The Official Minney's Yacht Surplus Blog

FIVE TONS OF ANCHORS!!!!

2012-01-30T07:42:00.000-08:00

Pictured is one of four huge boxes of Lewmar anchors. When the original maker of this style anchor lost their patents several companies started making knock-offs in China. Many of the early models were of poor quality and knock-offs got a bad reputation. When Lewmar started making anchors in China we knew they wouldn't have their name cast onto the shank if they hadn't done their homework and came up with a strong and dependable product. We started stocking these anchors in quantity about 5 years ago and seldom if ever did we get a complaint or have one returned. Recently, Lewmar contacted us and made us an offer on tons of their popular anchors. When they said they would pay the shipping cost, we made a great buy for our customers. We've already sold dozens of the "GRABBERS" at the best price in town. To strum up a little extra business in our slow winter months (been like summer out here) we'll knock off an additional 10% to BLOGGER customers through the month of February......P.S. The matched set of Barlow bicycle winches priced at $195.00 each are sold. That pair today would cost over $5000.00 !!! Dudes, are we keeping boating AFFORDABLE or what??? Been watching too much "X" games...........

$1000.00 Band Saws.... $195.00 each !!!

2012-01-29T11:25:00.000-08:00

Pictured is what is left of the 18- Rockwell 14" Band Saws that we picked up at the Cabo Yacht auction. We sold most of them for $495.00 each. There's about 5 left and they all have minor parts missing or minor damage. They were packed in the vertical position without being secured properly and fell over in transit. They were all being used daily at the Cabo Yacht facility in Southern California. This make and size is the industry STANDARD for medium size boat building projects. On various boats I was working on I hoisted one on deck and found it invaluable for the work I was doing. These are not the same machines you see at the big box stores for $295.00. This is the Rockwell commercial use model and I am guessing the weight at over 200 pounds. Parts are easy to order for these machines. I found out first hand when at the end of the work day a well meaning friend helped me to put my awning up to cover my tools and band saw. He gave a "yank" on an awning line that was fouled on my Rockwell and I watched as my band saw jumped off the deck of my schooner and landed on its side on the dock six feet below!!!!!

New Headsails

2012-01-28T15:01:00.000-08:00

Three dozen new headsails just added to the list here!

Quality wood rowing oars from New Zealand......

2012-01-28T10:16:00.000-08:00

First Quality Gull wooden oars from New Zealand. A "step above" the oars you purchase at the big box stores and priced a bit less. Five to eight footers in stock now. One time deal, this was a boat company's close-out, they're selling fast. Call or e-mail for price and availability. Also is our our popular line by the pound boxes pictured. We purchase it by the TON so why not sell it by the pound. Most is new, some might have a missing thread because the machines kept running until quality control picked up the mistake. Some is odd colors, we have thousands of pounds of a bright green. For some reason, yacht owners don't want green dock lines. I just can't figure it out? I thought the new trend in our country was to GO GREEN. In background of line boxes are twenty 600 foot spools of one inch white double braid yacht line. We ran a special during December for $500.00 a spool and sold a few spools. If you snooze, you loose. Price is now back to $600.00 a spool which is still a great value. Some is polyester and some is nylon.

New Mainsails!

2012-01-26T16:46:00.000-08:00

Dozens of new mains are being added daily! Check our list here.

MATCHED PAIR BARLOW BICYCLE WINCHES

2012-01-26T06:08:00.000-08:00

Pictured is a matched pair of two speed bicycle winches from a 55' ketch. They run rough and you should assume they need a complete rebuild? Great for spare parts if you have a set aboard your boat now. $195.00 each. Weight guessed at about 80 pounds each. Also pictured are brand new set of safety or stern rails for the swim step of a large yacht. I doubt if you could but the raw stainless steel for what we are asking for the brand new set. $295.00 for a set of three, we do not have the bases. Also note: We have several boxes of Barient bicycle winch and cross-connect parts off "Windward Passage" and other large race boats. This stuff is getting impossible to get. Call or e-mail store for pics and specs...

Feathering props and turning blocks.........

2012-01-25T03:22:00.000-08:00

Great buy on practically new Max type feathering propeller and Edson brand new big boat pedestal or turning blocks for steering systems. We keep boating affordable..........

New Spinnakers

2012-01-21T15:57:00.000-08:00

Three dozen new spinnakers were just added to the sails list, check them out HERE!

Bring your boat to our front door !!!

2012-01-21T13:07:00.000-08:00

We love it when customers bring their boats to our front door. This happens all the time and is a great way for the boat owner to see if the items he needs are suitable for his boat. The boat on the trailer picture taken this morning. Yes, it finally rained in Southern California. Also pictured are some quality stainless steel mounting plates with pivot ball. These were used on Cabo Yachts to support the gas loaded hatch supports. Is $4.00 a great value, or what? Also pictured is a pile of bimini top hardware. We have over 1000 plastic milk cartons full of small hardware. My pet peeve is that no matter how hard we work, we can never seem to keep like things together and sorted. We do our best but if your are looking for something small like stove gimbals, table mounting hardware, or ladder mounting brackets please be prepared to spend a little time. We know we've got it, but you may have to to a little hunting. As local sailor and close friend Chet Salisbury tells people, "going to Minneys is like an Easter egg hunt, they practically always have what you want, you just have to hunt for it."

Gil Knudsen's Hinkley 38, "Tigress"

2012-01-20T06:43:00.000-08:00

Original oil on canvas painting by Scott Kennedy. This is a very large (approximately 36" by 48") painting of Gil Knudsen's 38 foot sloop "Tigress" approaching the oil platforms off Huntington beach in full racing trim. The painting was a gift to Gil from his wife who commissioned Scott Kennedy to do the painting. Scott's fee for the painting was $6500.00. Gil Knudson owned the "Tigress" and berthed it in Newport Beach for over ten years. He raced it extensively and once won the Governor's Cup (1st overall trophy for the 500 boat Newport to Ensenada, Mexico) in the Ensenada race. When Gil passed on the "Tigress" was purchased by another Newport Beach skipper and was berthed on Lido Isle. "Tigress" is a Hinkley 38 and when in Newport was always maintained in mint condition. I recently saw "Tigress" in Santa Barbara and was saddened when I saw the state of horrible neglect she had fallen into. This painting was purchased by us from Knudsen family members and is offered for sale at the modest price of $2500.00.

Great spinnaker buys!!!

2012-01-19T07:44:00.000-08:00

Pictured is a practically new 1.5 ounce spinnaker from Roy Disney's Santa Cruz 70 "Pyewacket" This is a Doyle sail that is in excellent condition (almost new) that would cost new close to $10.000.00. It measures roughly 80' on the luff and about 40' on the foot. We've priced it at the limit of our pricing scale (we price nothing over $1500.00) @ 1495.00. Disney had the "TURBO" rig in the boat so the sail is larger than the standard Santa Cruz 70. We measured over 25 similar sails yesterday with material weights running from .6 Oz. Poly to 8.5 Oz. Poly up to the 1.5 Oz. Poly. Most sails were in very good condition, mostly North with a few Ullman. Our prices averaged out between $1000.00 to $1295.00. Several of the sails were asymmetricals and one even had a sock. How's that for keeping ocean racing AFFORDABLE ???

P.S. We have the sail makers official measurements as stamped on the head of each sail available upon request........

BETTER A MILE TOO FAR, THAN A FOOT TOO NEAR!!!!

2012-01-16T21:44:00.000-08:00

The above saying, "better a mile too far than a foot too near" is an old clipper ship saying. Which of course means, better to clear a reef, head land, shoal etc. by a mile too far out to sea than to come a foot too close and possibly hit an object and sink your ship. With over 50 years of operating all types and sizes of yachts, one thing I know for certain is that practically all the dangers you will encounter in well traveled waters are on your up to date chart. As long as you know where your boat is in relation to charted dangers, you should be able to keep out of trouble if you are a diligent and vigilant skipper. Practically every time I have run aground was because I wasn't paying attention to my chart.

While racing aboard my 55 schooner in San Diego we thought we would go up wind of an other boat and go inside the channel marker off Ballast Point. Rail down and doing almost 9 knots I watched my depth meter go from 60' to 5' in less than 30 seconds! Luckily we grounded on soft mud and sand and the only damage done was to my pride and the jeers of the other skippers. A look at the chart showed there was no water where we were heading. Most of my boats had a draft from 8' to almost 14'. There's not a shallow spot in Newport Harbor that I have not parked upon at one time or another. While stowing our anchor when leaving Howland's Landing near the Isthmus on Catalina Island I bounced over Eagle Reef in my 93' ketch, "Vadura". I always thought the red cone was right over the shallowest spot on that reef. Boy was I wrong. Luckily, we only had one big THUMP and my 14' draft ketch made it safely over the reef with the only damage being some deep gouges in the 20 ton lead keel. Studying the chart later, I discovered the red cone was exactly where it was shown on the chart and my seat of the pants navigation could have cost me my boat. While anchoring the 65' "Kelpie" off Todas Santos island about 7 miles out from Ensenada, Mexico I was circling at very slow speed thinking I was safe being in over 10 fathoms and was about to anchor when "Kelpie" slid up on a sea mount and started to heel over. This was the 2nd day out on a 30 day charter with 14 people aboard. Wow, was I going to sink my dad's boat and strand my charter on fly infested Todas Santos island? After about 2 minutes a gentle swell lifted "Kelpie" off the reef and I was able to anchor and dive over the side to check for damage. I was lucky again, only a little paint scratched off the 14 ton iron keel. Later, a very close inspection of my chart showed a tiny dot as big as a fly spec. Yes, that was the sea mount that at low tide was still about 6 feet under water.

While beating up the narrow channel on the west side of Tahaa in French Polynesia bound for the pass that would lead us to open sea where we could shape a course to Bora Bora my 68' schooner "Shearwater" came to a slow stop. Heavy rains had made the shallow water as dark as the deep water, also unknown to me, a crew member had set both my fathometers on feet instead of leaving them on fathoms where I always kept them set. Please God, don't let my trip end here? We were aground hard and luckily there was no swell being inside the barrier reef. A quick dive over the side showed me that we were on hard white sand with large coral heads on either side of the boat. We had to somehow back straight out and get back in deep water. We swung the booms out and had crew members crawl out to put more weight on the ends. The boat took on a fairly good heel, with that and the big GM diesel in full reverse and lots of "hail Marys" the boat slowly moved astern and we were able to back in deep water. We immediately pulled floor boards and checked for leaks. We were lucky, "Shearwater " was taking on no water and no damage was done.

Yes, old salts like to say, "if you've never been aground, you've never been anywhere." It's true in my case, I like to think I've been diligent but as you can see, I still screwed up. I did my circumnavigation with a sextant, a compass and two one hundred fathom depth finders. I had no insurance and was totally responsible for six to 14 crew members at all times. I didn't go into strange harbors at night, always had a man aloft or out on the bowsprit looking for shallow water when we were going through passes or navigating in hazardous waters. I tried to never stay on a lee shore if I could help it, and had lots of heavy ground tackle and always set anchor watches if the weather was unsettled or our back was towards the beach at night. After two and half years at sea and 40,000 miles and 21 countries behind us we entered Newport Harbor with the boat is as good as condition as when we left. Yes, we had some near misses, and are still having them. That's what makes boating fun. It's us against the sea and we are continually being challenged. My credo is, ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN AT ANY TIME........and it usually does.

P.S. I keep hearing about the passenger liner aground in Italy and the lives that were needlessly lost. Totally unbelievable? That ship had every navigation gadget known to man, and looked what happened..........

SWORD FISH FIGHTING CHAIR.........

2012-01-15T12:42:00.000-08:00

We Googled this little beauty and found that the new price of it was in excess of $10,000.00!! It's complete and with a little T.L.C. could be the focal point of the cockpit on your large sport fisher. Seat bottom and back are heavy Burma teak, back of foot rest even has a sword fish inlaid into it. Priced for quick sale at $1495.00. Clean it up and double your money on e-bay. Won't last at this price?

GORTON ENGRAVING MACHINE...STEAL IT !!!

