I have rated the suppliers mentioned here on four 1-10 ( worst -> Best ) scales and if I would use them again.
Before sale service: 1-10 eg providing timely quotes, answering technical and configuration questions Price: 1-10 How they compared with other vendors quotes Product quality: 1-10 Is the stuff any good, was it configured as ordered. After sale support: 1-10 How did they address followup questions and problems with the order Use again: Yes/No
Industrial Plastics in Nanaimo are supplying most of the structural material. Tim and Jeff and the rest of the crew keep me coming back. I ordered all of my marine ply here which they sourced from Noah's back east and delivered at a good price. All of my W.E.S.T system resins and glass reinforcement came from here as well.
Before sale service: 9 Price: 8 Product quality: 7 After sale support: 8 Use again: Yes
The Yanmar engine and integration from Land Sea Power. Greg Hannigan was quite responsive with my initial requests. They did not do all the configuration that was agreed leaving me to resolve the exaust configuration despite waiting 3 months for installation of a special manifold that would make it easier we ended up with a conventional one and I am visiting the muffler shop for some pipe bending. The Murphy gage ended up being installed with a quick release hydraulic fitting under the pan drain instead of the specified 'T' fitting. Cannot imagine why anyone would configure a quick release fitting on the drain plug? The engine itself was shopped out of the states somewhere as the original timeline of delivery in 6 weeks or so would not allow direct from Yanmar in Japan. This engine is new put was manufactured in 1998. I also oredered the California configuration to avoid the special order from Japan so it is also a few HP less.
Before sale service: 7 Price: 6 Product quality: 5 Engine good configuration poor. After sale support: 4 Use again: Maybe
Wynne Enterprises got the window order. For price, design quality, and delivery time line they were more competetive than Diamond Seaglaze, Ocean Dynamics or Bowman.
Before sale service: 8 Price: 9 Product quality: 7 After sale support: None required Use again: Yes
Tricel Honeycomb. I considered Nidacore but chose to go with the lighter core of Tricel and the much lower cost. They supplied some samples that I built test panels with. Tricel has some weird minimum order requriements ( 1000 sqft and 1000 BF minimums ) but they delivered on time and it works well.
Before sale service: 9 Price: 7 Product quality: 6 After sale support: None required Use again: Yes
VM Dafoes in Vancouver. 1 604 254 3931 Ross was suggest to me as the 'Guru of Shafts' by a local marine supplier. Got a quick quote in Aquamet22 at Can$365 each for a 5'6" shaft. Some discussion of how that was measured and they could do it any way. Settled on 5'6 from end of taper to front end of shaft. Got a 2" key in the front end for the sprockets. They arrived about a week later. Surface finish on the shafts was lightly brushed with very high finish on the taper area. Keys were an extremely snug fit and tapered as well at the end. Only odd part was just a single large nut on the shaft. Dimensions were to the SAE spec except for the length of the thread which was about 5/16" short but suited the large nut fine. Called them up for their point of view. Ross is a third generations of shaft makers. About 50 years ago they stopped making dual nut shafts in smaller sizes. About 10 years ago when selling to the US market for aluminium boats they started making them again due to the need to use SS prop nuts. They prefere to use a single larger nut in bronze. Ross feels that the prop is retained by the interference fit between the taper and the prop. In their experience with boats they have often seen boats hauled and they have no prop nuts left on. Removing the propellor typically requires a puller. Ross offered to take back the shafts and make me dual nut ones if I would not be satisified with the ones they had made. When dealing with expertise it is common to find some variance from industry 'standards'. Typically those with the expertise are better placed to know what works. While I would have prefered to have had a mention of their preference for single nuts upfront when I ordered I am comfortable enough with their attitude and expertise to use these as they are.
Before sale service: 8 Price: 8 Product quality: 8 After sale support: 10 Use again: Yes
I got quotes from Austral Propellers in Australia and Michigan Prop in the states. These were non standard sizes of Kaplan propellors for both companies. Michigan was about 75% more in NIBRAL and half again the lead time. They were about twice that price in Stainless. Both offered CAD/CAM so should have produced excellent products. I ordered from Australia. Delivery was on time. The props had sand cast pits in a couple of the faces and had a machined finish on the blades rather than a high polish. Just a visual of the blades indicated a fair bit of variability to the eye of the leading edge thickness from blade to blade. I mentioned my concerns over the casting pits in the surface and asked to return the props for a replacement. From their response it sounded like they scaled their bigger Kaplan props down but made a mistake with the machining allowance and had chosen to leave the surface flaws in rather than machine down too far which they felt was more desirable. They were not willing to redo the order feeling the props were not substandard but did provide an additional 20% discount as they were not cosmetically perfect.
Before sale service: 8 Price: 9 Product quality: 4 After sale support: 8 Use again: No
'Skil' HD77 wormdrive circular saw. Made in the USA and made well. This one is experienced as it built a 50' aluminium catamaran a few years back. Still using the aluminium blade. This is a great tool, bought it for a great price at Home Depot. Only down side is having to punch the diamond out of the blades, which is also an upside kickback wise.