Hawaii bound - any advice greatly appreciated

Rohan

Rohan

Member
Jan 23, 2012
85
Pittwater and the Hawkesbury River, Sydney, Austra
Boat Info
2008 Sea Ray 275 Sundancer, NorthStar 657 Chartplotter, 2.4m fibreglass tender 3.3 Mercury O/B
Engines
350 Mag SeaCore Bravo III drive
I will be in Hawaii on vacation from Australia around the end of January 2017. I am taking the opportunity to get some boat bits and pieces shipped to the hotel to take back home with me and save some money in the process. I was wondering whether anyone can recommend a good boat chandelery in Honolulu to visit while I'm there, where the best marinas are and any other advice. Thank you in anticipation.
 
Have a good time.
Never been there. Lots of my relatives have gone. The closer to the water the more you pay for things.
Boat parts. How much do you save by buying in the US.
 
I lived in Hawaii many years ago. It was very common for Aussies to come buy motorcycles there and ship them back home. I always thought it crazy that they were still saving money.
in any event, enjoy your stay!
 
Rohan said:
I will be in Hawaii on vacation from Australia around the end of January 2017. I am taking the opportunity to get some boat bits and pieces shipped to the hotel to take back home with me and save some money in the process. I was wondering whether anyone can recommend a good boat chandlery in Honolulu to visit while I'm there, where the best marinas are and any other advice. Thank you in anticipation.
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What islands will you be on....?
 
northern said:
Boat parts. How much do you save by buying in the US.
Click to expand...

Shipping to Australia can often be the killer - and as Mercury dealers in the US will not sell to overseas customers (officially), we are at the mercy of our local dealers selling into a small market so prices are quite inflated. I've found a few work arounds over the years, some parts suppliers in the US who will ship at reasonable rates just using USPS whereas others will only use more expensive parcel services - making it less viable. For example, I buy my anodes from Boat Zincs in the US, and have found that a certain size USPS box can take 5 sets of Bravo 3 anodes, plus 5 sets of trim tab anodes. I can land the lot here for about 60% of retail here - postage included. But send it by parcel service and that's another story altogether.

Also, because your market is so much larger, there is a larger range of after market and generic products than we get here. We do have a great chancellery here, Whitworths, however they are large enough to dictate price.
 
wrvond said:
I lived in Hawaii many years ago. It was very common for Aussies to come buy motorcycles there and ship them back home. I always thought it crazy that they were still saving money.
in any event, enjoy your stay!
Click to expand...

The problem we face over here is the small market and too many middle men making a buck from us. If you can arrange the transportation at a reasonable price, you could likely land a motorcycle here for less than Aussie retail. Then there are warranty issues that would stop most people from doing that I guess. If we weren't right hand drive here, we would see more car imports from the US too - but our laws on left hand drive mean that if it's under 25 years old, it must be converted to RHD - no exceptions - certainly not in the more populous states.
 
Sounds like a business opportunity for some entrepreneur in the US on this site to help you unfortunate SeaRay owner down under. In Canada we are able to ship items to the US side of the boarder and go pick them up if you live close enough to the boarder. If not there is a handling fee that can be the value of the goods if you ship it from US to Canada. Good luck with your parts.
Try these people I have had good luck with them. Last order came from UK. They have a section you put in your ship to address and it gives you shipping costs.
http://www.rockauto.com/
Enjoy your vacation
 
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