2012-01-14T07:46:00.000-08:00

You must have this machine! We purchased the entire contents of a small machine shop about a year ago. We've sold everything but this high quality engraving machine. Estimated value of the machine and all the tooling, patterns and parts is well over $10,000.00. It's in our way, extremely heavy, probably 1000 pounds or more. Yes, computer machines have made this machine a bit old fashioned but still, it will do a beautiful job and the price is right. Isn't there someone out there that used to operate one of these machines and would just love to have it in his work shop? It is a Groton or Gorton and in its time it was the Rolls Royce of engraving machines. We estimate we have about 500 pounds of parts, alphabet patterns, cutting tools, etc. that go with it. The BLOGGER price today is $995.00 which will include everything. We have a fork lift and can put it in your pick-up truck. The former owner used it for engraving electrical panels for yachts.......

SEA LION CONVENTION IN NEWPORT HARBOR!!!

2012-01-13T06:55:00.000-08:00

Photos above were taken yesterday near the Balboa Island ferry crossing. The sea lions are protected and are capable of doing a huge amount of damage to your boat. They actually sunk a 40' foot sailboat last year. Fish net seems to be a suitable and inexpensive solution to the problem. We recently imported over a ton of various colors and sizes and have it available for sale at $3.50 per pound.

BOAT, bigger than your pocket book ???

2012-01-12T06:18:00.000-08:00

Three guesses why my back is aching? Processing used sails is a job that's tough to delegate. With all the new materials sails are be made from these days, I'm having to consult with experts from time to time to find out what some of the hi-tech materials are? What I do know about sails is that they are becoming horribly expensive. I grew up in a family where my dad had a big boat (65' schooner 'Kelpie") and a small pocket book. We scrounged practically everything that went aboard the boat. The mainsail was re-cut from the 78' ketch "Mir", the spinnakers were re-cut from the "Whistle Wing", the anchor windlass was off "Chubasco" and most the head sails were re-cuts from other boats. And you wonder what gave us the idea to open a 2nd hand boat equipment store? Yes, we had thirty years of fun and adventures sailing "Kelpie" around. Did a trip to the South Seas, ran 100's of charters, and put "Kelpie's" name on Ensenada race trophies dozens of times. We did this all with mostly used gear and sails. Moral of the story, if your boat's bigger than your pocket book, out little store is a great place to be outfitting.

Sneak preview 150 gently used sails.....

2012-01-11T07:58:00.000-08:00

A few of the new used sails we just processed include the following. Hunter 31 mainsail-luff 37'-foot 10'10"-7.5 oz. dacron-good condition (half life) price $495.00. Swan 43 assyo. spinnaker-luff 58'-foot 34'5"-1.5 oz.-North-solid yellow color-xlnt. condition $1195.00. #3 jib Petersen 43-Luff 51' 4"- foot 22'-8 oz. Dacron-very good condition-$995.00. Beneteau 473 roller furling mainsail-near new condition-$1195.00. Hunter 310 mainsail-fair condition $295.00. J-44 storm trysail-luff 34' 10"-11 oz Dacron-brand new-$695.00. These sails won't be on our web site for about 2 weeks. Feel free to drop by the store and hunt through 150 more sails we recently processed. We keep boating affordable by using slave labor. That's my 21 year old son Tyler displaying the great looking J-105 mainsail. Tyler's home from Suffolk University in Boston still on Christmas vacation......

WE KEEP SAIL PURCHASES AFFORDABLE !!!!!

2012-01-10T07:15:00.000-08:00

We processed about 80 bags of sails yesterday. Many were in almost new condition. I'll post a list tomorrow of a dozen of the best ones. The group we are processing right now came from a truck load of sails we purchased from a major sail making franchise. We must be doing something right when one of the biggest sail lofts in the nation contacts us to purchase their overstocks and surpluses. Guess they know that our checks ALWAYS CA$H.........

10% off gently used sails for the rest of January 2012...

2012-01-08T19:35:00.000-08:00

The weather is great here in Southern California for measuring and processing sails we have purchased in the past 90 days. Look for about 500 sails to be added to the minneysyachtsurplus.com web site in the next 30 days. We own every sail in our huge inventory. We'll give you a credit on your surplus sails that you can use to purchase sails you need. NO SAIL OVER $1500.00 How do you like those apples, Mr. NORTH???

TWO TONS OF SHEET WINCHES..........

2012-01-04T09:19:00.000-08:00

I'll put up my collection of "flat top" winches against any other marine store in the nation. For the last twenty years the trend has been, replace your "flat top" winches with "self-tailing" winches. For years we've been buying up Merriman, Lewmar, Barient, South Coast, Harken, Arco, Wilcox, etc. winches. Most are in excellent condition and many are better built than the lightly engineered winches the "flat tops" replaced. "Flat tops" are better looking, you can sit on them without getting a hemroidectemy and you can brush against them and not find your shins bleeding. Also, there are great health benefits from cranking and tailing at the same time. You hone your skills at multi-tasking and both your shoulders, arm muscles and hands are the same size. Haven't you ever noticed that the skippers and crews off yachts with "self-tailers" always have one arm much larger then the other? Yes, we've cornered the market on "flat-tops". I'm guessing that we have about TWO TONS of them!!! We have them modestly priced and for the month of January we are offering an additional 10% off our already very low price. Give us a call or drop us an e-mail regarding the size winches you are interested in. Before we ship them, we'll take them apart, check that all parts are there and lightly lubricate them. "FLAT'S WHERE IT'S AT!!" is our motto, MAKE IT YOURS..........

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

2011-12-31T09:38:00.000-08:00

The year '2011 is falling astern and '2012 is on the horizon. Highlights of '2011 included the Cabo Yacht auction where we bought so much stuff we had to rent 18 wheeler trucks to move it. Our assistant manager Josh, my son was lucky enough to be chosen to crew aboard the 70' ocean racer, "Alaska Eagle" on a voyage around Cape Horn to South Georgia island and back up to Argentina. If you're in a management position at Minneys, you need to have a little salt-water under your keel. We made a huge line purchase (over $50,000.00) that made dock lines, anchor lines, halyards and sheets available to you at 50% savings. For such a little store, we're starting to deal in serious dollar amounts and large volume purchases. We bought quite a lot of gear and equipment from boat owners that lost their boats to the bank. We also noted that dozens of good boats were cut up and scrapped. Owner's couldn't sell them, got sick of paying high docking fees and just gave them away or sent them to the boat junk yard. We probably sold more sails than that largest sail maker in Southern California. We've found a great inch and know we save you guys hundreds of thousands of dollars every year by making good used sails available and at affordable prices. I still tag, measure and price almost every sail that goes out the door. I see first hand the great sails you guys are purchasing and the value you are receiving. A really nice thing has happened to us. A friend and sailmaker has been granted a Doyle Sailmaking franchise and has moved into the building next door to us. We now have on-site re-cutting and professional advice available 50 feet from out front door. Yes, '2011 has been a great gear and it's all because of you, OUR CUSTOMER!!! Please accept our sincere thanks for letting us help you supply your boating needs, and especially we want to thank you for the tons of boat gear, sails, hardware etc. that you bring to our front door every year and sell us so we can in turn recycle it and get it afloat once again...... HAPPY NEW YEAR. Ernie Minney and the crew at Minney's...

"KELPIE" Rail down off Anacapa Island......

2011-12-28T07:39:00.000-08:00

We've got just about everything pictured aboard the "Kelpie" in out little store. Life rings-wood ship's wheels-blocks-booms-sails (thousands of them) turnbuckles-stanchions-line-compasses and once in a while a nice binnacle and thousands of other useful items for you classic schooner and your modern fiberglass sloop. Crew members pictured are Bob Dixson at the wheel and Hank Hill with the worried look. My dad, George Minney purchased the Harvey Gamage 65' schooner "Kelpie" after WW II for $6000.00. We kept it in Newport Beach, California, and had it in our family for 30 years.

BRONZE & S.S. PORT LIGHTS !!!

2011-12-27T12:16:00.000-08:00

For rest of December take off an additional 10% for any bronze or stainless steel port light in the store. Numerous boats are being cut up and dozens of great looking port lights are ending up at our little store. Round-oval-rectangular etc. Many used and quite a few brand new. One poor customer spent ten years building his dream boat. He lost his job, wife dumped him, couldn't find a buyer for his boat so he scrapped it. His port lights came in looking brand new except for a bit of bedding compound on them. We've got a great market for port lights. Decorator's buy them to use in doors and for shower windows, guys with campers and motor homes purchase them to add small windows for ventilation and light. I've even seen big ones shined up and used to make small coffee tables out of. I'm so enthused about port lights that I recently contracted with a large ship wrecking company to sell me all the 12"-14" and 16" diameter port lights that will be coming off a 500' ship they are presently cutting up........Call or e-mail for sizes and port lights that are presently available. Note: We are also dealers for the famed Fuller Brush Company plastic port lights. These are serious marine windows that have been extremely difficult to purchase because of the limited quantity they make. They come in two sizes and two colors. Call for more info. No discount off these quality port lights because we have cut our mark up to a bare minimum in an attempt to keep them affordable for you..........

"SANTA BABY, BRING ME A YACHT!!!"

2011-12-24T08:56:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas.......I'm playing "Santa Baby, bring me a yacht!" Thanks for keeping us around for the past forty years.......... A captain is only as good as his crew, and my crew at the store is truly "FANTASTIC"!!!!!!!!

Anchoring made easy............

2011-12-23T08:04:00.000-08:00

Pictures are of a little project I did to my Down East 38 a short time ago. When I purchased the boat it had a totally "mickey mouse" hand operated anchor windlass and all the chain was stored in the fore peak of the boat. I installed a new Lofrans "Tigress" 1500 pound pull windless as far aft as I could on the fore deck and then angled the chain as it came through the deck into a large locker under the forward berth. I had to beef up the underside of the deck to spread the load around and did that with some teak and holly marine plywood I had in my shop. I was going to run a S.S. pipe from the underside of the deck to the chain locker knowing that I would be ruining the best bunk on the boat. After much thought, I mounted a couple of small pad eyes and a cleat. When the anchor is up, I lead the loose chain under the deck and pull it over to the side tight to the pad eye, tie it off, lead more chain down the side of the hull, under the mattress and to the chain locker. This is a bit of a hassle but I didn't screw up the large forward vee berth. I do the same after the anchor is down, I've anchored about 30 times with the Lofrans and have found it perfectly suitable of a boat of my size. We are dealers for the Lofrans windlasses and are selling them at prices that make them affordable to everyone...

Huge savings @ $3.50 per pound! Rope & Line

2011-12-22T08:10:00.000-08:00

Pictured is the rope making process at one of our leading suppliers. Their machines are set up and run all night with a skeleton crew. If one strand of thread breaks, the weaving process continues until someone discovers it. Many times the broken thread isn't discovered until the quality control crew inspects and actually counts the threads. This company produces line for the military, USCG, fire departments etc. It must be exact and if it's not perfect, the line goes to Minneys at a price usually less than the cost of the yarn. That's where our $3.50 a pound yacht braid, dock lines etc. comes from. It will make no difference to you in your use of this line for anchor lines, jib sheets, dock lines etc. And the savings is huge. We also stock their perfect line and sell tons of it each year at fair market prices..... That's one of the ways, "WE KEEP BOATING AFFORDABLE" for you..........

"REACHING THROUGH LIFE"

2011-12-21T08:19:00.000-08:00

We probably have more gear for classic boats than any other chandlery on the West Coast. Pictured is the 58' schooner "Samarang". I raised my two boys aboard it and had it in the family for over 20 years. An Italian clothing designer purchased it, put it aboard a ship and sent it to Italy. Photo was taken during one of the many Newport Beach to Ensenada, Mexico races we sailed in as a family. Little pennants flying from the foremast add up to 33 Ensenada races aboard various boats. "REACHING THROUGH LIFE" is a perfect caption for this photo. Happy Holidays....... The crew at Minneys.........

We pay CA$H for blocks and sailing gear.......

2011-12-20T18:49:00.000-08:00

Need a little extra Christmas money. Josh or Ernie will be on hand from now till Christmas to purchase blocks and gear for boats up to 80 feet. If you can't drop by the store, e-mail us a picture of what you have and a description of the items and an approximate price you would like to get for your gear. We buy low and sell low. Our checks ALWAYS CASH and other sailors will appreciate the gear you no longer have need for. minneys@aol.com is our store e-mail address. Happy Holidays............

TONS OF GOOD USED SAILS!!!

