What Our Customers Say

Jeff Stack

Jeff,
My name is Jeff Stack and I run a small custom sailboat service company out of Chicago (Chicago Marine Group LLC). My company takes on the projects that many of the boat yards do not want to tackle; cutlass bearings, installing davits, re-power & gen-set installs, spin poles and custom rigging, B&G and Raymarine electronic installs, etc. Custom work on the nicer boats - Dehler, Tartan, Oyster - premium brand boats with customers who demand perfection.

I was recently asked to install a Tides Marine Sail Track system on a Dehler 39 and called Dennis Cox to set up and place the order. It has been a few years since my company purchased anything from Tides, I had no idea what my customer number was - who last I talked to - or what my pricing structure was. No worry, I had the blue plastic disks & had taken measurements for my own boat some years prior and had a general lay of the land of what I needed to to. Dennis took the time to tell me about the requirements of measurement, and walked me thru a couple of install tips.

Dennis stands out as someone who really cares about customer service & provided me with an experience that is often not found now days. I really appreciate having a contact at Tide's Marine who is an expert & I am confident that any question (even if it is a dumb one) will be answered with professionalism and patience

Thank you for the opportunity to interface with a great person - I look forward to beating the Tides Marine Sail Track drum and installing these units whenever a customer is up to improving their standing rigging. You can count on me calling Dennis Cox directly, he is my go-to guy.

I have attached a couple of pictures of the Sail Track on my personal sailboat & hope to use it as a platform to demo your fantastic product. I promise to follow up with pictures of the completed Dehler 39 project very soon.

Jeff Stack

Colin & Margie Harris on Vessel "Pacific Raven"

Dear Tides Marine,
In 2010 we had a Tides Marine sail slide/track system installed in Fort Lauderdale. We now cruise the West Coast of Mexico and love the system. We use a sail cradle, with lazy jacks and let me tell you when we drop the main stand back. It comes racing down and drops into the sail cradle perfectly. Other than releasing the halyard, we don't have to do anything. This frees us up to other details of anchoring and securing the boat upon arrival. Once settled down we tidy things up.

With this system the sail sets beautifully and we never feel exposed as we know we can drop the main anytime we want, with no worries about in mast furling that may jam at the wrong time (is there ever a right time).

Recently I discovered a broken pin that attaches the batten to the slide, probably due to some overly vigorous young person who cleaned our sails for us over the summer. One email to Tides Marine and they had the replacement parts in the mail the same day at no charge!! Yup - no charge - now that is service to be proud of and I am damn happy to be able to provide this testimonial.

Colin & Margie Harris S/V Pacific Raven

Bill H

Dear Dennis,
You will recall that we had correspondence last year with respect to a Strong Shaft Seal that refused to seal completely. You sent me a new unit, which I was unable to install until this spring. I wrote you on May 13th that I had installed the seal and would let you know how it worked after my first cruise of the season.

I have just finished the first cruise of the 2004 season. I am pleased to report that the replacement shaft seal worked as is supposed to. The bilge is dry, the first time in many years.

I want to thank you and your firm for the excellent service and the fact that you stand behind your products.

Chimo,

Bill H. Trawler Searcher

Ben Shager

Tides Marine,
Thank you for donating the SailTrack system for “Ithaka,” our new Swan 441. Ithaka is the flagship of the Washington Yacht Club. Getting the mast usable for sailing was the key obstacle in getting this boat usable for our students and members. Your representatives were responsive and helpful, which made the installation process easy.

When our initial measurements were incorrect, we appreciated the quick turn around for re-cutting, and you were able to deliver it back in time for our much-anticipated maiden voyage. This weekend “Ithaka” sailed for an overnight cruise on Puget Sound. We introduced 15 new students to big boat sailing, and everyone had a great time. The trip and learning experience would not have been possible without the new SailTrack system that you generously donated.

We greatly appreciate your generosity and the professionalism of your staff. We have included some pictures from the trip to show you the impact of your donation.

Thankfully yours,

Ben Shager - The Washington Yacht Club S/V Ithaka

Ledger Davis

Dear JT,

After speaking with you at the Miami Boat Show I have decided to put into writing my experience with the Tides Marine Shaft Seal. I purchased this boat brand new in 2000, 42 Ft twin Cummins. Upon taking delivery I cruised from Ft. Walton Beach to Miami and then to the Bahamas.

