WE KEEP BOAT AFFORDABLE!!!!!!

You know, restoring a Down East 38' sloop keeps me on the front lines of the marine hardware industry. Quite often I don't have just the part I need or don't have the time to locate it in our "less than well organized" store. I purchased 2 -3" X 5/16 carriage bolts yesterday for $2.90 each. At $7.00 a pound for my 308 and 316 S.S. fastenings I could have bought a dozen of the same item but all I had was hex head and needed the carriage bolt type of head. $35.00 and $40.00 for a quart of varnish is nuts. I'm doing something about it. We mark up our paints and varnishes only 10% and we sell sandpaper at our cost. We have but one store and it's totally paid for, we keep our overhead down and don't need HUGE mark-ups on items we stock. Boats our our life and we know many of you feel the same way. When we say, "we keep boating affordable" we mean it. My son Josh is slowly assuming command. Every day I pound into him to keep prices low. I was up early this morning and took my boat to the fuel dock for an oil change. Engine is a little Yanmar 4 cylinder diesel. I have the bill in front of me. 6 qts. of oil $27.90- 3 filters (which I usually get $2 to $5.00 each) $71.63. Labor for the oil change $85.00. 7 gal. diesel fuel $29.18. Total bill $228.09. I tried not to appear shocked when I got the bill. Perhaps our local fuel docks could try a little harder at making their supplies and services a little more affordable??? Gone sailing, gonna turn the BLOG over to Josh for a little while. He grew up on my 55' schooner "Samarang". Been working in the store since he was 6. Graduated a year ago from Northeastern University. Recently went around Cape Horn with the "Alaska Eagle" crew and races locally on a variety of different boats.