2011-12-19T18:28:00.000-08:00

While you guys are purchasing Christmas gift cards at "Victoria's Secret" and hoisting a few Egg Nogs at office parties, the crew at Minneys have been working their butts off unloading truck loads of sails. Pictured is a pile of gently used sails that one of the nation's top sail makers sold us today. By purchasing sails in large lots we are able to buy sails at rock bottom prices, and in turn re-sell them at extremely modest prices. Storage of thousands of sails is always a problem. This particular load is stored in what I call "the hobby shop", the oldest boat building shop still standing in Newport Beach. We still use the shop for all our boat re-fitting projects and at the moment it's a handy place to keep 120 bags of sails. Remember, all sails are sold on your approval (except fair and poor sails that state right on the ticket N.R. for NO RETURN) and may be returned for a full refund if you feel it is unsuitable. It's hard work, "KEEPING BOATING AFFORDABLE". Your continued support of our little store and continued remarks of appreciation, makes it all worth while.........

RIVA AND CHRIS CRAFT MODEL SPEEDBOATS........

2011-12-15T19:53:00.000-08:00

Special discount to Bloggers. Either the Chris Craft triple classic or the Riva Italian bit of perfection speed boats. Two feet long, brand new and boxed ready to ship. Special price between now and Christmas........ $149.95...... We keep Christmas AFFORDABLE !!!

Christmas Boat Parade Of Lights STARTS TONIGHT!!

2011-12-14T06:50:00.000-08:00

The Newport Beach Christmas "Boat Parade Of Lights" starts tonight. This is a HUGE money maker for our little city. Every charter boat in the area will be putting around the bay for the next 5 nights. Thousands of "in landers" will be heading to the beach to watch the parade and dine aboard the Horn Blower passenger liners and our bay front restaurants. Traffic will be heavy and parking near the bay front and harbor view vantage points will be challenging. More then 70 boats will be lighted and decorated. A special feature this year will be "Rocket Man" flying 20 to 30 feet above the bay wearing his jet pack over his Santa Suit. If you're on the bay it will be pretty much chaos because every Duffy electric boat (all 800 of the floating bars) will be cruising about in addition to about 500 local yachts. Bleachers will be set up down at the Fun Zone. The Sea Scout Base and Orange Coast College Sailing Center is a good place to watch from if you can find a place to park your car. Weather should be beautiful. This is the Newport Beach official start of the Holiday Season so "come on down" and enjoy the most extravagant "Yachting Parade Of Christmas Lights" on the planet.......... P.S. A tip to my BLOGGERS: Irvine Ave. dead ends on the cliffs above Newport Harbor. There's a little park on King's Road directly above PCH that overlooks the bay. There's a public school at Tustin & Cliff Drive with a big parking lot. Get here early and stay off Newport Blvd (it will be gridlock) the parade will be going by the park around 7:30. Stay sober, the cops are everywhere and do BIG BUSINESS on parade nights.........

Tons of FISH NET !!!

2011-12-13T06:59:00.000-08:00

Pictured is my secret source of fish net deep in the bowels of Mexico. We sell about a ton a year. It's getting harder and harder to find. The tuna fleets are disappearing a long with the tuna. Our customers purchase it for decor, baseball batting cages, keeping the palm frowns on palapas, keeping pets and kids out of flower gardens, and hundreds of other uses. We clean it, cut it into various sizes and sell it at $3.50 a pound. Yes, while you guys are goofing off, I'm risking life and limb in treacherous Mexico. To soothe my nerves, I tough it out at the little hotel pictured. Las Rosas is it's name. What's that saying about, "all work and no play?"

There's GOLD at Minney's........

2011-12-11T10:55:00.000-08:00

Picture is of sign in a little consignment store in Carbondale, Colorado. Knowing what a good sense of humor you guys have, I thought you would enjoy it. Speaking of "Gold Diggers", I hear screams of delight all the time when one of you un-earths just right boat part you have been looking for. We save stuff for years, "turn-over" is a word that has no meaning to us. This is a short blog, got the trailer hooked up and am heading out to pick up salvage from a lovely large power boat. Keep prospecting at our store, there's lots of GOLD in them there shelves. Have a nice weekend. The crew at Minneys........

DECEMBER SPECIAL !! 10% OFF SAILS.........

2011-12-10T07:53:00.000-08:00

We've got some great sails in stock right now. December is a bit of a slow month in the boating world and to liven things up a bit, we are giving an additional 10% off if you pay ca$h. We pay the credit card companies almost 4% in transfer fees, we'd just as soon pass the saving on to you. A J-105 spinnaker just came in, 1.5 oz. assyo. nice condition, North, with a sock priced it at $895.00

That's just one of the great values we have in our 1000 sail inventory. How can we sell sails at such modest prices? Answer: We pay cash for every sail in our inventory and don't have a complicated consignment system like all the other sail brokers. We buy the sails right and are free to swap them, adjust the prices and are free to go in any direction without contacting their owners. A "bloke" called from England yesterday. Wants the head sail with the 90' luff in almost new condition for his mega-ketch. Mr North would probably quote him about 20 G's, our prices stop at $1500.00!! Price of the sail, $1495.00 plus shipping...........

Have a nautical Christmas......

2011-12-09T08:30:00.000-08:00

Here's what you can do with some of our great nautical decor from the "Captain's Room" at our little store. Pictured is a "J" boat 1/2 model for $295.00-Custom wood plaque that we customized with my name and our city, Newport Beach for $105.00-Framed Catalina seaplane poster for $55.00-36" wooden ship's wheel (one pictured is off my dad's boat Kelpie) our look-a-likes would be about $95.00-Large ship's clock is an antique, but we have on special right now a smaller clock and matching barometer set for $195.00. Toss in a few yule decorations and you are ready for Christmas. "We Do Nautical Right!!"

S.S. SHAFTS FOR CABO SPORT FISHERS !!!

2011-12-08T07:12:00.000-08:00

December special pricing for BLOG watchers. Brand new stainless steel shafts for Cabo sport fishers. We bought them right, have them priced right and for December only (which is a slow month for boat equipment) we are going to knock off another 50%. Thus, a $2000.00 brand new shaft, that we have already lowered the price to $1000.00 will now be only $500.00. Pay cash and we'll toss in the key and propeller lock-on nuts if we have them. "We keep boating affordable"

Hemp and Manila Rope.......

2011-12-07T08:23:00.000-08:00

Hemp and Manila rope is slowly becoming impossible to get. We've stumbled onto a great source (don't know how long it will last?) and presently have a good stock available. Landscapers purchase it, Disneyland buys it from us, the L.A. County Fair bought 5000 feet of 3" manila from us and so on. Our ship just came in from the Philippines, port of Manila (that's why they call it Manila rope) so we have a good selection. One inch diameter $1.00 a foot- One and a half inch diameter $1.50 per foot-Two inch diameter $2.00 per foot. You know who else is purchasing large quantities of the 2" rope is health spas, work out gyms, schools and the military. They shake long lengths of it to build up their muscles, climb it, have tug of wars etc. We've got rope and line for all REASONS..... Same day shipping........

600' SPOOLS-1" DOUBLE BRAID.... $500.00 !

2011-12-06T07:29:00.000-08:00

DECEMBER ONLY.. LIMITED TO SUPPLY ON HAND. THIS IS FIRST QUALITY NYLON AND POLYESTER DOUBLE BRAID YACHT LINE. BIG BOX STORES CHARGE OVER TWO DOLLARS A FOOT. "WE KEEP BOATING AFFORDABLE"............ TO GET THIS PRICED YOU MUST MENTION YOU HEARD ABOUT IT IN MINNEY'S BLOG.......

DEAREST, CALL MINNEYS FIRST !!!

2011-12-04T18:06:00.000-08:00

Several years ago a young woman and her mother arrived at my store in a shiny new Mercedes. The daughter told me that her father had passed and that her mother wanted to sell some of his boat gear. When the lid to the trunk was opened, I discovered a brand new pair of Barient S.S. #36 self tailing winches, a complete hydraulic steering system for a 60' power boat and several boxes of Harken, Lewmar and Winchard blocks and hardware and other misc. items, all brand new and boxed. I asked the mother how much she wanted for the items and she said, "I was hoping to get $300.00 or possibly a little more?" Knowing the items were "pure gold" and with a little bit of quick math I mentally came up with a figure I could quickly sell the items for. I said to the woman, "would you be happier with $2500.00?" Both the mother and her daughter thought I was kidding. I then explained to them that they had over $10,000.00 worth of boat gear in the back of their car and that I could quickly sell the items for $5000.00 or possibly more and that I wasn't really doing them any special favor with my offer of $2500.00. They accepted my offer, I wrote them a check and they graciously drove away.

A Newport Beach boating icon died several years ago. He was a personal friend and I had been in his home several times and marveled over his collection of old photos,trophies and books. His two heirs (kids in their 30's) quickly sold his 2 million dollar ocean front home and called me to purchase some boat hardware that was in the basement. As I arrived I noted a 20' dumpster in a parking space in front of the house. A glance inside showed me all the pictures that had been hanging on his walls, a pile of trophies and hundreds of books and classic old yachting magazines. This man's entire life and a pictorial history of the dozens of boats he had owned was on its way to the landfill. I purchased the hardware and was allowed to pick out of the dumpster anything I wanted. Most of the items had been ruined and stained with oil and other garbage so there was little for me to salvage.

A woman called me to her home sometime ago. She had lost her husband in a motorcycle accident. He was a boat builder and had owned several large sailboats. I spent about an hour going through the large garage and then offered the woman $1800.00 for all the boating items and tools. "Wow!", she exclaimed. "Everyone told me to call Minney's last." She then said, "I made a list of all my husband's friends and had them over here first to purchase whatever they wanted. They hand picked all my husband's good stuff and only paid me only a total of $700.00."

My son and I made a trip to the Inland-Empire the other day and purchased a trailer load of boat gear and sails from a lovely woman. Her husband knew his days were numbered but still refused to sell their 50' cutter or deal with the mountain of boat gear in the small garage. She had run ads on Craig's list and called a few of his friends that pretty much "cherry picked" the gear and paid her only peanuts. She didn't have a clue as to what the value of the items in the garage were worth? I made her a reasonable offer which she immediately accepted. My son and I loaded the gear into our trailer, swept and totally cleaned and organized her garage. As we were leaving she hugged both of us and we waved to her as we drove away. As we were driving back to the store Josh said, "you know dad, I think what made that woman the happiest was that we emptied and cleaned her garage. You probably could have purchased that load of gear in the trailer for $100.00 instead of the $1200.00 that you paid her.

To cut to the chase guys, we're not going to live forever? I deal with a lot of widows and often times their husbands were friends and customers of mine. Perhaps a little planning ahead for the time that we will be departing for the land of "fair winds and following seas" might be in order. I've condensed most of my boat gear to the store and let you guys dig through it every day. I have two great sons that can dispose of it, hopefully, for years to come. The rest of you aren't so lucky. Don't leave it up to your wives, kids and loved ones to deal with the marine hardware stores in your storage lockers and garages. P.S. Knowing what procrastinators you all are perhaps you could do just one thing. Write a little addendum in your will or trust that says, "In regard to disposing of my boat gear and equipment, CALL MINNEY'S FIRST!!!"

Nylon fender lines or tie downs..........

2011-12-03T08:54:00.000-08:00

Here' a great buy! Six foot long, one quarter inch diameter white nylon line complete with eye splice on one end and hand served on the other. A large rope company tossed them in to sweeten the deal on a VERY LARGE purchase of line we made with them. Most rigging shops would charge close to $5.00 just to make the splice in the three strand line. We have sold thousands of them @ .95 cents each. At our special price at two for .95 cents, they are flying out the door. One loyal customer recently purchased 144 of them. He's re-selling them for dog leashes and tie-downs for a thousand different uses. How's that for keeping boating "AFFORDABLE?"

The "SANTANAS" are blowing!!!

