Canada Not Parts friendly

[Howard Sterndrive]

when it comes to buying boat parts. Especially Sierra, but same deal for BRP and Mercury. You cannot online shop in Canada...land of the marine Luddites.

Why are there hundreds of US sites selling Sierra marine parts online, but zero in Canada??
Must be some protected territory agreement with Canadian CRAPA stores.

When I go to my local Napa store here (I live in a region with about 650,000 operable pleasure boats)... they want nuthin to do with me and my boat....If it aint a minivan or hatchback...get lost..
If I don't have THEIR part number, they don't know me... 18 dash get lost...can't order over the phone... cash up front.. gotta drive 20 minutes each way to order a $2 gasket...to find out it is backordered indefinitely (the latest trend....Sierra numbers not available in Canada, yet in stock at iboats)

iboats ships from the USA through Russel A. Farrow at the border in Windsor, ON. It works, but obviously slows things down.
It takes a couple of weeks to my door, but they beat the local Canadian prices by 30% typically on decent size order >$100 or so... that's after duty, customs brokerage, tax and shipping is added!
How can that be?!?

If iboats is making a living, these Canadiots are ripping me right off....

I ordered a distributor cap from iboats for a Merc 3.0, and guess what it says underneath:
"Made in Canada"

I shudder to think how many times this thing crossed the border.

BRP's online order site shows prices in Canadian $, but when you get to the checkout, it informs you that Canadian orders are not allowed.

Mercury has no Canadian online order system. Doug Russell ships lots of parts across.

It sucks waiting 2 weeks for any little part you might have forgot to order......waiting for seat parts now....

hey, Thanks for listening!
Canadian parts distributors sure don't give a hoot. UPS and the post office sure win.

 

[can-amsledder]

Re: Canada Not parts friendly

Re: Canada Not parts friendly

I know your pain! Or I should say I used to know your pain!
I?m now living in NY about 20 minutes from the border and cross every day into Niagara for work so I have the best of both worlds.
There are lots of guys in the Niagara region that use a mail box service in Niagara Falls NY so they can mail order anything they want and just go over and get it.
I do have a truck running out to Kawartha Stair on Monday, anything you want me to throw on for you?

 

[Bigprairie1]

Re: Canada Not parts friendly

Re: Canada Not parts friendly

Whoa....take it easy dude. Usually limited service is simply a function of supply and demand. Don't crap on the country for that....you can always leave if you think you are going to get a better deal on boat parts elsewhere
Anywhooo, I picked up some hard to find plugs for my outboard at my local Lordco and some Seafoam here in Victoria no problems...no hassles, no waiting.
Perhaps you just found a perfect business niche for yourself....finally the only full service marine/boat parts store with super instant service in Canada....go for it
All Good
BP

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Canada Not parts friendly

Re: Canada Not parts friendly

Are you nowhere near a dealership ???

 

[oops!]

Re: Canada Not parts friendly

Re: Canada Not parts friendly

big prairie has it right.

first ....napa is using sierria parts....

the sierria number is napas number.

as far as other merc parts i drive to the local dealership and get my stuff.

for the hull stuff......its iboats.com....well worth it.

the only real problem we have here in canada is a place in the us called fon du lak. if a part has to come from there.....it takes weeks....it is the only black hole of the boat world from western canadas point of view.

(when parts are ordered form fon du lak (( sp??)) the must be a minimum order, so the dealerships wait till they have enough to put in an order...then its a minimum of three weeks from that date.....if its not back ordered and we never know that till after the parts arrive (or dont arrive as it were)

but.....one thing for sure.....take a look at our beaches.....the babes....the good people....the raw beauty.....the hockey and you can see why|CANADA ROCKS !

 

[oops!]

Re: Canada Not parts friendly

Re: Canada Not parts friendly

and actually......the title of this thread offends me.

please change it to canada sucks for getting parts or something like that....

i know the current title is a strict violation of the rules

 

[NW Redneck]

Re: Canada Not parts friendly

Re: Canada Not parts friendly

Try here: http://w ww.marinemanifold.com/ (remove space between w's)

This is their Canadian site and I have ordered a few things from them for my '75 stringer, and they have been great to deal with. They handle Sierra parts as well as many others, and are great at finding hard to get stuff. Prices are good and IIRC my last order came in less than 1 week.

 

[Jeep Man]

Re: Canada Not parts friendly

Re: Canada Not parts friendly

What has your lack of knowledge pertaining to boat parts distribution have to do with your country AND MINE. Personally, I find your heading offensive. And FWIW, Mercury has it`s distribution centre in Milton, Ontario, less than a hundred miles from you.

