Mariner's Hardware is now Blue Water Hardware...

[Cathy Monaghan]

Remember those beautiful bronze cowl vents made by Mariner's Hardware? The tall oval ones anyway. Well you can still get them, they are now Blue Water Hardware of Sausalito, CA.

Sales Contact: Scott Buchan
Address: Blue Water Hardware
133 Buckelew St.
Sausalito, CA 94965

Phone: (415) 887-9044
Fax: (415) 663-4227
E-mail: info@BlueWaterHardware.com
Web site: http://www.bluewaterhardware.com/

[mgphl52]

Awesome! Thanks for the update Cathy!

[chrick]

If you do get in touch with Scott, ask him why he won't call me back about the order I placed in August. I'm getting a little unnerved - it's been a long time, and I paid half up front! (8 portlights and 2 hatches)

Hopefully all is well, but I have to say that hearing nothing after 4 or 5 emails and voicemails over 2 months is a little discouraging.

Anyone else have any experiences with Scott to share?

Thanks,

Chris

[pedbed]

I placed an order the first week on October (oval cowl vent). Was told it was back ordered and to expect it in a couple of weeks. 6 weeks and two non reply emails later, I too am still waiting

[Bob M-J]

I am another with delivery problems from Blue Water Hdwe. I ordered two cast SS cowel vents for my Tartan 37 early last Sept. and, to date, have only received the deck plates. After numerous frustrating e-mails I was told, by Scott, over a month ago that he has changed manufacturers. My last e-mail was to inform him that I am about to notify California Better Business Bureau of his inability to deliver paid for products. I have also demanded that he ship my vents via air prepaid and was advised that he would...when he gets them. His manufacturer is located in China and he keeps claiming that he will call to expedite but never gets back to me with a reply. I have spent time and money fabricating new teak dorade box covers but can not install the deck plates until I receive the vents (I can't align the vent fore & aft without first screwing them into the plates). I am now concerned with the threads from the new mfgr. matching the threads of the old. I'm open to all suggestions as to how we can pressure him into meeting his obligations.

Bob M-J
S/V "Osprey"
Tartan 37
Chester, NJ

[Ben Thomas]

Hearing this kind of thing happening is always disappointing.
Over the years I have replaced all the cowl vents, dorades and the Bomar hatchs with their products. This was back when it was Mariner's . delivered when promised. Beautful line of products.
I noticed on their website they will be at the Seattle and Miami boat show, I will be attending the Portland and Seattle show as a vender. (Ptld.&Seattle in January)
Email and phone calls are not that upclose and personal. There is nothing quite as motivating as being put on the spot about your screw ups as being confronted with a bunch of people in your booth listening in on the friendly but firm conversation about ones very late order. Stand and deliver or give the money back. Period.

Keep us posted in the interim before the shows, I would certainly go to their booth and ask why several friends had not recieved their orders.
Best of luck
Ben

[chrick]

I've just gotten a reply email from Scott apologizing for not being in touch sooner and saying he'll keep me posted on the delivery of the portlights and hatches - so I'm relieved for now. I'll update this thread later when I hear more (state of manufacture and delivery, etc.).

I'd hate to discourage people from buying a good product from a small company if that company does deliver - so I'll continue to hope he does make good!

Thanks,

Chris

[Markst95]

Unfortunately I had the same experience with Bristol Bronze last year. I ordered the Typhoon Rudder reinforcing bronze straps last April. Waited two months, called and ended up talking to the owner for almost an hour about the problems with bronze from China. Seems like a nice enough guy but I never got the parts. Fortunately I never was billed either so I just emailed and cancelled the order.

[Bob M-J]

I have recievd the following email response regarding my SS cowel vents. If anyone else has recieved a similar response I'd love to know. In the meantime I'm holding temper/breath

"Dear Bob,
I have a shipping date of 20 days from our factory. At 20 days, 4-5 days air freight to America and 4-5 days powder coating and polishing. If 30 days from this point is acceptable I will continue with the construction and delivery of your order. Thank you for understanding and I look forward to your response.