2011-12-02T06:15:00.000-08:00

The "Santanas" are blowing in Southern Califonia. I almost lost my schooner to one of them years ago. It was New Years night when the wind and waves started coming into the Isthmus at Catalina island. I was on a mooring and as I tried to power out, even though I watched the sand line sink with a flashlight I somehow picked up the stern mooring line in my prop, that killed my engine and I was headed for the beach. Having an anchor instantly ready to go (old school stuff) was the only thing that saved me from going ashore. I dove over in the freezing water and swam lines out to two other moorings and got the 48' schooner secured the best I could as the winds increased and waves built to 4 and 6 feet. Later the harbor sheriffs came by in their 30 footer Bay Watch and asked me what I wanted to do. I said, "get the hell out of here." They came alongside, got a tow line on me, we hand pumped the anchor home, cut the two mooring lines and were towed out toward Bird Rock. With the prop still fouled with mooring line and unable to reef my big mainsail I set the main and jib and totally overpowered I beat my way out of the Isthmus. As I gained more sea room, I set the main stay'sail, dropped the main and jib and sailed around the west end of the island for shelter on the back side of Catalina. That was a night I will never forget, or would my wife. You will do well to remember that the lee side (the side facing the mainland) of all our Channel Islands can become the "hell" side in our winter time North East winds. It's easy to get lured over to Avalon in our summer like conditions in December and January? Be vigilant, continually check the weather reports. Lot's of times the North Easters blow hard on the mainland and peter out half way to Catalina. But not always. Don't wait for the harbor master to tell you to get out. When the bow of your boat is facing the mainland, and your boat starts hobby horsing on the mooring or at anchor and the swells start coming in. GET OUT. It may be a false alarm, but then again it may NOT??? P.S. Photo is Avalon in a Santana !!!

Gift Ideas......

2011-12-01T09:00:00.000-08:00

These taffrail log instruments are solid brass and when polished up and mounted on a nice teak or mahogany base make great book ends or desk lamps. Cost Uncle Sam $500.00 each back in the 1940's, would probably be $1500.00 or more today. These taffrail logs were towed behind Liberty and Victory ships and recorded the nautical miles the ships logged in a 24 hour period. We have them priced at $95.00 for the instrument only. Fish and flywheel spinners are extra. Also, we still have a few of the beautiful Riva and Chris Craft models. They are 24" in overall length. Upscale stores usually get about $600.00 for one of these models. Until Christmas only and while supplies last we are making them available at $195.00 each. Mention that you saw them in our BLOG and we'll include the shipping in the lower 48 states only. They are packed for shipping and ready to go.

Thank you Steve Beck..........

2011-11-29T07:35:00.000-08:00

Wow! Do I have a great crew. While I was goofing off in Bahia de Los Angeles on the Sea of Cortez in Baja, Steve Beck took charge of the Captain's Cabin (our nautical gift and decor department) and totally re-decorated and organized the area. He then went over to our nautical rental department and organized that area. Steve, if you happen to read this little note, please know your hard work and creativity is appreciated. For the rest of you, please keep us in mind if you are looking for a nautical gift, or gift certificate. Also, if you are doing a photo shoot, making a movie, having a ship wreck party, doing a high school or college play or want a nautical window display for your store--check out our rental department. We've got great authentic items at very modest rental rates........

32' GRAND BANKS $3000.00

2011-11-26T19:21:00.000-08:00

Good project boat for someone that knows what wooden boats are all about. Pictures look much better than the boat actually is. The teak hull appears quite sound, lots of rot damage in cabin and superstructure. A used engine that has been tested is in the process of being installed. Boat was hauled about a year ago. Some new thru hulls were installed and some bottom work done. Owner is a friend of mine and I told him I would run it in our BLOG. Price is $3000.00 CASH. Boat is being sold AS IS WHERE IS WITH NO WARRANTY OF ANY TYPE. See at Vikings Port in Newport Beach. Cross streets are Pacific Coast Highway and Tustin Ave. Owner is Larry Babor. His phone number is 949-645-6109

HAPPY THANKSGIVING..........

2011-11-24T06:10:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving from the crew at Minneys.... Have a great day....... Ernie......Josh.......Patrick.......Steve.......Sherry.......Tiffiny...Troy & Dave......

Bahia de Los Angeles.......

2011-11-23T04:51:00.000-08:00

Bay Of The Angels...... Having had a little "casita" in Bay of L.A. for the past 25 years I thought I'd devote this BLOG to giving the cruisers that are lucky enough to be visiting Mexico this winter a little insider info. It's a 500 mile drive from Newport Beach to L.A. bay. The roads are good but narrow, lots of big truck traffic and a cross on practically every curve. L.A. Bay makes a good place for crew changes and if you hitch hike out the 40 miles to Hwy #1 you can grab a bus back to San Diego. Two main families pretty much run the place and if you are a boater, these are are the people you want to know. The Diaz family and Gillermo's. Sammy Diaz has been my landlord for 25 years, speaks english, has a fleet of sport fishing pangas and is a JEWEL of a person. His son is a mechanic and recently opened an attractive auto parts store. I was going to put some boat gear in his store for you guys but Mexican red tape has pretty much discouraged me from doing it. Gillermo's compound is where most of you guys will spend your time. He recently built a Tahitian style palapa overlooking the bay, his food is great and margaritas even greater. He has a fleet of "super pangas", usually monitors VHF 16 and will be the closest thing to the U.S. Coast Guard you will find in the L.A. Bay area. He's the guy that salvaged the 40 footer pictured in my earlier BLOG. According to him that salvage effort almost cost him his life. He borrowed a big landing barge that had been doing construction work in the area. Some how got the sailboat aboard the barge athwart ships and headed for home. A heavy north wind came up, the big barge was down in the bow with the ten ton sailboat aboard, he was taking on water and the only thing that saved him from sinking was the "Angels of The Bay". Gillermo's a great guy, if you have a problem, he can help you. While having a drink in his patio take a few minutes and visit his sister Lucy's new store. In my mind, she the real angel of Bahia de Los Angeles. She's an artist, and will give you a personal tour of her store if you ask. There's 2 new Pemex gas stations in the village that also carry diesel. Lots of grocery stores, and a great produce store up by the traffic circle with the big white steel sail in the middle of it. A good internet store across the street from the bright yellow market thats name starts with an X. You guys will love this place but not the weather in the winter. Heavy north winds can blow for days sometimes. You can also get heavy westerlies. I watched 60 k winds blow all the furniture off Gillermo's patio and a 26' panga on the beach roll over in the heavy winds. Don Juan bay is the only all weather anchorage in our area, it's about 8 miles east of Gillermo's cantina. Mexican billionaires are buying up the area so enjoy Bahia de Los Angeles while it's still unspoiled. Pictured above is a lovely señorita sipping a margarita in Gillermo's patio and the view from my little casita at an area we call Ricon that is in the south end of L.A. bay. This picture is looking north from the south end of the bay. Happy Thanksgiving. Any questions about L.A. bay drop me an e-mail at capnernie1@aol.com

Mexico report........

2011-11-21T18:06:00.000-08:00

I just spent 2 weeks in Bahia de Los Angels. The roads were great, lots of new highway where they have been widening the highway. There's still a ten mile detour before you climb the hill before Santo Thomas valley. The military check point is still on the mesa before you head down the hill into El Rosario. Almost no gringos on the road except for the pre-runners of the Baja 1000 off road race which started last friday the 18th. I watched the start. Bikes and quads started about 0630 and trophy trucks etc. 4 hours later. An unusual thing took place after about 15 of the trophy trucks started. About 4 miles out of Ensenada a trash truck got stuck in the mud crossing the race course road. The racers couldn't get around the truck so the race stopped as the cars backed up. There was about a one hour delay as the police escorted the other 15 trophy trucks down the river bed and out to the traffic jam. The trash truck was finally removed and the trophy trucks got a new start 30 seconds apart. Things were pretty quiet at Gillermo's in L.A. Bay. He salvaged that 40' sloop I wrote about in my (Your Auto Pilot Can Kill Y0u) Blog a couple of weeks ago. She's all chopped up and on it's side in his compound. The Mexican locals are all hurting because almost no Americans are coming to Mexico. Over the past year we've had break ins of our little homes. Two neighbors lost over $20,000.00 in goods from their Baja hide-a-ways. I've been lucky and haven't been broken in to. We solved the problem by fencing off entry to our little area called Rincon which is on the opposite side of the bay from the village. We have a 24-7 guard and a cool raise-lower gate. I only say 2 yachts anchored off the village. The local Mexicans all monitor and talk on channel 16 VHF. We gringos all monitor channel 68 and shift to other channels when talking. We've got some serious boaters living in quite a few of the houses lining our little bay. Ex mayor of San Francisco, ex #1 man at the Monterey Bay aquarium, several circumnavigators, boat builders and other nautical types just chilling out in Baja. We've done quite a few rescues through the years. Cruisers don't seem to know how hard the wind can blow in our area in the winter time. Don Juan bay is the only all weather harbor in our area. All the other anchorages are exposed to the wind from some point on the compass. This is getting a bit long. I'm in writing this little note from a little log cabin in the Rocky mountains. I'm wearing my ski boots to break them in a bit before I hit the slopes at Snow Mass tomorrow. Happy almost Thanksgiving.......

Saturday Bagels

2011-11-18T23:38:00.000-08:00

As if you needed another reason to come by the shop on Saturdays... Free bagels and coffee.

The Captain's Cabin

2011-11-17T08:31:00.000-08:00

Black Friday is almost here... the official start to the holiday shopping season. Minney's has got you covered though so you can breathe a sigh of relief. Come in and head over to our "Captain's Cabin" where we've got nautical antiques new and old that'll answer the question of what to get the man who's got everything.

Bimini Tops; we've got em.

2011-11-16T06:45:00.000-08:00

I never realized just how many ways there are to say the word Bimini. Customers will come in looking for "bi-meenys," "bi-mi-nays," "bibi tops," and one guy was even calling them "bikini's" but I think he might have been looking for the bar a few doors down. Anyway it might be hard to imagine blocking the sun as we near Thanksgiving, but installing a new bimini or dodger would make a nice winter project with a good payoff in the spring. New tops can cost an arm and a leg but our modest prices on stainless and aluminum frames with or without the fabric will have you made in the shade.

Control Freak

2011-11-13T16:10:00.000-08:00

Most of you may not know that the location we're in used to be the San Antonio Winery. Chandleries and restaurants have different needs architecturally but we think we've done a pretty good job of making the most with what we've got. For instance if you were to walk into the old kitchen and make a sharp right turn you'd find yourself standing in the old walk-in freezer of the restaurant. What better place to store all of our morse throttle controls, dripless shaft seals, and wet exhaust manifolds? Come in and get lost!

Electrifying Deals

2011-11-12T14:04:00.000-08:00

Does your radar dome work but your monitor is shot? Transducer's good but the fishfinder won't show any fish? We've got tons of used electronics at great prices so you can save money and the pain or rewiring a new system. We know used electronics are a gamble and we can't bench test everything so if it doesn't work, bring it back for a full refund.

The Deals Roll On....

2011-11-11T23:29:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we find the deals, and other times the deal finds us. Today a certain boat manufacturer in Costa Mesa decided to clean house and helped us fill a trailer with titanium stanchions, a roller furler, hoses, pumps, hardware, spreaders, steering equipment, a beautiful aluminum boom and a whole lot more. Come in and see what we've got.

A Proper Deal

2011-11-10T07:42:00.000-08:00

We've got too many outboard and outdrive props and we're tired of looking at them. Right now if you buy 1 prop we'll knock off 15%, buy a pair and save 25%, and if you buy 3 or more you can take off 35%. They're not catalogued or sorted, you've got to bring your prop in and match it up, but you can't beat the price. Johnson, Mercury, Evinrude, Stiletto, etc...

Tall Ships, Low Prices

2011-11-09T13:42:00.000-08:00

What do you get the man who has everything? A ship model of course. We've got about half a dozen different ship models in the store at give away prices. They're nice to look at and a lot easier to maintain than a full size boat.

Running Lights

2011-11-08T20:37:00.000-08:00

Every boat needs them, and everybody else charges an arm and a leg for them. We've got a great selection of new and used nav-lights, along with a couple of crates full of some more exotic lights and housings that just might be the mate to the one your kid sent into the drink because he forgot to run your bow line through the chock.

Vintage Newport

2011-11-06T08:19:00.000-08:00

As we near the holiday season we decided to dig into the Minney's archive once again and pull out some incredible photographs of Newport Beach in its earlier days along with some of the more interesting characters that called Newport their home. At $24.95 these framed photos make great gifts. Stop by our Captain's Cabin and have a look.

LABOR OF LOVE...CHEAP BOAT !!!

2011-11-04T05:15:00.000-07:00

We are attempting to help the Newport Beach Nautical Museum find a home for this nice looking 40 foot cutter. I took these pictures yesterday. I remembered this boat from years past, raced against it and noted that it sailed well and was extremely fast. What surprised me was that it hadn't been stripped of all its gear. The Universal diesel engine was reported to run, the batteries looked clean and in good condition. The teak decks need re-conditioning, and the hull looked as if it might need re-fastening in places. The boat is sitting at a dock at the Balboa Fun Zone and may be seen by contacting Glenn Baaten at Explore Ocean. Phone number 949-675-8915 ex-108 or 949-675-8864 or e-mail him @ gbaaten@nhnm.org This boat has been donated to the Nautical Museum, they have no use for it, they need the dock space and and set the price extremely low for a QUICK SALE! $5000.00

Heavy Metal.....