As with any good cruising Captain, I look over all the operating systems of the boat each day and make any adjustments needed. The Tides Marine Shaft Seals are just another of the items that are checked each cruising day.

From talking with other captains, it seems that the dripless units begin to leak around the 5th year. Over the part seventeen years, I have cruised the loop twice. Many trips to the Bahamas. from Key West to the Dry Tortuga's.

After over 24000 miles (measured from the GPS), 3000 hours and not the first leak from the Tides Marine Shaft Seal.

I have decided that it is now time to swap out the lip seals, even though they are not leaking. Your instructions on how to do the change our is appreciated. On my next haul out I will install the new lip seals.

I am pleased to have provided this testimonial and I am one very happy customer.

Ledger Davis Vessel Laissez-Faire

Captain Gary K.

Dear Tides Marine,
I am a commercial fisherman running a 29 foot boat daily out of Fort Lauderdale. Six years ago when I had the boat built, I had installed one of your Tides dripless Shaft Seals recommended by your dealer Frank and Jimmy's Prop Shop. For the next five years, your product gave me trouble free service, never allowing a single drop of water into my bilge.

In November of 2003 during a haul out, I foolishly replaced your product with a conventional stuffing box. What a mistake! The saltwater leak into my bilge is constant, resulting in additional corrosion in the engine area. It requires constant maintenance, usually either leaking in too much water or burning up the shaft without enough. I was spoiled by your product, and I look forward to going back to it as soon as time permits.

As a vessel owner, I feel that your company should receive the recognition it well deserves.

Thank you for making such a fine product.

Yours truly,

Captain Gary K. Vessel Freeline

Bruce K. McGowan

My name is Bruce K. McGowen. I’ve been a commercial lobster man for 36 years,fishing off the coast of Maine. My fishing vessel the Bonnie Lee is a fiberglass 35’ Duffy Hull, powered by a 250hp Cummins diesel. My gear is a 2.5 x 1 turning 1 3/4 stainless steel shaft with a 2 6x 28 4 bladed wheel.

A day on the water catching Lobsters in the Bonnie Lee goes a little like this: You start for day at dawn hauling up traps in which the Lobsters crawl into,It usually takes 8 to 10 hours to haul 250 to 300 traps in which you cruise in the vessel in the vessel from trap to trap, removing the legal lobsters for resale. This process is done six days a week,rain,shine or wind, seven months of the year.

In 1998 I was tired of the leaking inside shaft stuffing boxes so I decided to replace mine with a shaft tube and a dripless seal called a strong seal from Tides Marine in Deerfield Beach Florida, USA. This was an unknown product in my area of the state of Maine. There was a dripless kit being used by some of the other Fishermen but it wasn’t working out sow well, seems the seals weren’t lasting very long. Hearing that I decided I would try the strong seal kit. ”boy am I glad I did”!

Fast forward to may 2013, I decided to re-power the same fishing vessel The Bonnie Lee. The strong seal that I put in from Tides Marine was still the same seal that I put in back in 1998, that seal was 14 years old and had 18,000 hours on it with out a drop of water or any problems with it performance at all, as a matter of fact If I hadn’t been re-powering my vessel I would still be using the same seal again this year. I couldn’t be more pleased with the performance and quality of the strong seal, truth be known the only maintenance I ever did on this seal was to occasionally check to make sure the water was getting to the seal as needed. This was a matter of pulling the hose off of the nipple on the seal while the engine was idling in neutral. That’s it. Just a terrific product. you simply can not beat this seal kit that Tides Marine has on the market.

Take it from me-Bruce K. McGowen, It’s tough, I’ve proven it. That’s why the up dated sure seal is going back into my fishing vessel The Bonnie Lee once again! Thanks again Tides Marine. Give the good folks a call and let them help you keep the water on the outside instead on the inside.

Thank you Mr. Strong and Mr. Cox.

Best regards,

Bruce McGowan Vessel Bonnie Lee

Captain Gary Krebs

Hi Dennis and thank you. Here is an update on my Tides Marine dripless shaft seal.