Thank You and Best Regards,
Scott Buchan
Blue Water Hardware
Office 415-887-9044
Fax 415-663-4227
Scott@BlueWaterHardware.com
www.BlueWaterHardware.com"

Bob M-J
S/V "Osprey"
Tartan 37 - Jersey City, NJ

[chrick]

Hi Bob,

Did you ever get your cowl vents? Scott is still emailing me from time to time telling me he still doesn't have a date. Just curious to hear if his prediction of 30 days came true or not.

Thanks,

Chris

[Bob M-J]

Last I heard he was expecting to hear they were to be shipped this past Momday and that he would notify me if the shipment was made. Guess what? I haven't heard back yet,
When he told me of the pending shipment I told him I wasn't going to hold my breath.

[Sea Hunt]

I will be attending Strictly Sail Miami in February. According to Blue Water Hardware's website, they are scheduled to have a booth at the show. However, as of today, Blue Water Hardware is NOT listed as an exhibitor on the Strictly Sail Miami website.

Given the prior posts on this thread, if I were a suspicious, cautious, "commie under every bed" kind of guy, I would suspect Blue Water Hardware is (or has become) some type of a scam operation.

If I can do anything to assist while I walk the docks at Strictly Sail Miami, please let me know.

[StevenP]

Hi everyone,

I'm a little reluctant to get involved in this because I sincerly hope that Blue Water Hardware can be successful, but thought it only fitting to relate my experience with Mariners Hardware now Blue Water Hardware.

In the past I purchased custom stainless hatches through MH and have been very happy with them. It was with some sadness that I found out MH had gone out of bussiness and equally I was happy when I recieved and e-mail from Scott about BWH having taken it's place.

So I immediately placed an order for a custom stainless companionway hatch, even though I knew it was possible to order from Manship directly. Just doing that required calling a few times, since my e-mails never received a response. But Scott knew the product and gave me a lot of confidence that I could get what I wanted with his help, whereas trying to interface directly with Taiwan made me uncomfortable because of the time delay and language difficulties.

I had communications problems with Scott from the begininning in the same way as described here. Eventually I decided to figure out what was going on and sent an e-mail to Manship in Taiwan. I was informed that they no longer supply BWH because of a payment dispute and was reffered to Marine Depot to place my order.

Upon learning that I put a stop payment on my order with BWH and got a hold of Marine Depot. I was told by Marine Depot that Scott was a good guy and that he was getting orders from Manship through Marine Depot, but that they had not seen my order which I placed and paid for a few months before.

I went ahead and re-ordered the sliding hatch through Marine Depot. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get the same kind of real time communication about the product and the order so when it arrived it required some modification to suit my purpose.

I'm happy with Marine Depot and will order from them in the future. What I don't understand is Scotts difficulty with communication and why he couldn't get the order for my hatch in in a timely fashion. I gave Scott a lot more patience than I might have some other company because I like BWH products and want them to succeed. However, it's a bit too much of a risk for me to order from them after this experience. Hopefully they can get things better organized and get their communication figured out and get orders in and product shipped on time.

[Bob M-J]

Scott advised that my cowell vents were shipped to the powder coater last week and claimed they would be shipped Monday 2/1/10. He even sent me a picture of them. I sent e-mail yesterday and today asking for a tracking #. I am not holding my breath as one promise after another has not been met. I've been waiting since Aug.!!!

Bob M-J
Tartan 37 "Osprey

[StevenP]

I'm really sorry to hear about your issues with BWH Bob. I ordered a few months before you as soon as I got the e-mail that MH had re-opened as BWH. It took several months before I gave up and even then I didn't have the heart to get on the internet and bad mouth the company. It wasn't until September that I re-placed the order with Marine Depot.

But perhaps I should have. No one else should get into a deal with them until the story changes. What you said about Scott having to change suppliers doesn't ring true to me, and if it is it's because Manship wouldn't give him anything.

It sounds like issues of receiving product from Manship but not paying for it, as well as taking orders and collecting money but then never placing the orders. Scott did tell me in one e-mail my hatch was 'being fabricated' which couldn't have been true since the order was never placed.

I'm not quite ready to go all the way to 'this is a scam', but that's probably only because I was so fond of the MH product line up. I'm afraid BWH is going to be dead on arrival since it doesn't take long for this kind of thing to spread among sailors.