2011-11-03T06:01:00.000-07:00

Through the years as boat building in Southern California ceased, we went to the plant closings and purchased a large amount of stainless steel custom fittings. Chain plates, bow plates, tangs, mast heads, chain plate finish plates, hawse pipes, and dozens of other strange items that only the maker knows what they were supposed to do. Many of the items we priced ten and fifteen years ago (the word turn-over is not in our vocabulary) and they still have the same prices. Through the years I've found that these items really come in handy. I mounted a chain plate to a bulkhead in my chain locker and shackled the dead end of my anchor chain to it. When I mounted my new Lofrans windlass instead of using fender washers on the four large bolts under the deck I drilled holes at the proper locations on two chain plates, polished them up and used them instead of big washers to really spread the windlass load around a large area. Yes, our "heavy metal" can be a godsend for certain applications aboard your boat...

SHIP'S BELLS & LOTS OF BLOCKS.......

2011-11-02T05:27:00.000-07:00

It took awhile but we finally got our friends in China to come up with a bell that has a separate mounting bracket. Pictured is a nice little bell with the mounting bracket attached to it. It has a nice ring with about a 5" diameter at the widest point. These are great Christmas gifts that are priced at $42.95. I'm sure you all know that the USCG requires a bell to be aboard ALL boats. If they board you and one is not on board they will give you a citation. Why must you have a bell? No, not to call your crew at mealtime. When you are at anchor in thick fog you ring your bell to warn other boaters of your location.

Lots of blocks. Pictured is one of about ten bins full of various types and sizes of blocks. Many are new. Merriman, Ronstan, Harken, Lewmar, Nico Fico, Mariner, all the popular brands pass through our little store....

Engine Pumps & Sailboat Hardware.. Great Values!!!

2011-11-01T08:43:00.000-07:00

One picture is several raw water pumps for various marine engines. Most boaters carry extra impellers and a lot of yachtsman carry complete spare pumps. We've noticed that when a boat owner is getting ready to sell his boat he pulls a lot of his engine spares off and sells them to us. He knows he won't be getting any extra money for his spares.

Also pictured is one showcase full of sailboat hardware. We have a great selection. Spinnaker pole mast fittings, genoa cars, fair leads with cars, main sheet cars, turning blocks etc. Quite a bit of gear off Kialoa, Whitbread race boats, Alaska Eagle and other local ocean racers. We know our prices are fair and reasonable.... Come check it out. We've one very special customer named Dave. He's a 747 pilot for Cathay Pacific airlines. Three or four times a year he parks his plane in L.A., rents a car (usually has a gorgeous Philippine airline stewardess with him) and bee-lines it to Minneys. He's purchased Ken De Muese's 70' Bill Tripp designed aluminum race boat "Blackfin" on the beach after a hurricane and is restoring her in the Philippines. He's always good for $1000.00 in big boat gear. I think his "air freight" shipping bill is quite reasonable too.... Free left over "Trick or Treat" candy at Minney's today.....

NEW SAIL LIST NOW ON-LINE!! SAVE $$$'S

2011-10-31T05:41:00.000-07:00

It's taken a lot of work. Check it out, our sail list has been up-dated and approximately 400 sails have been added to the list. Great spinnakers, some with socks. A great group of head sails, quite a few storm jibs, many like new. Good selection of mainsails, some storm tri'sails, even a few tan bark in colored sails. Lots of our NO RETURN sails priced under $200.00. These sails have bad stains, worn leeches, sun burned covers, and other defects. With some repairs or re-cutting you can probably end up with a suitable sail on the cheap. Pictured is some of the work we go through as we process your used sails. Many of the sails come in damp and must be dried before we measure and assign a bin to store them in. And of course, no sail is priced over $1500.00 and may be returned for any reason. Happy Halloween....... Ernie and crew...

DUMB THINGS !!!

2011-10-30T10:33:00.000-07:00

Having made it my life's work playing with boats, I've come across some pretty dumb and sometimes dangerous things. The picture above was during the filming of Walt Disney's popular boating movie, "The Boatniks". While filming on a windy day inside Newport Harbor the director wanted the boat pictured, to be heeled over more. A couple of the actors climbed up the mast and started rocking the boat. On one final big rock, the boat rolled over, filled up with water and sank. Filming had to stop while the boat was raised, pumped out and made ready to sail again. Having big boats and little money I depended upon high school kids and "work-a-ways", (you work on my boat and I'll take you sailing) for cheap labor. One day I was forward varnishing the cap rails of Shearwater when the engine started in reverse and at full throttle. As I ran aft, cleats were being torn from the dock, the shore power cord ripped out from the outlet box on the cabin side and by the time I got to the cockpit and slowed the boat down, we were in the center of the Newport bay. No one got hurt, the damage was minimum and as I investigated this unusual departure, this is what I found. I had instructed my latest high school kid to varnish the wheel box which was already sanded. The big gear shift lever which is usually in the neutral position was in his way so he shoved it aft. The little racheting throttle lever he had varnished around and had shoved it forward into the full speed position. He then decided to do a little exploring? He lifted the big teak lid to the wheel box and deciding to do a little varnishing around the back side of the starter switch. When the metal band on the varnish brush hit the + and - terminals on the starter switch the engine started and we were UNDERWAY !!!!! Speaking of starter switches. While anchored in a small bay north of the Cape Of Good Hope one of my $10.00 dollar a day (they pay me for food) crew members did a little varnishing the day before our second attempt to get around the Cape. I asked my first mate to start the engine and warm it it. He had done it before and knew how to do it. He started the engine but it had a VERY UNUSUAL sound. Soon heavy black smoke was pouring out from the engine compartment. I ran aft, jammed the throttle to the kill position and still it wouldn't stop. My god I thought, the boat's on fire. Then, I looked at the started button. The crew member the day before had varnished it and it was STUCK in the start position. I was quickly able to un-jamb it and stop the engine. An inspection of the starter showed that it was TOTALLY FRIED!! Luckily, I had a spare starter aboard and we only had to delay our departure for Cape Town by a few hours. While racing an 83 foot schooner in the Newport to Ensenada race back in the late 70's. A bit of damage ocurred. I was at the helm as we were setting up to jibe. The owner of the boat came on deck and saw a sheet chafing on his freshly varnished cap rails. He got all upset and insisted that we re-lead the offending sheet. I told him that we were going to jibe in a minute or two and that after the jibe the line would no longer cause a problem. "Just the same", he said, "I'm going below and get some carpet and tape it on the cap rail". While the owner of Serena was below we jibed. A crew member somehow led a sheet or after-guy under instead of over the aft life lines. As the huge main boom came across the center of the cockpit there was a loud crash as about 35 feet of beautiful teak cap rail complete with stanchions and life lines was ripped from the top of the bulwarks and laid out on deck. A few seconds later Serena's owner came on deck with his carpet and duct tape and looked in shock at the carnage we had made of his beautifully varnished cap rails. I guess I was a bit of a wise ass, but I then said to him, "see, I told you there would not be a chafing problem after we jibed to the other tack".....

TONS OF TURNBUCKLES-STAY LOCKS & RIGGING...

2011-10-29T05:55:00.000-07:00

Yes! I estimate that we have a ton or more of bronze and stainless steel turnbuckles. For years boaters have brought in their old rigging. We cut the turnbuckles off the wire, scrapped the wire and saved the turnbuckles. We also have hundreds of "brand new" turnbuckles that we have purchased from bankrupt boat companies etc. There is also a pretty good collection of "Stay Locks" and other mechanical fittings. Having a large schooner with questionable rigging I totally lucked out and purchased all the used rigging from the famous race boat "Windward Passage" for $500.00. I recut the S.S. wire to the proper lengths, purchased new cones for the used Norseman mechanical fittings and had a trouble free trip to New Zealand. We've probably got the best selection of rigging fittings in the West. Toggles, rigging pins, chain plates, etc. It takes a lot of digging to locate the items you are looking for, things are modestly priced, so please drop by and check out our selection........

Cabo Yacht Engine Hatch Lift Pumps..........

2011-10-28T04:28:00.000-07:00

Being the "junk man" for Cabo Yachts the past few years has landed some pretty exotic equipment in our little store. Pictured are what was explained to me as hydraulic pumps to operate the big hydraulic rams that lift the engine hatches on the larger Cabo sport-fishers. As you can see, they have a large 24 volt motor that drives the pump and on the other end is a heavy plastic reservoir tank which holds the fluid. Pretty cool, huh? Push a button and your hatches pop up. We only have three or four of the these pumps and they appear brand new. They possibly might have some defect? I've learned dealing with boat companies the past forty years that when a boat is ready to go out the door and something is not working properly, they don't trouble shoot the problem they just replace the malfunctioning part. As you can see, we've lowered the price to $95.00 each. In my mind, they have a $1000.00 look? If I had a large Cabo I'd grab one of these for a spare. The motors alone probably cost $500.00

BACKSTAY LEVERS......

2011-10-27T04:12:00.000-07:00

If you have a large boat perhaps a pair of the large backstay levers we have might be of use to you? The ones pictured are suitable for boats from 50' to about 80'. Twenty five years ago I purchased a set from Paul Luke for about $1000.00. There's a similar pair (the greenish bronze ones) priced at under $500.00. For thirty years we used a block and tackle arrangement on "Kelpie". I never knew how handy the levers were till I purchased the 68' schooner "Shearwater." Wow! Tacking up and down Newport Harbor was a cinch. Release one, set up the other. They always maintained the same amount of tension. No lines to coil or calling for more "beef" if you are late on the tack cinching up the tackles. There's one thing I want to caution you about when using them. The time to release one is when the boat is "head to wind" on the tack. If you are early, they are under a lot of tension. You MUST ALWAYS stand to one side of them. Once the lever passes the center point it will jump up at you. Serious injuries have resulted from using levers of this type by novice crew members. Being late on the tack can also cause you big trouble because the full force of the mainsail and boom will be on the lee backstay. Note also- we have several "quick release" levers for stay sail stays, baby stays etc.

TUBE-HOSE-AND PIPE FITTINGS-SAVE BIG BUCKS!!

2011-10-26T05:33:00.000-07:00

Being a "junk man" gets me into all kinds of places in my endless search to bring our customers great values in boat gear and equipment. Probably the "mother lode" for 2011 was the Cabo Yacht boat auction. Cabo Yachts moved to North Carolina and there was 100's of tons of stuff they didn't want to take with them. In addition to an 18 wheeler truck load full of pre-fab'd teak interior cabinets and band-saws we purchased, there were thousands of small items. Pictured is part of the quarter ton of small S.S. flare fittings, hose barbs, nipples, caps, bell reducers, etc. that we bid for you guys, lot by lot. And how did we price it to keep things simple for everyone? Same way the guys do it in the produce stores. BY THE POUND! Yes, for years we've priced all our brass, bronze, stainless pipe fittings at $5.00 a pound. Going to Home Depot the other day I took a pound of misc. fittings and priced each one from their posted prices. The pound from the store equaled 7 fittings. The average Home Depot price was $5.00 to $7.00 each. Thus at an average of $6.00 per fitting you guys are getting $42.00 worth of fittings for just $5.00. Mind you, that was at Home Depot. Had I done the same thing at a store that had "MARINE" in its name, that would have been a WHOLE different story???

MINNEY'S ENGINE ROOM. UTOPIA FOR OLD BOATS!!!

2011-10-25T07:21:00.000-07:00

Our store is actually a large restaurant that we purchased fifteen years ago. One of the most interesting areas of the building is the kitchen and walk-in icebox. That's the area where screams of excitement and joy are heard from time to time when a local boater finds the perfect raw water pump for his Chrysler Crown gas engine priced at only $20.00 or a Borg Warner 72-C gear box for a modest price of $300.00. Yes, that's Minney's engine room. It's all there but you gotta dig. Please don't call looking for pigtails for your Westerbeke diesel engine, or impellers for the salt water pump on your 4-53 Detroit. It's probably there but we don't have the time or knowledge to locate the proper part for you. Raw water strainers, stuffing boxes, alternators, generators, Morse control and Hynautic shifters and parts, impellers, zincs, hundreds of outboard and out drive propellers, heat exchangers and on and on? If it lives "below the floorboards" we probably have it and it will be priced RIGHT!

