What, a pile of ****?

R-Don.....Do you see a potential side business in distributing marine parts in the UK????? Looks like you could order several sets of the things you know you need, and probably sell them off (at a cost) to others that are in the same boat (not meant as a pun) as you are.
Just a thought....good luck getting what you need.

I guess so, looking back. He turned down the 300 bucks that I offered him when I was 18.

Maybe,

I just get really ****** Off with the attitude and lousey service we recieve in the UK.

I Live on the Solent the boating mecca of the south of England and home to the Cowes-Torquay Classic races.

There are no shortage of boats in this area, service is poor (whether you are buying new or used), product knowledge is poor by most sales staff. I guess the big problem is that property is expensive here so businesses wont stock anything and hire cheap monkey's to sell all the wrong stuff at rip off prices to the unsuspecting boaters.

The Chandler at my Boatyard has a stock of spark plugs but no idea what they fit. They dont sell spark plug spanners though! or Plug leads! All the electrical connections they sell are the cheap crimp on type that you would get at a motoring store, not heatshrink crimp connectors that you would want to use in a marine environment.

And as for their stock of their electrical switches, they look like the sort of stuff that would have been fitted to new boats 60 years ago!

So people go and pay a fortune for a new boat and when something goes wrong they find that they have no after sales support. Then they go to the chandlers and have to make do with totally unsuitable parts in order to keep their boats usable. The upshot is that boats can deteriorate quickly in the UK but maybe thats the whole point? The industry is concentrating on new sales only.

I have been thinking about the possibility of supplying locally, but i need to find a suitable supply first.

Consider starting with the general maintainence stuff for BBC's that you would need. Someone on the board might work out a deal for you on the parts. Buy 10 of the things you need and try to sell the extras. If they don't sell, these items will fit your boat and you will use them eventally. (Plugs, wires, filters, hoses, belts, etc.) If it works out people will start to call on you for these and additional items.
A local boy started doing that out of his garage for corvette restoration parts many years ago. He has a global following now and at last count 18 fully restored corvettes in his basement (on 300 acres of waterfront!)

Just call BAM and order all your stuff through them.