldwide.  This would be quite some feat, as it increases the number of known countries in the world by over 50%. The real number includes such renowned seafaring nations as the Vatican, Andorra, Mongolia and Bhutan.

In one of those spooky coincidences, Marine Megastore's unfeasibly small warehouse is slap bang next to another chandlery in Morpeth, P.A.Lynch Ltd, who say that they have been in business for over 50 years and seem to have no connection with Marine Megastore.  Google Earth picture below.  On their website, P.A.Lynch make the following statement in big red letters "Don't mix us up with any other  internet based company's our knowledge is based on many years of experience. We only operate one web site http://www.palynch.co.uk/"

Marine Megastore also currently claim to operate from premises in Hamble le Rice, pictured in the second photo below.  Ironically, this appears to have once been a police station. Google+ says that these premises are permanently closed - what can this possibly mean?