Chris Craft & Riva Speed Boat Models.......

2011-10-24T07:32:00.000-07:00

Christmas is coming. We've reduced the price to $149.00 each on these stunning two foot long speed boat models. Regular price in most high end stores $595.00. Purchase early and save BIG. P.S. The solid teak folding coffee tables the models are sitting on are only $99.00 each!!!

YOUR AUTO PILOT CAN KILL YOU !!!

2011-10-23T05:46:00.000-07:00

I recently made note about a woman delivering a fifty foot sailboat from Tahiti to Southern California. While motor sailing near the equator she came on deck one morning and found the watch stander missing. The boat was on auto pilot and traveling at eight knots. She had told Jim at midnight to rouse her at 0330. It was now 0630. The pelican hook was open and the starboard stanchion gate was down. Jim was probably taking a leak, leaned against the gate, it opened and he fell overboard. He was now treading water somewhere along a fifty two mile course line. Her radio was in operative so she couldn't call for an air search. She searched for three days and then headed for Hawaii dreading the heart wrenching phone call she must make to Jim's parents.

Every year auto pilots get boaters into trouble. Most skippers are lucky and only damage or lose their boats. Bill Kitchens, a good friend of mine departed the Dana Point harbor yacht club one evening at sunset. He cleared the red bell bouy marking the reefs off Dana Point. He put his Hans Christian 36 cutter on course for the Newport Beach break water and engaged the auto pilot. It was a chilly evening and spray was coming aboard. He ducked under the dodger and relaxed a bit. Two hours later he was startled awake as his forty foot mast, boom and rigging came crashing down and landed next to him. His navigation had been spot on. He missed colliding with the Newport jetty by about fifty yards, his boat continued on and went under the Balboa pier about a mile north west of the breakwater.

Captain Ron as the locals called him had raced his boat "Naughty Gal" in a series of races off Long Beach. Ron and his crew had done well in the two day series and partied a bit at the Long Beach Yacht Club before the trophy awards. After picking up his trophy and bidding his crew farewell he headed "Naughty Gal" out of the Long Beach marina, and put his finely tuned thirty six foot race boat on course for Newport and set the auto pilot. It had been an exciting and exhausting weekend. "Naughty Gal" was motoring nicely in the westerly swell and Ron perhaps dozed a bit as his boat ticked off the miles. A horrendous crash brought Ron to reality as his entire rig came crashing down on deck. It was pitch black. There was a strong order of diesel fuel and the sound of powerful diesel engines. "Naughty Gal" was trapped under what seemed like a monster out of a horror movie and was crashing and slamming into some type of pilings and steel beams. Then it dawned on our good captain. He was under oil platform Eva which was about a mile north west of the Huntington Beach pier.

Think these stories over. I've got dozens more and I'm sure you do to. The solutions and preventions are simple and basic but the accidents keep happening. I think often of Jim on his first and last ocean passage treading water in the warm equatorial currents as he watched the bright stern light of the yacht get dimmer and dimmer and finally disappear.

Pictured is a lovely boat we recently purchased salvage from. While a bit south of Bahia de Los Angeles in the Sea of Cortez off the Baja coast the skipper had his boat on auto pilot, thought he was further off shore and took a little nap. The eighty year old skipper was not injured, his boat was a total loss. I've got the mainsail and jib and some nice self tailing winches off it at the store....

Nautical Belts

2011-10-22T07:03:00.000-07:00

As you all know, the mark of a man isn't the car he's driving or the watch he's wearing. You guessed it, it's the belt he's wearing! Old Spice cologne doesn't cut it with with the ladies anymore. But, a nautical belt from Minney's does. Pictured is our great selection of salty belts that are priced within the budget of the most frugal sailor. Leather belts embossed with schooners, colorful signal flag belts, and other nautical themes. Prices start at $19.95. If your "pick up"lines at your local pub are as stale as last night beer, say nothing to the lass at the end of the bar and let the belt you are wearing from Minney's do the talking. Yes, with a new belt from Minney's, your "single handing" days are over...........

TIE DOWNS & SAIL TIES. "YOU KNOW YOU NEED THEM."

2011-10-21T06:36:00.000-07:00

Do we have a deal for you! We've been dealing with a rope company for years that makes "small stuff" for us. They take all their excess fiber and braid some pretty exotic nylon and polyester line for us. We cut it in various lengths and blow it out to you guys for pennies on the dollar as sort of a good will gesture. On a recent trip on my little sloop I used our tie downs to lash my rubber boat to it's chocks, lash my outboard motor to my stern rail, lash two fuel tanks to my back stay turnbuckle, lash my fishing poles, boat hook and gaff to my forward grab rails, lash my main halyard to the boom goose neck, pull my Delta anchor up tight on my bow roller, as a safety line on my boarding ladder, a safety line on my outboard motor, secure my Honda generator to a bulkhead, secure my port potty to a bulkhead and probably a few other uses I can't remember. As you all know, tie downs come in handy.

Also, sometime ago we stole 35 spools of first quality nylon one inch webbing. We've been cutting it into six foot lengths and practically giving it away at ninety five cents a tie. I take a lot of pride in properly furling my sails. I usually have a bowline in one end of the sail tie. After I circle the sail and boom I thread the other end through the eye of the bowline and now have some real leverage to snug the sail neatly on the boom. I don't think the old saying, "you can always tell a sailor by the cut of his jib" is correct. In my mind, "you can always tell a sailor by how neatly he furls his sails" is a bit more on target.

ACCESS HATCHES........ GREAT VALUE!!!!!

2011-10-20T05:52:00.000-07:00

Pictured is a quality access hatch that we have in two popular sizes. The cut out hole size for the big one is 9-3/4 x 19-1/2 with an overall size of 13-3/4 x 23-3/4. These hatches can be mounted flat or vertically. To be able to sell these hatches at about half the price of the big box stores, we had to purchase 400 of them. The small one is only $29.00 and the large one is $49.00. We're going through them fast so order now. One customer purchased six of them for his motor home and a contractor purchased three big ones to use on a tool box he is building for his pick up truck.

They come in two colors, light cream and gray.....

PASSAGE MAINSAILS.........

2011-10-19T08:42:00.000-07:00

View is looking forward aboard "Shearwater" with "Passage Mainsail" set running inside the Great Barrier Reef near Carins, Australia...... Note my eight year old daughter sitting on main boom. Mainsail is off the track while "Passage Mainsail" is set.....

PASSAGE MAINSAILS.........

2011-10-19T07:33:00.000-07:00

Passage mainsails, "the sail your sail maker won't tell you about?" When I purchased "Shearwater," part of the sail inventory was a "passage mainsail." I didn't use it on the delivery of the boat from Miami to Newport Beach because the winds were too variable and we motored a lot. A couple of years later when we were making the passage from Newport to the Marquesas I found it invaluable. I had novice college kids crewing for me and the thought of an accidental jibe with the 26 foot, two hundred pound boom and thousand square foot mainsail in the middle of the night was a bit nerve wracking. After a couple of near jibes as we entered the north east trade winds I dropped the big main and set the "passage mainsail." It is shaped like a tri'sail but is about as big as your full mainsail with one reef in it. It bends on your sail track and is loose footed like a jib. Mine also had a set of reef points so I could use it for a storm tri'sail if I wanted to. I grew to love this sail and used it 80 percent of the time as we circled the globe. A gal named Jill that I picked up in New Zealand would almost always jibe the boat once every night when she was on watch. "Something is wrong with the compass", she would tell me as I scurried on deck, sorted things out and got her back on course. No problema, I would think. The "passage mainsail" would back like a jib, no damage was done and I didn't have to get upset with Jill for nearly dismasting my schooner. Another great thing about "passage mainsails" is that they can be made out of your old mainsail or a good used mainsail from another boat. On a long passage in the trade winds your main is up sometimes for twenty or thirty days. For me, Cape Town to Barbados was forty days. Why be cutting your stitching and chafing holes in your $5000.00 new mainsail on the spreaders and shrouds when you could be doing this to one of Minney's $500.00 used mainsails that you had re-cut for a couple of hundred bucks. You will not only get a great nights sleep knowing that the kid you picked up at your last port and is paying you $10.00 a day to sail with you is steering your boat can jibe any time he gets confused and the jibes and will do no damage: but, you will be saving your $5000.00 new North mainsail for going to weather, coastal work and cruiser races in various ports.

FRESH FISH EVERY OTHER DAY...........

2011-10-18T16:24:00.000-07:00

For all you guys outward bound, here's a few fishing tips. We caught hundreds of fish with our two hand trolling lines with rubber shock cords on them. 500 lb. test mono filament works great, so does 1/8" braided nylon line. The shock cords are attached to the line so they will be visible to the helmsman on woman. Your after shrouds will work great and the helmsman won't have to be constantly looking behind the boat to see if the shock cord is streached out. A good pair of heavy leather gloves is a good idea and also having a gaff with a good long handle will be of use. We mainly used Jap heads with large double hooks and feathers of various colors. Fish up to about 20 pounds you can just heave over the life lines and onto the deck. We found a short line attached to the boat and a quick clove hitch around the tail of the thrashing fish was a good idea because quite often the fish would manage to jump back over the side of the boat. A winch handle works great at giving your wahoo a couple of taps on the head. We were sailing a large boat in the trade winds that had preventers and vang tackles in place. We were usually doing 7 or 8 knots and made no attempt to slow the boat for the smaller fish. The larger fish we would attempt to luff up a bit if it wasn't blowing too hard. Quite often, a monster fish would hit our lines and break everything or tear the hook out of his mouth. We found day break was usually the best time to catch fish and also a day or two out from what ever land fall we were heading to. Fresh fish made up a big part of our diets. We would only eat deep water fish such as tuna or dorado. Reef fish have been known poison people.... After wrapping our trolling lines in our taffrail log spinner a few times we found it best to bring in the log while we were fishing. A little money spent on some trolling gear will provide you with dozens of great fish dinners.....

GREAT SAILS AT GREAT PRICES!!!

2011-10-17T06:30:00.000-07:00

While you guys were singing in the choir, playing golf, and frolicking in the park yesterday, I was measuring sails. The batch that we processed was a really great group of sails. Storm jibs and tri'sails, most of them like new. Several of them were "blaze orange" in color. A trend I've noticed the past few years which I think is a good idea. Anyone flying these sails is probably not having a nice day. Should they need a little assistance from the Coast Guard, they will be easy to spot in the turbulent seas. We measured about twenty spinnakers. One totally stood out. A brand new cruising spinnaker with a sock. .75 ounce, pretty colors with a forty foot luff. I priced it at $995.00. I'm sure Mr. North would think it was worth about $2500.00. There were lots of roller furling jibs in great condition. Quite a few of them needed some re-stitching on the covers. Why you guys leave these sails up all winter is beyond me. The sun rots the stitching, green grundge tries to grow inside and they unfurl in heavy winds and turn to shreds. Lots of good mainsails. While me and the boys were doing our thing a customer drops by and ask he he can test a few electronics in a corner of our parking lot. I give him the "go ahead" and soon he his little shop set up. He ran electrical power from the store out to his testing equipment and soon he had four of our radars, 3 chart plotters, a couple off fish finders and boxes of radar cables etc. in his testing area. We kept measuring sails and on his knees on the asphalt he kept testing our electronics. I finally felt sorry for him and brought a big soft sail over for him to play on. Long and short! He purchased a thousand bucks worth of our gear (probably going to sell it for $10,000.00) and we added about eighty great sails to our inventory. They will all be listed on our website in about five days. If you want to get "first dibs", get your butts down here.....

HIGH LIFE LINES ON OCEAN PASSAGES........

2011-10-16T19:19:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine was delivering a 50 foot sailboat from Tahiti to Newport Beach. While motor sailing through the doldrums on auto pilot she left orders for the 2400 to 0400 watch to wake her at 0330. She was quite surprised when sun light beamed her awake though the sky light at 0630. She dressed quickly and went on deck. To her dismay, the boat was steering itself and there was no one on deck. She awakened the the other three crew members, searched the boat from stem to stern and yes, the early morning watch stander was missing. An inspection on deck showed the pelican hook open and the cable was down on the starboard stanchion gate. What a dilemma? Did Jim fall overboard when he first went on watch? Mid way through his watch? Or perhaps later? The boat was traveling at eight knots, he could be treading water anywhere on 52 mile course line. She knew her single sideband radio was inoperative so calling for help was out of the question.

