Cruising hubs to find second hand stuff

[Orchidius]

Hi there,

A while back I asked some questions here regarding my search for a windvane self-steering system. I was advised to search craigslist for some of the "cruising hubs" in the US. Later I found a blog mentioning an Aries windvane being found second hand for 150$ with 150$ of repairs to do on it. This got my attention good...

Now, since I'm Belgium-based I have little clue as to what those cruising hubs might be. I was wondering if you could direct me to the right place on craigslist to start my search .

Many thanks!

[Blue Crab]

This is a reference to places with lotsa boats: Annapolis, SE Florida, SoCal, SF, PNW, etc.

I was once able to find a way to search all of Craig's list with one query so it can be done. Might even have been a 3rd party site. The experts will know as soon as they get their coffees.

[Dale Hedtke]

You might have good luck on this forum.

Try www.searchtempest.com. Also search CL in concentrated sailing areas such as Annapolis.

You could also try some of the resale shops such as Bacon's, Sailor's Exchange.

I've not noticed quality wind vanes for much under $1000. There are exceptions, of course. Good luck.

[jannw]

I'll chirp in here with my method.

I use google advanced search to find classifieds ads for obscure stuff ... google seems to index everything within a day

E.g. for a hydrovane windvane:

https://www.google.co.uk/?gws_rd=cr&...ane%20steering

Limit it to new results in the last week <search tools><anytime><past week>:
https://www.google.co.uk/?gws_rd=cr&...ring&tbs=qdr:w

(not much available right now)

alternatively since I have a google account I set up an automated alert at: http://www.google.com/alerts/manage?hl=en
for roughly the same search, and got a daily email when a new item was listed ... lo and behold that's how I got my hydrovane (it was listed on eBay UK)

[Orchidius]

All good tips, I've found a bunch of stuff that's of interest already .

Something completely different though, does anybody have any experience with shipping such large units internationally? Whatcha reckon'? Another boat-dollar for the shipping? :s

[AnsleyS]

Another idea is one of the marine second hand exchanges. The one I use is here in Maine USA:

Marine Consignment of Coastal Maine, LLC

One can buy over the web and have it shipped.

[Orchidius]

I wrote pretty much all those stores I could find online in this part of Europe, there's just barely any boats equiped with that kind of gear that are not prepping for a big trip or on a big trip .

[NemoNC]

Orchidius,

An alternative to Craigslist might be BoatPartsFerret.com. We're still building our list of European sources but there are some UK merchants in our database. In the right hand column, scroll down to "Country & State" and select the United Kingdom, then a country. If you end up needing to widen your search you can still search worldwide by category on the main page.

NemoNC