So 18 years and 10,000 engine hours ago I got my first Tides Shaft seal. We are on our second one now, and I noticed for the first time that there was a little leak, a little salt on the shaft and a little water in the bilge.

So I called Dennis at Tides Marine for a refresher course on changing out the spare seal that was included with my Tides Marine shaft seal. Thanks for the help and thanks for the dry bilge for so many years. You truly make a wonderful product.

Respectfully,

Captain Gary Krebs Lauderdale Live Bait

Raul N.

Dear Sirs,
On December 31st 2003 while navigating the Florida Keys, I discovered that due to the boat builder's improper installation of the water cooling system, your dripless seals were forced to operate at high speed and for an extended period of time without any form of cooling or lubrication.

Following this event, I would like to report and congratulate you for the following: Your seals did operate at high speed for an extended period of time totaling at least 15 hours of which, 2 periods of 4 hours each of continuous operation without any form of cooling. In spite of this, and in spite the seals were badly damaged, there was no significant amount of leakage from either of the 2 seals.

Your customer support was readily available and promptly responded on New Years Eve! The promptness and competency of your customer support exceeded any expectation.

As a vessel owner, I feel that your company should receive the recognition it well deserves.

Yours truly,

Raul N.

Tom Boluyt

Attention Jeff Strong,

I want to get a message to you and your staff of how much I appreciate how John Edson saved the day and vacation for us by figuring out which shaft seal assembly and parts I needed.

I needed to fix my severe leak that flared up while on a boating vacation to the Exumas. It was a Saturday afternoon and he was able to have John Theed take time out of his Sunday/Fathers day to meet me at the shop and get me the parts.

Turns out that I need both sets I purchased and was able to have the boat pulled in Nassau and have them installed and get back on our trip.

I am in the service business and manufacturing as well and I know how important it is to go the extra mile to help any and all customers out in their time of need.
Thanks so much!! A job well done..

Tom Boluyt

Steven M Totty

Hi Kesha,
It was a pleasure meeting you today.

I wanted to take a moment and thank Tides Marine and in particular Dennis for his outstanding support.  When the Shaft Seal went out on my Sea Ray I didn't know what I had or where to turn. I sent a picture to Dennis. He immediately identified the part and once we had the measurements, my marina received the new seals in less than 48 hours. In my mind, this is a what customer service is supposed to look like.

You have a great team !

Steven M Totty 1995 Sea Ray Sun Dancer

Capt. Ryan D. Downs

Sailing Vessel "Carlyn" is a 61ft yawl, built in 1996 and designed and build by the Scarano Brothers in Albany, NY. She has been sailing her entire life here in the Salish Sea of Washington State and in the Inside Passage of British Columbia. We sail with children, teaching them ocean biology, history and learning the meaning of adventure. We sail 8 months, and over the course of the year we have hundreds of children aboard with little to no sailing experience in all kinds of weather.

Strong Track has kept our mainsail dependable in this weather, with these children, and I trust it. We look forward to adding this system to our mizzen mast as well! I am forwarding your email over to our accountant, who can supply you with our 501 c-3 information.

Thanks again!

Sincerely and Respectfully,

Capt. Ryan D. Downs Master S/V Carlyn

Mark Roozendaal

Hi Dennis,
I wanted to follow-up with a big thank you. You may recall that I contacted you while I was sailing from Mexico to French Polynesia about a failing track.

We are in Papeete, Tahiti now and just finished installing the new track that you shipped us. It installed quickly and was a perfect fit!

Thanks for all your help.

It is great to be able to raise sail and reef at will again.

Mark --

Mark Roozendaal S/V Speakeasy

John Stone

Mr. Strong,
This is a long overdue letter to tell you how much I appreciate the special considerations you made for us regarding the Tides Marine Strong Track. You may recall that your gift was arranged by Robert Quates, formally the Chief Engineer at Charleston Spars. As part of our 6 ½ year rebuild, we installed a 4 foot taller mast based on a Spar-Craft S330 mast section in our highly modified Cape Dory 36, Far Reach. As the Far Reach is engine free the ability to raise and lower the mainsail instantly and without fanfare, regardless the wind conditions or point of sail, is critical. Following the simple directions included with the track we easily installed the Strong Track with the mast in the boat in June 2015 just before launching.