 

[oops!]

Re: Canada Not Parts friendly

thank you for changing the title of this thread

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Canada Not parts friendly

Re: Canada Not parts friendly

Canada Not parts friendly

I do not expect to see a thread title as the original one...... it was allot of work to change every response to Canada Not parts friendly

 

[rbh]

Re: Canada Not Parts friendly

Thanks BOB

HOWARD!!!!!!

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Canada Not Parts friendly

iboats ships to Canada, they even give you the total cost, including duties, etc.

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: Canada Not parts friendly

Re: Canada Not parts friendly

thanks for fixing the title, I was in a bad mood with my boat sitting idle for the weekend needing a common part

Are you nowhere near a dealership ???

I should really record a phone call to the dealer...it is the most dysfunctional discussion you would ever hear....
it is 30 minute drive each way. So, 1 hour to place an order (because they don't take credit cards over the phone)
and 1 hour to pick it up

They have a service shop. The lady at the counter is the mother of the mechanic, and I think she feels she is protecting her son's job by making it very difficult for anyone to do their own repairs (or something?? I can't figure the woman out...but it is capital B Bizarro to try to get anything there)
I bought some gaskets there once, and one of the 2 riser gaskets was in the wrong bag - a mis-picked part.
When I went back with it, she grabs my bill, circles a line on the back that reads:
"No warranty on electronic parts"
and hands it back...she would not speak to me or make eye contact.

Luckily I like kayaking.... I have done more of that in the last 2 years. I think one more year of a power boat will be enough of this nonsense. I find it too stressful to beg these places to get me what I need.
Tinkering with project boats is not as fun as it once was.

Everything I use pretty much comes from iboats, or marineengine.com for OEM stuff... I proudly support American business!

 

[Woodyq]

Re: Canada Not Parts friendly

My flares became stale dated this past winter.

So being a good Canadian I immediately checked with Canadian Tire.

Pack of THREE Orion flares $49.99 plus 13% TAX

However I was in Ft Myers, Florida.

Pack of FOUR Orion flares $23.95 plus 6% TAX but I also got a mail in rebate coupon for $4.00.


Soooooo, needless to say I waited till I came home this spring so I could buy the flares here.

Yea, right!!!!!

 

[Summer Fun]

Re: Canada Not Parts friendly

I guess you guys don't know how to do it??.

I send my friend up in Canada parts all the time.

Just put on the box warranty work done & all that Canadian tax is gone !!.

 

[roscoe]

Re: Canada Not Parts friendly

I guess you guys don't know how to do it??.

I send my friend up in Canada parts all the time.

Just put on the box warranty work done & all that Canadian tax is gone !!.

Been There, Done That.
Can also be declared as a gift, within reason.

 

[Summer Fun]

Re: Canada Not Parts friendly

Now not to sound dishonest.
But !! We all need to save a buck here or there.

 

[tallcanadian]

Re: Canada Not Parts friendly

Sometimes parts are hard to get here and if you can find them they usually are about 30% or more higher in price. I buy all my stuff in the U.S and most times I save money. Yes, sometimes you have to wait for it but you get use to it. One example I'll give is I bought 4 high back boat seats from the U.S and by the time they came to my door, with shipping, exchange, taxes, they were around 50 bucks per seat. I"ve not yet found them up here for less than 62 dollars. And as far as Canadian Tire goes, I wouldn't buy a thing from them. Inferior part, tools, crap. Even a brand name like Dewalt from Canadian Tire in not a true Dewalt product, but they sell for the same. Anyway, just my two cents worth.

 

[BF]

Re: Canada Not Parts friendly

both local merc dealerships also sell sierra parts from their parts counter. When calling for prices, you have to ask whether its a sierra or merc part/price. For some things I don't care, for others, I prefer the actual merc product.

In that past, I also knew a small local snowmobile/snowblower/lawnmower repair guy. He could order sierra parts for me. Similarly, there's a small water sports shop (wake boards etc etc) that don't themselves have much for parts, but they are happy to put together an order from sierra for you if you ask.

Maybe try calling a few sled shops etc, and asking. They might be fine doing an order for you... they might see it as a new summer component to their business.

Or even better... start your own "business" and give sierra a call about how to go about ordering from them.

 

[puddle jumper]

Re: Canada Not Parts friendly

Up the other end of the island from big prairie. Our local marine shop will meet any price as long its apples to apples and oranges to oranges. I also have gotten many things from iboats because of the selection and the price is comparable to most stores I have visited when duties and taxes are included.

I think there must be a better marine place to shop at in your area.