Vendors

The following vendors and companies are folks who we've found helpful, generally above and beyond, and who we personally recommend. Of course experiences vary and yours may be different!

• Sails and repairs

Our sails were the original ones that came with the boat - 20 years old. That's pretty good life for sails, but they were in pretty bad shape, repaired numerous times, and ripped recently. It was time for new ones. We spent some time working through various sail lofts, but ended up with a local guy - Joe Rushka at Leading Edge Sails in San Mateo.

Joe runs the kind of sail loft you want to buy sails from. It's a small local business and he's totally hands-on from beginning to end with no job too small or too big for him - and all done at a VERY reasonable price. Joe is easily one of the easiest guys I've ever worked with, and honest and timely as well!

Need anything from repairs to sail covers to new sails? Please give Joe a call!

Leading Edge Sails

(650) 347-0795

1125 N Amphlett Blvd

San Mateo, CA 94401

• Open Source PC Chartplotter

OpenCPN is a completely free and open source chartplotter software for the computer (supports Linux, Windows, Mac). OpenCPN is under very active and constant development, with many new features each release.

OpenCPN
http://opencpn.org

• Yanmar Parts:

Give Barb at Golden State Diesel a call! She knows her business and engines and she's great to work with, and will help you get the parts you need!

Golden State Diesel Marine

(510) 465-1093
351 Embarcadero
Oakland, CA 94606

• NMEA Multiplexer

When I wanted to tie all the onboard electronics together, there was only one real choice that would let me tie my ST50, autopilot, C70, Garmin GPS, SeaTalk, and computer together. Brookhouse is great! Excellent product, with configurable filtering that allowed me to customize my NMEA0183 buss specific to my needs.

Brookhouse
http://brookhouseonline.com

• Windlass Remote

Our Quick windlass remote, of unknown vintage had been working great. Then one day, the UP button disappeared. the black plastic was gone, and you could see the micro-switch in the remote control. As conditions dictated, we shoved a pencil in the hole, but that didn't work out very well - but we got our anchor up, and switched to hand signals to the helm - short term. So I emailed Quick. sent some pictures of what our remote looks like, and next thing I know, I've got new buttons from them. So I pry the old ones out, glue the new ones in, and now I have a working windless remote at the windlass. Thank you Quick!!!

Quick / QuickUSA 

http://www.quickitaly.com/index.asp?lng=us

• Fuel Tank

We have a gas tank for the dingy made by Tempo (now part of Moeller). The outflow tube was cracked, and the adapter fitting for our outboard fuel line was also cracked due to over-torquing (all part of the same assembly). I was unable to find the part for this in local chandleries, or anywhere online. I emailed the company asking where I could buy one. They asked for my address and said they would send the assembly, and a few days later, I got it. Completely gratis.

Tempo/Moeller

http://tempoproducts.com

• Auto Repair:

OK, so this isn't boating related, but if you live near the SF Bay peninsula and you need auto repair, Give Will a call. This guy is honest and great. Tell him Scott sent you!

San Mateo Auto Works
http://www.sanmateoautoworks.com
(650) 627-8889
2107 Palm Ave Suite C
San Mateo, CA 94403

• Generator

I admit I have a love/hate relationship with our genset. The good news is that Fischer Panda in FL will happily take my money and ship parts in a couple of days (where the local distributors say it will take a week to get them!). Considering how many companies seem to be a huge pain to pay money to, I'll put them here - but I'm still not happy that this thing requires such frequent maintenance. A raw water cooled generator should never have been built, and the previous owner should have (easy for me to say) bought a fresh water cooled model!
http://www.fischerpanda.com

I've recently learned about a company called Entec West up in Portland, OR who has generators based on the same Farymann engines that Fischer Panda uses. Entec West sells the same engine parts for less than 1/2 the cost.

http://www.entecwest.com

• Video Editing

Videos available on our blog were generally created with either Kdenlive or Virtual Edit...

Linux:

The best Linux video editing suite by far is kdenlive, in my opinion. Tons of features, easy to use, and has a modern UI interface.

http://www.kdenlive.org

Windows:

Some pretty nice video editing software - you can do a lot with the evaluation for FREE, and the full version is just $30.

http://www.virtualedit.net