Going to the source for Hardware

[Kenneth K]

Normally, I don't fret too much about where I buy stainless fasteners. Sure, the prices vary, but when you need something, time and convenience seem to offset the typical few cents difference in fastener prices. But, when I couldn't find stainless 12-24 set screws, I had to go to a local supplier. In Tacoma, we have Tacoma Screw. What a difference: A similar size set screw was $.06 each (vs .49 at Ace Hardware), 3/16" pop-rivets were $.24 ea, a 5-roll pack of electrical tape in assorted colors was $5.00, a pre-made 1 GA batter cable was $15.00. They also had a huge assortment of paints, primers, o-rings, and plumbing supplies.

Sometimes it pays to shop around....

 

[Loren Beach]

Tacoma...

The convenience of Sunday shopping has a price attached... so West Marine certainly has its place.

Luckily we also have a http://www.tacomascrew.com branch in PDX. Helpful guys and they really know their products well.
You do need to know what you need when you get up the counter -- they then go back to their racks of bins and bring your fastenings out to you.
They saved me some significant $ on the longer bolts when I remounted all four cockpit winches on the new risers.

 

[bgary]

+1 for Tacoma Screw (there is one in Everett, and one on the way to work...maybe Totem Lake?)

As you say, they know their stuff. Bonus, their stuff is better than just about anywhere else. Real, quality stainless fasteners, not zinc-coated crap like at (some of) the big-box stores.

They even had some super-small fasteners I couldn't find anywhere else. Just walked to the back and came out with exactly what I needed.

Bruce

 

[Teranodon]

+1 for Tacoma Screw

One of my favorite places. I have yet to stump them - they seem to have everything.

Another "candy store" in our part of the world: the Grizzly showroom in Bellingham. If there is a heaven, this is what it must be like.

 

[tenders]

I worked at a fastener distributor and custom manufacturer for a couple of months after graduating from college and developed a huge appreciation for the complexity of that business. A boatowner who can get access to a wholesale line of fasteners is very lucky - the inventory costs eat retail fastener distributors alive, which you can get a sense for at small hardware stores, that carry a small number of SKUs, and big-box stores, whose fastener aisles are chaos without a lot of tending (and who still don't have all that many SKUs). McMaster.com has done an impressive job combining the two online without fleecing the retail customer on shipping costs - I wonder, though, how much money they make on small orders.