I'm really not trying to be a troublemaker, but here goes . . . There is an interesting article in September's "Blue Water Sailing" magazine titled "Reality Check". BWS interviews 8 crews about their experience cruising/living on their boats. The boats range from 33 to 62 feet in length. The crews have been aboard and cruising for at least a year, and with the exception of one boat (which has their two sons aboard) all are crewed by two people. I'll quote a bit as BWS and the crews manage to sum up some of my feelings and experience with much of the marine industry and their products. "More than half the crews harshly criticized the quality of work and durability of products offered by the marine industry - the one aspect of their new life where the word 'disappointed' appeared over and over again." "The biggest disappointment by far has been some of the products and services we have paid for to make our boats a safe and comfortable home, only to find out that they either don't work, are the wrong size, or don't hold up well..." "We can count on one hand - no, three fingers - the number of 'professionals' in the sailing industry that actually treat us as valuable customers. It is remarkable that as fairly new cruisers, we believe that superior work on our boat will be performed by us, even with our limited knowledge and experience." And my personal favorite . . . as it is one of my pet peeves: "It would behoove the boating industry to stop using fear to sell its products; the pitch is usually something like 'buy this gizmo or you will die'". As for me, I'll tell you that in my 20-odd years of "messing about in boats" I have found that there are some very good "marine" products. These are usually just plain good products-the "marine" is superfluous. However in many cases there are products that will do the job better than "marine" products, last longer, and cost much less. Since I like to illustrate -- Have you any of those acquaintances that "know everything" even though they have no experience about the subject? I just had one adamantly inform me that my boat would be unsafe as I was not using "marine" welding wire (the electrode used in MIG welding). My explanations that I was using the correct grade for the low carbon steel needed for boat-building and that there actually was no such thing as "marine" electrode were met with blank stares and outright disbelief (he checked the label, "marine" is not on it). He says he is going to report me to the Coast Guard (who actually does not care unless I am going to charter, and would approve of my electrode and steel choice anyway). Sigh. If I could overcome my standards and ethics (I cannot/will not, and do not want to) I would enter the sales arena and do what a lot of the marine industry does . . . stamp regular stuff (maybe not even good stuff) "marine" and triple the price. I mean after all, I know right where to start . . . 'cause if you do not buy it you're going to die . . . and there is none in the marketplace . . . what? . . . Well, "marine" welding wire of course! I'd retreat to my bunker, but I do not have one. So instead I will retreat to my 20 ton steel boat and continue to weld . . . all the while rebelliously and flagrantly using my "non-marine" welding wire. CUAgain, Daniel Meyer http://cuagain.manilasites.com