Just thought I would include some stuff I learned about buying stuff for a boat build for any who may be beginning the process. Hopefully I can save others some time, headache and money.
US Composites is great (
http://www.uscomposites.com/) . I used them for all the glass, peel ply, cabosil, fairing compound, and epoxy. The pink fairing compound they make is TheBomb.com. It mixes smoothly, sands easily, but it also cures pretty dense. I like it better than the fairing compounds that West System makes. The US Composites fast cure epoxy is super fast, and the slow is super slow. I would only get the fast for extreme cold building conditions, and I don't think i'd really use the slow again--you have to wait like 1-2 full days before you can sand it. Their peel ply and their glass are both good quality and priced competitively. They ship anything from a huge load of epoxy to one container of cabosil.
I got a few things at West Marine, but only when I needed it right away. Many things at West Marine can be found at literally 1/3 to 1/4 of the West Marine price, but when you are in a bind they are good. Also, know that they will price match--even if you give them online store pricing. I got three hatches from them for a total of $120. If I didn't do the price matching thing they would have cost me over 200 dollars.
Discount Marine Supplies (
http://www.discountmarinesupplies.com/) is great. I have to say that I was a little leery of ordering from them because there is no phone number listed on their site. If something doesn't work out I can't even get a hold of them, right? But as it turns out they are great and very responsive. I ordered trim tabs, steering wheel, steering system, fuel vent, fuel tank, gauges, and a few other items from them. I found out that my steering cable was too short. I just emailed Cristian at Discount Marine, and he called me back to say a new cable was in the mail. I didn't have to send back the whole thing--they just swapped me out cables. That was great. I spent a lot of time looking for the best deals on stuff that I bought, and I just stopped looking around because this site had either the best prices, or the best prices when you include shipping.
Another online company that I used was Wholesale Marine. I wouldn't suggest using them. Their operators are not very informed on what they are selling so you have to really know exactly what you need. Also, their shipping prices are high (I paid 22 dollars to have a fuel water separator, one keel roller, and 17 feet of fuel line shipped). At Discount Marine shipping is like $10 standard, and sometimes they waive shipping on larger orders.
Divinycell was a tough one. Just by chance, I found some locally and got it at a really good deal. I still had to buy another 10 sheets of 1/4 inch H80. This stuff is a killer. I ordered directly from Diab since that was the best price I could find, but it still set me back a pretty penny. I paid a ton in shipping because I had them keep them in 6 foot sheets, but I would do it again as opposed to having cut up and trying to joint them all back together for the build.
