Author Karen Buhler Gale has logged many hours, and dropped plenty of money, in marine supply stores.

Author Karen Buhler Gale has logged many hours, and dropped plenty of money, in marine supply stores.



I love a good marine supply store as much as the next boater. Fingering all the shiny, new shackles, plotting waypoints into the expensive GPS units, admiring all the virgin spools of rope, I almost forget about barnacles, corrosion and chafe. That's what makes it so pleasant. The sea has yet to intrude into my Boat Utopia.

But eventually I come out of my fevered imaginings of the wondrous upgrades I am going to make and remember I have a special purpose besides dream building. I need a fire stick to light my BBQ, some single ply toilet paper for the head, and some heavy gauge stainless steel wire to complement my vast repair kit that includes an all-in-one screw driver, duct tape and winch grease. The long nose lighters look innocent enough in their cheap plastic package. The 4-pack of toilet paper slouches like any other four pack. The wire is coiled neatly in its own circular case. They all wear the navy blue "M" for Marine.

Mariner to mariner, I am reassured the lighter will fire in hurricane force winds, the paper won't become a sodden, pulp-ish paste that plugs the delicate and perverse head, and the wire will remain rust free in its hermetically sealed case. But the sea is too wiley for that and so is the owner of the marine supply store. S/he knows there's an enormous hole in your pocket that all your money dribbles out of and into the bilge/engine/electronics/gas tank of your boat and they simply seek their tithe.

The Old Man of the sea gets his drop of rum and the marine supply store gets his $9 for the fire stick and $2.40 for the TP that can be had at Safeway for $1.99 and $2.40 respectively. True Value Hardware will sell you the coil of wire for $12 instead of $20. "˜M', you see, also stands for More, more money.

But boaters are a haunted people. Haunted by the endless What If's on a merciless sea that pities no one and always punishes the unprepared. And so we buy. But don't. "M", as Captain Bligh will attest, also stands for Mutiny. Patronize your marine store for triple braided rope, chart plotters, PFD's and any other item that is truly a unique requirement for a marine environment, but for every thing else lower the dinghy and row to the more hospitable shores of your local hardware or grocery store.