She turned the boat around and motor sailed the opposite course back and forth for 3 days. The crew member was never found and the skipper suffered a mental trauma I don't think she ever recovered from. Two things could have prevented this tragic accident. The first would be to not use the auto pilot during the night watches. This would force the watch standers to be more alert and if they did fall overboard the boat would go in circles and the change in motion and the racket of the sails luffing and backing would be sure to bring other crew members on deck. The other solution was something I did on my lengthy voyage aboard my schooner "Shearwater." I had two small kids aboard and I wanted to keep them on board. As you know, most stanchions and lifelines are too low. If you fall into them they tend to trip you and toss you over the side of the boat. On all passages I rigged what I called "deep sea life lines." This was spare line that I had that I ran about chest high around the entire boat. I then took lighter line and laced it in from the rope life line down to the upper permanent life line. This made a sort of net like arrangement. On several occasions yours truly and other crew members got tossed into them and rebounded back on deck instead of going overboard if the "deep sea life lines" hadn't stopped them. My ship was a schooner and the jury rigged life lines were easy to rig. On other boats you might have to be a bit more creative. Had my friend on her voyage from Tahiti to Newport rigged something like this out of extra line sure to be aboard a boat the size she was delivering. Her favorite crew member might still be alive. Pictured is "Shearwater" running in heavy trade winds across the Indian ocean. Note my "deep sea life lines" in place on the starboard quarter......

SS STANCHIONS & STANCHION GATES.. SAVE $'S

2011-10-15T05:12:00.000-07:00

If you have an Islander, Ericson, Down East, Catalina, Pacific Sea Craft or any other boat built in Southern California, chances are these stanchions will fit your boat. A good friend of mine owns the company that builds these quality 316 SS steel stanchions and stanchion gates. He builds them by the 100's for us when things are slow at his plant. Our standard stanchions come in 24" and 30" lengths. The bases are either square or with a 6 degree slant to account for the crown of your deck. The stanchion gates come in pairs and are matched so that the bases all face the same way when installed. The price of the gates are $125.00 a pair and the stanchions are about $35.00 each. They weight very little so shipping is modest.

NISSAN 40 HP 4-STROKE-STEAL IT !!!

2011-10-14T04:54:00.000-07:00

Nice looking Nissan 4-stroke. I haven't heard it running. It appears to need a bit of electrical work. Pictures tell the story. Power head indicates engine has very low hours. Being sold where is as is for $995.00. If you are a mechanic you can triple your money on this one? Josh @949-548-4192 Can be seen at 1500 Newport Blvd. Costa Mesa. This is a copy of a Craig's list ad that I put on line this morning. A woman brought it to us after she lost her husband. We've had it priced at @ $2500.00. Winter's coming and we don't want to hold it till spring. A friend recently purchased a 40 HP Yamaha from Schock boats. She paid $6500.00 for it.....

GORTON ENGRAVING MACHINE... STEAL IT!!!

2011-10-13T05:40:00.000-07:00

Several months ago we purchased the entire contents of a small machine shop. One of the items is a Gorton engraving machine. It was used for cutting out and labeling electrical panels for boats. The machine is in excellent condition and comes with approximately 500 pounds of templates, alphabet patterns, cutter bits and misc. tooling. We estimate that the replacement cost of what we have would be about $10,000.00. There's a huge demand for the items this machine can turn out. Every large yacht has dozens of labels posted about. It will cut on plastic, brass and other metals. We have it priced so it's an absolute steal. $1500.00 and it's yours. It's heavy. Probably a little over 1000 pounds.

MINNEY'S FREE TABLE !!!

2011-10-12T09:12:00.000-07:00

Five to ten times a day you guys roll in with a car or pick-up truck full of boat gear. We know you want to go home empty. About 95% of the time we cut a deal and you drive away with a check and we have your pile of gear to deal with. In almost every load, "there's some gold and some garbage." The gold we attempt to put fair selling prices on and sell, the garbage ( items that are badly damaged, too old to be of any use to anyone, small items that the pricing and selling of them cost more than their value), we put on the FREE TABLE. In the past week an Achilles rubber boat, 15 boxes of electrical fittings, new galvanized pipe fittings, bunk boards, a complete auto pilot, several radar antennas, 5 damaged sails and 100's of other items were placed on the FREE TABLE. What's pretty amazing is that during business hours, this stuff disappears sometimes in minutes. Lots of time I go on a cleaning frenzy and put some perfectly good items on the FREE TABLE that I just get tired of looking at. Alcohol stoves, electronics etc. What's really cool is that local boaters are using our free table to dispose of some of their unwanted items. Several times a week we will arrive at the store and find items on the table that appeared over night? Don't tell anyone, but some of the stuff is so good that we slip it into the store and sell it.... FREE BOAT GEAR! Is that a good way to 'KEEP BOATING AFFORDABLE, OR WHAT?" P.S. Would the guy that took the table please bring it back?

PROTECT YOUR SAILS.........

2011-10-11T06:21:00.000-07:00

While processing used sails the following thoughts come to mind. I see a lot of totally useless damage to first class sails that with a little prevention doesn't need to happen. It seems most boaters are using roller furling head sails. They hoist them on the head foil etc. and then forget about them. They think the cover will protect them from the elements and all they have to do is give the sheet a "yank" and away they go. Surprise, the sail opens up and they discover what I call the "green grundge". All winter, rain water has worked its way along the luff of the sail and a greenish moss has sprouted and is growing nicely in their $5000.00 North 150% genoa. Sun damage is probably the biggest problem I see with the furling sails. Quite a few of you with white covers furl the sail backwards and cook the leeches and save the covers. Also, the covers take a horrible beating from the sun. The cover material seems to hold up well but the stitching gets sun rot and the cover starts falling apart. Last winter we had quite a few stormy days. On one of them I took my binoculars and on the hill above the Balboa Bay Club I looked down on the harbor and counted 14 boats that had their roller furling jibs un-furled and turning to shreds in the squally weather. I noted that our harbor police did nothing to protect your property. Two boats had what was left of their jibs flying all month. It seems to me that it's kind of a "no brainer" for boaters to lower their roller furling head sails in the winter to protect them. We've got quite a few great head sails that have the leeches totally sun rotted about two feet in from the leech. Get your sail maker to re-cut the leech and you can end up with a practically new sail for peanuts.......

A GREAT DAYS WORK........

2011-10-10T05:17:00.000-07:00

Pictured is a stack of sails we processed over the weekend. They won't be on our website till later in the week but if you want "first dibs" I suggest you come to the store and check them out. They are all tagged with luff, leech, foot measurements etc. While the three of us were trying to set a new record of sails measured in an eight hour period (old record is 97) customers kept bothering us so we didn't break the record. That wasn't bad thing though. One sailor purchased a near new North 1.5 oz. cruising spinnaker with a 58' luff complete with sock and gear for $1495.00. Another nice gentleman came up from San Diego and picked out a great looking 1.5 oz. tri-radial chute with about a 48' luff priced at $695.00. A few minutes later he came up with a smaller chute to fly as a mizzen spinnaker priced at about $250.00. His wife loved the orange, gold and white colors of the sail. He even had a copy of our BLOG that stated the "Baja Ha-Ha" mariners could take off an additional 10%. Just as me and my boys were getting up to speed a man dumped a Santa Cruz 33 mainsail in our midst. It was about a "5" on a "1 to 10" scale. I offered him $100.00 bucks cash for it. He sort of hemmed and haa'd and then disappeared into the store. A few minutes later he showed up with a great looking black anodized 2 speed Lewmar flat top winch. "How about this winch for my sail" he said. "Done deal" I said. Darn customers, how can we ever set a new sail measuring record? In thinking about the sails we measured you might be interested in some of the new ones. Quite a few storm jibs and tri'sails. These are usually in like new condition because few cruisers are dumb enough to mess with storms. Lots of head sails and mainsails and about 6 nice cruising spinnakers with socks and gear. Some racer's gonna freak when he checks out the Quantum exotic Code 5 assyo chute that we have. It's big, had to go to the center line of 15 th street to measure the luff which is close to 70 feet. $1495.00 is the price. It's about an "8" on the Minney scale of conditions. Of course, Quantum can build you a new one for about 10 G's! P.S. Hope you you didn't get offended when I mentioned that "customers keep bothering us", honestly, WE NEED EACH OTHER..............

History of Newport Harbor's Breakwater & Harbor...

2011-10-09T08:10:00.000-07:00

There's a great story in our local newspaper this morning about the building of the Newport Beach break water and harbor. Back in the day, June 1926 to be exact, a young boy had borrowed his father's speed boat. a Dodge Water car to take a few of his friends to Catalina island. Upon returning to Newport estuary George Jr. age 15, had to pilot the boat across a shoal or sand bar which at low tide might only have two feet of water over it. It was a stormy afternoon and waves were breaking over the mouth of the harbor. The speed boat overturned and the three boys ended up in the turbulent waters. George Jr. had polio and was wearing steel leg braces. His two buddies were able to make it to shore but little George drowned. His body was never recovered. From that day forward, George Sr. made it his goal in life to have a proper breakwater built and the harbor dredged. It took him years, but in 1934 the Corps of Engineers built the jettys and completed the project in 1936. About ten years later, George Sr. was taking his boat out of Newport Harbor when he had a heart attack. He died a few minutes later almost exactly on the same spot that his son had drowned ten years before..... Picture is George Jr. at the helm of dad's speedboat....

GROUND TACKLE....

2011-10-08T07:24:00.000-07:00

Pictured is what is left of 5 tons of the popular Lewmar "Claw" anchors. Bruce lost their patents several years ago. Lewmar jumped in and started manufacturing in China which totally dropped a bomb on Bruce's extremely high prices. We've been selling these anchors for several years. Our customers seem pleased with their performance and we seldom ever get in a used one that is bent or shows any sign of damage. In my mind, you can never have too much ground tackle. I got trapped in a bay on a small island in the Indian ocean when a cyclone was approaching. I had out three bow anchors and two stern anchors. Let's hope you never have to face weather like that but even in Baja, the weather can shift at night and put you on a lee shore. A second or third anchor ready to go could save your "butt". Tip for the day. When cruising there's a tendency to get your boat all snug in a harbor so you'll only have a short row to the beach. This works well in Baja during the day but at night, the wind can do a 180 on you and you can quickly find your back against the wall. Move out to deeper water before dark and get a bit of sea room. Engines don't always start and anchors don't always come home quickly? A rule I tried to keep in my voyages was to anchor far enough offshore so you could sail away if need be. Heed the old clipper ship saying, "BETTER A MILE TOO FAR THAN A FOOT TOO NEAR."..........

PANAMA TO MEXICO CHARTS..........

2011-10-07T07:52:00.000-07:00

Cruising guide.. "SAN DIEGO TO PANAMA" approximately $500.00 worth of charts for $99.00. LATEST EDITION NOW IN STOCK....

LOVE WHAT YOU DO....... "Steve Jobs"

2011-10-07T06:53:00.000-07:00

After a delightful week hanging on a mooring in Avalon, I'm back on the "firing line" of my little store. October is always a great month for us. Instead of getting the back to school slump and decline in business, we get the annual parade of cruisers waiting out the hurricane season as they head south to Mexico and beyond. Yesterday was a totally fun and interesting day. One lively couple from Marina del Rey was doing their final outfitting of "Ima Loa", Doc Sterns 40' catamaran which they purchased and have completely re-conditioned. Soon they will be anchored in an idyllic cove in Baja sipping rum punches. Another customer had a bit of a sad tale. He rolled in with a pick-up truck full of "pure gold". I noted that the stainless port lights appeared new but had signs of bedding compound on the flanges. He stated that he had to dismantle his dream boat and scrap the hull. He didn't really want to talk about it, but I knew I was dealing with a wounded mariner. The $1500.00 check I gave him cheered him up a bit. More than the money, he appeared somewhat happy that his hardware and electronics would end up on other adventurer's boats and help them to full fill their dreams. During all of this I was trying to measure spinnakers in a brisk afternoon westerly. As I left for lunch I loaded my truck with the crews of 3 "Baja Ha-Ha" boats and delivered them back to "Viking's Port", our little staging area on Mariner's mile where cruisers can tie up their rubber boats and hoof it up to the store. After lunch, a family from Vancouver dropped in looking for a big mainsail. Sixty feet by twenty two. They are sailing aboard their 60' cutter to Panama and then on the Belieze where they are going to establish a boat yard. We pulled 3 sails from our computer list that didn't fill the bill. Then we dove in to the huge stack I was working on. The cruising family was totally into the program. With pop on one end of the measuring tape and his good looking son on the other, I read the measuring tape and wrote out the specs. We looked at some great sails, but they were all a bit on the small size. If any of you have a 60' luff by 22' foot- ten or twelve oz. dacron main you would like to sell, give the store a ring. The sails I was showing this family were all priced at $1000.00 or less. The rains are gone, I've got 500 sails to measure. Anyone want to help??? Pictured is the NEW EDITION of chart guide from San Diego to Panama. This is a great buy. $500.00 worth of charts for $99.00. Also are the USCG Navigation Rules. All boats of any size are required to have this book aboard. If you get boarded and do not have this book aboard, YOU WILL BE CITED BY THE U.S. COAST GUARD.....

