BOOM HARDWARE AND LOANER TOOLS......

Pictured is just one of the hundreds of milk cartons that are full of mast, boom and spinnaker pole fittings. Also is a picture of our loaner tools. Through the years riggers and boat owners have sold us their rigging tools, cutters, nicro-press and other hard to find and very expensive tools. Rather than sell them we keep them around and loan them out FREE OF CHARGE. Give us a deposit worth the value of the tool, take it for the length of time you need it and return it and get your full deposit back. We've even got the big rigging vice out of Lido Shipyard. Need to splice some 3/4" wire for your clipper ship? We've got the rigging vice to make it easy, complete with the marlin spikes. P.S. Will the guy that took my $200.00 adjustable battery terminal crimper on a $50.00 deposit PLEASE RETURN IT?

FIVE TONS OF ANCHORS!!!!

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 !!!

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

Three dozen new headsails just added to the list here!

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

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!

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

MATCHED PAIR BARLOW BICYCLE WINCHES

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.........

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

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

Bring your boat to our front door !!!

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"

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!!!

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!!!!

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.........

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 !!!

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!!!

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 ???

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.....

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 !!!!!

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...

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???