Association Forum - Rant, why are things labeled marine so expensive?

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Rant, why are things labeled marine so expensive?

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

Member Avatar

USA
4479 Posts

Initially Posted - 10/14/2006 : 22:41:41

I just got back from a trip to my local West Marine, I needed some wire and butt connectors to make some repairs to the charging circuit. WM wanted $5.29 for three (3) heat shrink butt connectors and $1.80/ft for the wire. Now I understand tinned wire is more expensive but nearly $2/connector? I walked out of the store, drove about half a mile to the local electronics house, and was able to buy 25 heat shrink butt connectors for $15. That's 1/3 the price per connector ($1.76 vs $0.60). And the wire was 1/3 the price as well.

Grrrrr...

David
C-250 Mainsheet Editor

Sirius Lepak
1997 C-250 WK TR #271 --Seattle area Port Captain --

Edited by - on

OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
3486 Posts

Response Posted - 10/15/2006 : 00:08:27

I think it has to do not only that the matls are marine grade but that the marine population, though large by some standards, is small compared to all the homes and apartments where those connectors could also be used. I think the same scenario applies to college textbooks. You could buy a popular fiction or non-fiction book with same dimensions from a discount book store for $40 but if a college textbook (which has a limited distribution) it can cost over $100 per book.

By the way, West Marine was having an on-line sale of those popular Krocs (not one of those copycat brand shoes). They were selling it for ~$5 less than can be bought at many local stores. So.....that is probably one of the rare times that they can beat or be competitive with the non-marine stores.

I also had a similar electrical connector price comparison as your and opted for Home Depot. I bought a male AC plug to convert the battery charger wires to plug-in. The male adapter was something like $20 from West Marine. Home Depot had the connector for less than $10. I sail in freshwater and so interior air does not have corrosive concerns that would be present near seawater. The windup was that I bought the adapter but wound up hard wiring it anyway....cost...$0 for the hookup.

Edited by - on

existentialsailor
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1180 Posts

Response Posted - 10/15/2006 : 06:07:27

Check this place out next time:

http://bestboatwire.com/catalog/default.php?cPath=53

Edited by - on

britinusa
Web Editor

Members Avatar

USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 10/15/2006 : 07:12:11

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Check this place out next time:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

That site is a keeper!
I guess Larry was right, and as bestboatwire.com concentrates on a particular market, they can blow the others out of the water!

Paul.

Edited by - on

OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
3486 Posts

Response Posted - 10/15/2006 : 07:53:15

Hey Rick !

That's a great site - I saved it ! I may order wire from them soon.

Here's a comparison -
I wanted to get quad wire 16/4 or probably 14/4 gage to rewire from the circuit panel to the mast deck fitting. The quad wire is hard to come by especially in the 14/4 gage (round configuration). Anyway, a check of West Marine (WM)and your link to BestBoatWire (BBW) indicates the following:

WM - flat config (less preferred) 16/4 quad gage $1.90/ft

BBW - Round Config (preferred) 16/4 quad gage $.74/ft
14/4 quad gage $.85/ft

Edited by - on

cat1951
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
636 Posts

Response Posted - 10/15/2006 : 10:58:20

David, don't feel too bad. It is the same in Remote Control aircraft. You walk into a hobby shop and you will pay through the nose for common items that can be found at home depot. The internet is a great equalizer on a lot of stuff, and many local shops have trouble competing. I don't mind keeping the local guy in business, but I won't pay double or triple for something that I can buy down the street for a lot less. In marine products, I seem to be much more tolerant since everything around water degrades much more quickly unless it is made with higher quality materials. That I have no problem with.

Edited by - on

Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
6855 Posts

Response Posted - 10/15/2006 : 18:31:53

Most marine electrical is coated with tin to prevent corrosion, however the guy who taught me how to sail, who was also a pilot told me this little story.

A company makes a vat of goop and pours it into a 50 gallon drum and sells it as wholesale goop for 80 Bucks, they pour the same goop from the same vat into a 5 gallon pail, mark it as industrial and sell it for 80 bucks, they pour the same stuff from the same vat into a 1 gallon pail and mark it as automotive and sell it for 80 bucks, they then pour from the same vat a quart and mark it as Marine grade and sell it for 80 bucks, then lastly they put the stuff in a toothpaste tube stamped it Aviation and sell it for 80 bucks.

The entire vat only cost about 2 bucks to make....

There is a ton of items that are indeed marine grade and you don't deviate from them. Then again there are a ton of things where the only difference is the label. I try to read the back of the label as often as possible, mostly because I like to know what chemicals are going to be responsible for all the diagnoses later in life. I also do a lot of research online and here.

- have your shopping list ready prior to the project and then go to Home depot, Lowes and Kmart then go to West Marine etc. Some of the simple items are going to be a lot cheaper at the Pot and the Lowes.

Buy on bulk in line and create a few tackleboxes with spare parts. Shop at froogle.com

Edited by - on

Happy D
Admiral

Members Avatar

921 Posts

Response Posted - 10/16/2006 : 07:46:52

[url="http://www.genuinedealz.com/"]Genuine Dealz[/url] has great prices also. It pays to spend a few minutes and shop around.
West Marine is the most expensive of all stores. If you find a better price, even on the net, print the page, take it with you, and West Marine will honor that price.

Edited by - on

Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
6855 Posts

Response Posted - 10/16/2006 : 09:04:49

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Happy D
 [url="http://www.genuinedealz.com/"]Genuine Dealz[/url] has great prices also. It pays to spend a few minutes and shop around.
West Marine is the most expensive of all stores. If you find a better price, even on the net, print the page, take it with you, and West Marine will honor that price.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
And if they have free shipping online, make sure you get a printout of that too, or West Marine will charge you the equivalent of shipping too.

Edited by - on

dblitz
Navigator

Members Avatar

240 Posts

Response Posted - 10/17/2006 : 17:59:00

WM honoring a web page is news to me because they didn't honor a Boater's World catalog published price on a Groco marine head I bought. Boater's World had it for much, much less but the store didn't have it on stock. So I went to WM and they said that Boater's World catalogs "weren't updated frequently enough" to account for price increases. What a line. Turns out, I called Boater's World catalog and they shipped it for free and I got it in 3 days. Too bad Boater's World doesn't carry sailing stuff, they could do some damage to West Marine and that wouldn't be too bad. WM is really abusive with pricing. Avoid them like the plague.

Edited by - on

JJM
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
170 Posts

Response Posted - 10/18/2006 : 16:36:50

I believe it was last year that I saw something on this website that I really liked - an acronym that applies to West Marine prices - the WMMU.

It stands for the West Marine MarkUp.

'Nuf said.

Edited by - on

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.