I am dreaming of sailboats, sunlight, structural integrity of hatches et.al.

One of the biggest deals of our new sailboat is the replacement of the lens of the hatch for many Lewmar hatches.  I called a guy in California to see what he had to say.  A pleasant gentleman, and honest no doubt, said that I would be priced out of the market if I tried to ship them to him to be replaced.  He recommended that I try a much closer place to the boat so that shipping is not an issue.  I did a quick Google search and nothing really impressive popped out of the screen that said  USE ME I AM GOOD so I did send a form inquiry off just to test the waters.

Tomorrow is another day and when I find the right person/company I will edit this thread and add information as it becomes available. Oh Oh, the prices thrown around are significant.

ACR PLB-200 Battery Changeout

A few years ago, too few at the price of new batteries, I bought a Personal Locator Beacon from ACR:  The expiration date of the batteries was 09-2012.  Since we had sold our Inspiration I was not too worried about it and since ACR was charging almost what a new device would cost to replace the batteries I considered it a throwaway device. I opened the device and looked at the batteries and thought I could replace them myself BUT how could I make sure everything was within specification for transmit power, frequency and all the other things like switch activations, etc.

Fast forward to today and I came across the following company that replaces the batteries, does all the system checks and certifications for a “reasonable” price.  I provide the information here as a matter of interest to everyone who has an ACR PLB-200/201 and others who are mariners wanting such a device.  Actually, you could take this PLB along with you if you are going into the deep dark woods, desert, or anywhere you could be in a life threatening situation and want to be found anywhere on earth that has a clear view to the open sky. Current day PLB’s are pretty cheap so if you are an adventurer get one.

The price to replace my batteries is around $135 plus shipping down to him.  The return shipping is paid by them.  Turn around is nominally a week or two.

John Szipszky
Stateside Commercial Marine,Inc.
2854 Stirling Road, Suite K
Hollywood, FL 33020
Ph: 954-926-3665
Fax: 954-926-3664
Monday - Friday 9 AM to 4 PM EST