SEXTANTS AND TAFFRAIL LOGS...........

2011-10-06T07:26:00.000-07:00

G.P.S. is fantastic, no doubt about it. However, I feel todays mariners are cheating themselves out of the satisfaction of making an accurate landfall after a 25 day passage using only a compass, sextant and good time piece. In a humorous note. I asked a navigation student of mine I hadn't seen for years how his celestial navigation worked out on his voyage to Tahiti? His reply was, "spot on Ernie, my trimaran is still on the reef at at Rangiroa in the Tuamotus. We've sold hundreds of sextants and taffrail logs over the years. Now, cruisers purchase three G.P.S.'s and head for Nuka Hiva. Today, sextants seem to be used for conversation pieces on coffee tables, to be hung on walls and to make lamps out of. Pictured above is one of several sextants we presently have for sale. Also is a brand new Taffrail log. I towed a similar one for 40,000 miles and was always amazed at how accurate it was. I also got a lesson in how rope is make when I had to untangle it from my trolling lines. Our good used sextants usually are priced in the $150.00 to the $500.00 range. Pictured is a U.S. Navy WWII sextant and a taffrail log that has never had it's fish in the water........

1000 GOOD USED SAILS.........

2011-10-05T07:44:00.000-07:00

Special discount to "Baja Ha-Ha'ers." Drop by the store on your way south to join up with the "Ha-Ha" fleet and save 10% on a good used sail. Mention you saw this on our BLOG and that you are part of the fleet heading to Cabo San Lucas. We've got a good stock of Mexican charts that we are blowing out at a 50% discount, Mexican flags, cruising guides etc. You can anchor for 5 days in the guest anchorage off Lido Island and dinghy up the bay to within a half mile of the store. Load up on last minute gear for your boat and we'll give you a lift back to your dinghy. We speak "Baja". I've had a little "casita" in Bahia de Los Angeles for the past 25 years. P.S. If you enjoy our little BLOG, please drop me an e-mail @ capnernie1@aol.com Adios..........

Teak cockpit tables ...

2011-10-04T05:32:00.000-07:00

We still have a nice selection of our popular teak grating, fold-up cockpit tables. These tables are ideal for small boats. I used mine all last week and then put it in a locker before setting sail. Big box stores carry a similar item for $200.00 plus. We cut a tough deal with our importer and are helping to keep boating affordable by pricing them at $99.00. I varnished mine with a brush and admit it was a bit tedious coating all the little teak squares and cut-outs. A customer watching me work suggested I use spray varnish. What a great idea. If you don't varnish or at least apply teak oil, the teak will stain as you use it. One hundred left at the $99.00 price. Tops are square, round or six sided. Any skipper worth his salt would love one of these for Christmas.....

LEWMAR HATCHES

2011-10-03T07:33:00.000-07:00

This week only. All Lewmar, Bomar and other brands of marine hatches will be discounted 15% to all our faithful customers that follow our BLOG. We have several hundred to choose from. Most are aluminum a few are stainless steel and bronze..

2011-10-02T09:43:00.000-07:00

Beware of the "Santanas"

2011-10-02T08:54:00.000-07:00

As a boy growing up in Newport Beach one thing I'll always remember is the "Santana" winds. Orange county was mostly farm land in those days. Starting about October and ending about the end of April it was possible to get the powerful northeast winds at any time. The first signs of the winds would be hot dry summer weather in the winter. My dad used to wake me in the middle of the night and say, "Ernie, how about coming with to help double up on the lines on the "Kelpie" and make sure everything is secure aboard her." Kelpie was my dad's sixty five foot schooner that he kept docked at his little boat yard on Mariner's mile. For a young kid to go out into the night in forty to sixty knot winds it was quite exciting. Branches were coming off trees, tumble weeds were coming down all the NE facing streets, waves were breaking over the docks on the south side of the bay. Down on the docks one could see boat covers being shredded, small boats that had been poorly secured being damaged as they rubbed wood to wood against pilings and wharfs. The wind would howl through the rigging of "Kelpie" and other nearby boats as dust and debris filled the air making it hard to see and a bit dangerous. We would get the "Santana" winds four or five times each winter. It was pretty much a southern California occurrence with considerable damage taking place along the coast. Catalina island, especially Avalon would usually take a direct hit. Avalon bay is open to the NE and boaters foolish enough to not heed the early warnings (summer weather in January, large swells starting to come into the bay from the NE, a large dust cloud approaching from the mainland) would find themselves in very dangerous conditions. Boats on mooring would drag ashore, boaters attempting to leave would get there props fouled in mooring lines and blow ashore. Those lucky enough to escape would run around to the back off the island where they could find refuge off the palisades. Yes, the prudent mariner should have a lot of respect for the "Santana" winds. As I write this little ditty, I'm on a mooring in Avalon, it's hot and dry and we are having summer weather the second day of October. My weather man (my son Josh in Newport Beach) has been advised to call me on my cell if stiff NE winds start blowing. It's totally beautiful here, but I have first hand knowledge that it can turn to pure hell in a matter of an hour or two......

Mexico Charts and Cruising Guides.....

2011-10-01T10:14:00.000-07:00

It's October 1st today! Not only is it the opening day of Lobster Season but it's also the start of the 30 day count down till the end of hurricane season. Only a month before the "Baja Ha-Ha" when 150 sailing yachts leave San Diego bound for Cabo San Lucas in Mexico. Pictured is one of the most popular cruising guides for cruising Baja. Charlie's Charts has been in use for the past 30 years. It's been up dated and a "must have" for any navigator heading south. We've also got many of the other popular cruising guides for Baja and further south. Also, please note that we are closing out all our foreign charts. These include 100's of up to date Mexico charts that we are blowing out at a 50% discount. Remember, when you are heading south from northern waters, your 1st stop for a successful voyage your first port of call should be Minneys.

Goofing off in Avalon........

2011-09-30T10:44:00.000-07:00

That's my little Down East 38 sloop moored in Avalon harbor. It took two years to get this little yacht safe and sea worthy. Out with the old Faryman diesel, in with a new Yanmar and fuel tank. New wiring, new thru-hulls, new cushions and on and on. I know what you guys are going through in re-conditioning your boats. My store was a god send to me when it came to fastenings, used sails and hundreds of other hard to find items. I jokingly tell customers that the store is really my personal warehouse but that I am happy to share it with them. Well, all the hard work is paying off. It's beautiful over here, crowds have gone and the weather is great. Have a nice day, I am........

Catalina Island in the late 40's and 50's

2011-09-29T10:36:00.000-07:00

Pictured above is Errol Flynn on Casino Point with his large ketch "Sirocco" in the background. Also pictured is one of the "Miss Catalina" speed boats taking a turn in front of the 68' schooner "Shearwater" which spent her summers anchored off Catalina island. "Shearwater" was owned for many years by a patent attorney named Wilton Wann of Los Angeles. "Shearwater" got a bit of a bad rap when a later owner of the schooner took a hammer and tried to kill himself by killing the pilot of one of the little sea plane he was traveling to Avalon on. Other passengers subdued "Shearwater's" owner and the plane landed safely on Avalon bay. My father, George Minney was raised on Catalina island and for several years he skippered the powerful "Miss Catalina" speedboats which were a popular tourist attraction operating off the pleasure pier in Avalon. The photos were courtesy of the Avalon museum.....

Hanging on a mooring in Avalon.....

2011-09-28T11:17:00.000-07:00

Lovely day in Avalon today. The tourists have gone home. Still, the harbor is two thirds full of power and sailboats. Southern California boaters the best time of the year to be here.

ROCKET MAN A REAL BLAST AT NEWPORT BEACH BOAT SHOW...

2011-09-26T09:17:00.000-07:00

Rocket man and his buddy make big splashes at the Newport Beach in the water boat show. Thousands of boat show guests were treated to a display of what the future holds for us in jet pack travel. It will only be a short time till you pick up your morning paper and read that "rocket man crosses the 26 mile Catalina Island channel!" Probably the Hawaiian islands will be next. Jet pack is powered by powerful water pump in a small egg shaped boat that is towed around by the hose that supplies the high pressure water to the jet pack.

We should of lost our rig, maybe our lives!!!

2011-09-25T14:26:00.000-07:00

It was May 1976. We had entered the 50' Rhodes cutter, Mistress in the upcoming Trans Pac yacht race. My brother Owen was to be skipper and I was the navigator. We knew we needed a couple of shake down races before the Los Angeles to Honolulu classic. For our first race we chose the 100 mile Los Angeles harbor around Santa Barbara island and back to the L.A. lighthouse. Mistress was built in the early fifties by the Lester Stone boat yard in San Francisco. A lovely design with a center cockpit and aft cabin. The entire crew was chipping in for sails and gear. This was to be the home town boys attempt to win the Honolulu race. Almost everyone in the crew had raced Trans Pac before, so we all knew what we were getting into.

Everything was going great on our shake down race till about one in the morning. It was a moonless night, wind 18 to about 25 knots and seas 6 to 8 feet. We had one reef in the main and the #2 jib up. Navigating was a bit of a challenge because there was only one light on S.B. island and a dangerous reef about a half mile to the west of the island that we had to go around. As we worked our way up the west side of the island I was constantly taking bearings on the light and soundings. I was a bit nervous because we were on a lee shore and could see white water breaking on the treacherous rocks less than a mile down wind of us. When I estimated we were about a half mile from the reef to the west I told a crew member to button up his foul weather gear and to go forward and sit in the bow pulpit and watch for white water. Hopefully he wouldn't see any because we should be about a half mile west of the reef. As my lookout started up the lee side of Mistress and got to the shrouds, we heard a tremendous crash and then thunderous luffing and flogging of our #2 jib. My god I thought, did we hit the reef? I then grabbed the huge spot light we kept in the cockpit and shined it forward. The unbelievable sight I saw was four feet of Mistress's stem, with short pieces of planking on it, the bow pulpit, head stay and #2 jib totally adrift and trailing off to leeward from the top of our mast. Seeing what the problem was we ran off towards the horrible lee shore knowing we could only do it for a couple of minutes or we'd drive onto the rocks and possibly lose our lives. We got the engine going, and then ran forward and captured or wayward head stay with part of the bow attached. We lashed things as best we could to the anchor windlass, got the jib down and then set the jib halyard up as a temporary head stay to the anchor winch. By now we were in the kelp beds and keeping our fingers crossed that the kelp didn't overload our engine or cause it to overheat. Luck was with us and we were soon able to jibe around, get more sea room and eventually set a course back to the L.A. light house. Once out of danger I went forward and inspected the damage. First off, what had saved the mast from coming down when the stem came out of the boat was the fact that we had the removable staysail stay in place and set up. Plus, Mistress had a very heavy Sitka Spruce mast that I feel is much more forgiving than aluminum. Close inspection where the stem had broken off about four feet down showed signs of an old fracture. The boat had probably been in a collision or rammed into a sea wall years ago and cracked the stem all the way across. All that was really holding things together was the plank ends etc. The hard beat to weather was just too much, and BANG, everything just let go. The man upstairs was certainly looking after the crew member that would have been sitting in and hanging on to the bow pulpit thirty seconds later. It took several weeks and thousands of dollars to but Mistress back together. We all worked together, and were on the starting for the Honolulu race, July Fourth..... Picture above is the America's cup contender "Shamrock II" having a bad day. Picture is a Beken of Cowes photo taken in 1901. The new king of England, Edward VII was aboard when the mast came down.