Jacksonville, FL has the second biggest West Marine in the country. They even have a tuna tower in he store... They also have a huge selection. 30 Day FREE amazon prime membership!!! Sign up now for this special trial. Cancel anytime.
Me and Dana both like to play with things, and touch thins we ought not to. So in my playing I played with the fans. We had been looking for some new fans to replace our aging units that are quite noisy. All was going well until I played with a fan called Taku. It has a 5 min burst mode that nearly blew our faces off. It was blowing things on the shelf across the isle. We were instantly sold. We didn't even know the price yet. $200!!!!!! For a fan? They must be insane. Alas, they were not.
With a 5 min search online i had found it $50 cheaper. $150 is a ton of dosh for a fan of plastic. However we were already sold. Life on anchor requires some items we may otherwise dismiss, but on a 100 degree day this fan will be a gem.
Installation is so easy, that it is too easy. In fact I would prefer a permanent mount.
Four suction cups hold it to the hatch, and a 20' cord plugs into a cig lighter. Instead of a 2 hour installation I plugged it in all lazily. I convinced myself it may be nice to move someday when needed. My plan is to install a cig lighter plug by the forward hatch, then zip tie the wire so it looks decent.
So that's it. Our swanky fan. In the background is the old fan. One upgrade at a time we are bringing this old yacht up to today's standards. Until next time!
I've never been a big fan of West Marine. Lots of them around where we were in Rhode Island, all with everything the 23 foot Bayliner owner might need. Not much for sailing or larger sailboats and less knowledge. The new flagship store down near Newport was a bit better, but high prices and limited selection for my needs meant I was generally walking out of the store with more than one need unmet.
ReplyDeleteWe were lucky enough to live an hour away from Defender, and I made several pilgrimages to "the best store in the Universe" (my daughter does not agree with this assessment) every season, and ordering off the web site that close to them Ground shipping was overnight as they ship same day. Small valuable items like electronics got shipped via the web (where shipping < sales tax), and nig bulky things like anchors and noxious boat fluids got a road trip.
They still have great prices and selection, I miss them sorely trying to find basic things in Central American chandlers. My son who is visiting the U.S. for the next two weeks is going to quail when he sees the pile of stuff awaiting him from Defender that he has to fit in his bag for the flight home!
I'm also a nig fan of Jamestown Distributors...also nearby our former home port (and right next to the sailmaker I used) but with good prices, shipping and service. When we sailed to Maine we discovered Hamilton Marine which is often competive with Defender and offered somewhat different product and brand selections, as well as options that would appeal to commercial fishermen and more cost conscious boaters.