We use Defender a LOT these days. They often have the best prices. Recently bought a
Furuno autopilot and they were helpful in special ordering the tiny hydraulic
pump we needed for our toy hydraulic ram that they did not carry but were willing to special order from
Furuno at the same great discount as the models they do carry. They were not able to help us with finding the switching solenoid we needed however.
The only real issue I have with them is their website and search
engine. If you don't know the name brand and model numbers it can be a frustrating digging down through a lot of seemingly unrelated crap trying to find what you are looking for there.
We used to have access to a platinum WestMarine Pro (port supply) through our old sailing club and was a massive WM fanboy at the time. Everyone at the Chicago store knew me by name and most didn't even ask for my Pro number since they had it memorized. I stopped in on the way home during our 2-year
refit and bought supplies and
parts 2-3 times a week. We probably spent $25k at WM during that period and used them almost exclusively.
When they effectively stopped price-matching last year we simply stopped
shopping there. As full-time cruisers we will only shop there now if there is an
emergency need and there is no other place locally to get marine-specific items and we can't wait for mail-order.
I like Jamestown Distributors. Good prices on the more limited items they have. If you need
exhaust hose or septic hose they are go-to. Again, website could he better.
Another good choice is Hamilton Marine -best deals around on
rope, especially deals on cut ends on clearance. And again, awful website. I don't understand why these
internet sellers have such hard to search online inventory. Why make it harder for your customers to find the items they are looking for?
We used to wait for WestMarine to have their huge
rope sail a couple times a year, when their
New England Ropes partners prices would be slashed to half price sometimes. Then we would order online ship to store for free
shipping. But Hamilton Marine is now just as
cheap and available all the time.