Is a picture really worth 1000 words ???

A few random pictures from around our little store...Keep in mind the BRAND NEW Lewmar chrome plated bronze, self tailing 30's --40's and 48' SELF-TAILING sheet winches that will be available about the 15th of January.  I paid more for these winches than most of you did for your boats!  Just had to get them for you and believe me, they will be priced for QUICK SALE???  Drop us an e-mail if you are interested and we'll number and date your request so you'll be assured priority treatment.  We have one skipper that already wants 5 of the Lewmar 30"s.  Happy New Year.....Ernie and the great crew at Minneys...

More "AFFORDABLE" items......

All Borg Warner gear boxes are now priced at $195.00 each.  At this price it's a "buyer beware" deal and they may not be returned?  The Maxwell windlass control panels are $89.00 each.  They have an on-off switch and a 50 amp breaker.  The other items are priced as you can see.  Happy almost New Year.......

WE KEEP BOATING AFFORDABLE !!!

I'll let the pictures do the talking.  We feel the HAM radio is a good value at the price you can see.  I used one on my 2 year voyage and found it inexpensive and dependable communication.  We got the air conditioning or reefer units at the Cabo Yacht auction over a year ago.  Hows that for a great buy?  Brand new price about $1800.00.  Minney blow-out price $295.00 !!!  Goggle the numbers on the box and get more information.  Another great buy is the GOLO lift winches.  List price about $1600.00 we have 2 available at $795.00.  These are brand new in the box.  Voltage is 115 AC-they lift about 1200  pounds and are great for davit winches.  Goggle GOLO and find out more.  The ones we have are pictured in their web site.  We still have about 2 tons of 304 and 316 stainless steel nuts-bolts and screws of all sizes and shapes.  We purchased tons of these fastenings in the heyday of fiberglass boatbuilding in our area.  The waste that was going on was unbelievable in those days.  We've held the line our our price of $7.00 a pound for over 15 years.  Just for the heck of it awhile back I went to one of he "big box" marine stores and picked out one pound of assorted fastenings from those little gray drawers.  It was a bit or a shock to see the register ring up just under $45.00 for what I am selling for $7.00.  I probably should raise my prices?  Just before Christmas I won the bid from a boatbuilder that is getting out of building sailboats.  If any of you are thinking about purchasing Lewmar 30's or 40's or 48's in SELF TAILING CHROME PLATED BRONZE brand new in the box, wait a week or two and I promise you I'll have the best price on the planet!!!!!   Happy New Year.  Thanks to you guys, we've just had the best year in the history of our little store.........Ernie Minney  P.S.  The air conditioning units are from Glacier Bay

The Official Minney's Yacht Surplus Blog: Lofrans "Tigress" 1500 lb. pull, 12 Volt Windlass

The Official Minney's Yacht Surplus Blog: Lofrans "Tigress" 1500 lb. pull, 12 Volt Windlass

Sailing "BLOOPERS!!!"

For over 20 years the Minney family owned and operated Josh Slocum's, a bay front restaurant located in the west end of lovely Newport harbor.  It was a summer tradition for the Minney family to host the tuesday night "Wooden Boat" races. For many years we would only allow wooden boats and then opened the race up to what we called "Classic Glass" and finally, anyone that wanted to come out and play was welcome.  To lure customers into the restaurant after the races I started taking videos of the race and then showing them at the bar as soon as the last boat finished.  The racers loved the videos and we had tons of fun with them.  I have over 100 of the VHS tapes and although I took no special care of them the seem to be holding up well.  Getting from VHS to DVD to a computer to editing has been a bit of a challenge but I'm learning a lot and having fun in the process.  It's a bit sad though.  Many of the skippers of some of those fantastic wooden boats have passed on.  Burke Sawyer and his elegant varnished meter boat from Norway, Jack Bailey whom almost never missed a race in 15 years and his beautiful 12 meter Newsboy (formerly Westerly, an America's cup contender) Chuck Avery and his slippery Fife 8 meter Sunnovie (mispelled) and most recently my brother Owen who raced dozens of different boats and ran the camera boat numerous times.  P.S. The gal that played "sling shot" with the jib sheet on Night Wind didn't get hurt.  I didn't even know I captured her little trick until we watched the videos at the Slocum bar.  Best wishes for the holidays.  Ernie Minney and the crew at Minneys...

Farewell little brother.......

As most of you know, kids and boats are a perfect fit.  When the kids are young, you can have some great adventures.  Samarang is a 55' schooner built in Newport Beach in 1934.  I purchased her in very poor condition and spent 2 years getting her to look like and perform as you see in the video.  If you like big boats, schooners are the ticket.  They have little headsails and big mainsails.  With kids aboard and knowing it would be windy in the slot between Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz islands I never even put the mainsail up.  We were totally under control with the two self trimming stay'sls and still hitting 8's and 9's.  I formerly owned the 68' schooner Shearwater which I circled the world in with to small children aboard.

1991 San Clemente island fishing trip.......

 

Burma teak for the price of "peanuts!"

TEAK BLOW-OUT !!!  The days of the backyard boat builder appear to be over.  Why build a boat when you can can pick up a good used boat for peanuts?  I've done several boat interiors through the years and boy would I have loved to have some of the Burma teak custom corners, drawer and door pulls in these photos.  These came in several years ago from a production boat builder that is long gone?  We've lowered the price to .95 cents per item.  If you are doing some interior rebuilding you should drop by and check them out.  Your savings and time will be huge and you won't lose any fingers to your shaper or router !!!
'

Balboa Ski Club Christmas party @ Ernie's.......

2 Cylinder Yanmar diesel engine. $2995.00

Nice little 20 HP Yanmar diesel for $2995.00 reported to have low hours.  We just spent close to $500.00 having it checked out and and cleaned up.  Also pictured is a cute little Kermath 1 cylinder gas engine.  Engine appears new and has probably been stored for the past 40 years.  It would be great in a small classic launch.  It has no gear box.  $395.00 seems a very modest price.....

Seeing is believing ???

While fishing off Isla La Guardia in the Sea Of Cortez I was lucky enough to film a friend catching a fish on the boat behind us.  He dropped the fish back in the sea, thought about it for a few seconds and then jumped overboard to get his wayward sheepshead.  He captured the fish, tossed it aboard his boat but the fish wasn't having it!  Fish jumped back overboard, fisherman captured it again and this time tossed it into the cockpit of his boat.

One man's dream?

The top two photos are pretty much all the hardware, blocks, cars etc. needed to outfit a 45' race boat.  The owner of this gear had some set backs and scrapped the boat after spending close to $10,000.00 on new gear for it. As you can see, we still have the 3 cyl. Yanmar diesel.  Less than 50 hours on it!  We have the receipt for it showing the owner paid over $11,000.00 for it?  I've been using those foam Poly-Brushes for small jobs with West Epoxy.  They last about ten minutes and then dissolve.  Lots of skippers use them for varnish work, I never have.  Great buy on a Torrid electric hot water heater for $235.00.  Goggle it and you'll find it's about an $800.00 value?  Last picture is a nice kid's Western saddle for $99.00.  I'm a consignment store "junkie" and can never pass up a good deal.  Have you missed me?  I'm just back from my little fishing "casaita" in Bahia de Los Angeles in Baja, California.  I repaired some hurricane damage to the casa and property and had some great bass fishing out of a 15' aluminum boat I keep there.  Things are quiet in Mexico.  The "gringos" are pretty much staying out of the country.  Perhaps this new president can get the drug wars under control and crank up tourism again?