In December of 2015 we double-handed the Far Reach, via the offshore route from Cape Lookout NC to the British Virgin Islands. It was a demanding 1600 nm upwind passage with the last five days in 30-35 knot winds and 10-14 seas. I spent five glorious months sailing in the West Indies with my family. In Late May I single-handed the Far Reach 1340 nm back to NC from Sint Maarten. The passage home was all downwind and was just a wonderful trip. Please see the attached photo.

The Strong Track proved itself to be every bit as good as I had been led to believe based on the input of sail-makers, spar-builders, and the testimonies of numerous sailors. The Strong Track has worked flawlessly. It shows as new even though it was worked hard and spent every day in a harsh salt filled tropical environment. Regardless the point of sail, the main is easy to raise, can be reefed easily even when been reaching and running, and drops like a cannon-ball. Of the many modifications we made to the boat, the Strong Track remains one of the heroes of the trip--a fantastic piece of equipment.

I would be happy to speak to anyone that wants to know more about how the Strong Track performs in the real world.

Best Regards,

John Stone S/V Far Reach Photo by John Stone

Chris Moe

My Tides Marine track was installed in 2003 on our high performance, home built cat. Over the years, it has served us and the previous owner well with our 450 sq ft High Aspect main on a 43 foot wingmast. The large full battened fathead main slides up and down easily.

I recently had an issue that required adding more clips that hold the track to the mast, and Tides quickly responded that they would send me additional clips ASAP. For Free!

Very Impressive,

Chris Moe span class="text-center">

Captain Lundy

Lundy Robinson who lives in Nassau sailed with Tides Marine Track on his Class-A sloop “Red Stripe” in Best of the Best Regatta in Nassau, December 2018.

Lundy said “On the track from Tides Marine .. the difference is like night and day. It is absolutely perfect. I enjoy it so much and thanks to Tides Marine for allowing us to have them. Hey Jeff this is Captain Lundy of the Red Stripe I want to say to you that the track is perfect there is no comparison with the old track I used to use I appreciate it very much thanks to you and hope to see you in the Bahamas soon. The sail slides up and down not a problem at all.”

Very Impressive,

Captain Lundy

David Klepser. Owner

I have used the Tides Marine rudder dripless seal on my commercial fishing vessel in Alaska for 20 years and 45,000 hrs of operations with out failure..

Just ordered a new one to bring everything back up to new specs and look forward to another 20 yrs of flawless performance. Thanks Tides Marine for a product that can with stand the rugged waters of Alaska without worry.

David Klepser. Owner

Jim Boyd

When I recently bought a "new to me" yacht, it was fitted with a tides marine series one shaft seal. After some work done to rectify shaft alignment issues, the seal developed a leak. The cause was not obvious but the people at tides marine were exceptionally helpful. They happily had several phone conversations to help track down the cause and deliver a remedy.

I never felt I was being a nuisance to them even although there was no indication that the fault was due to any manufacturing or design issues. Excellent customer service and technical support..

Jim Boyd

Dallas Knowles

As you can see from this photo of Tari Anne, Bahamian sloops have a lot of power due to the huge sail area. The main sail is not easy to get up and down!

In racing we are always looking for a competitive edge without putting our crew at risk.
Thanks to Tides Marine's new sail track system, we are ready to compete at the highest level without the risk and annoyance of snagged sails.

In the words of the legendary Van Ferguson: "We love to slide with Tides!"

Dallas Knowles, Skipper - Tari Anne #33

Sloop Crazy Partner

Crazy Partner just installed new sail track from Tides Marine.

Bahamian Racing Sloops start at anchor with sails down, so sail track makes a huge difference in getting away fast from the starting line.

At the February 2020 Farmers Cay Regatta, Crazy Partner jumped off the starting line and went on to win. Skipper Clyde Rolle is a man of few words. “Tides track is magic,” he said.

C-Class Bahamian Wooden Racing Sloop Crazy Partner

Colin Mack

Jeff,
I just wanted to drop you note and let you know that we love your new rub rail system. It went on in a heartbeat.

It was super easy and looks absolutely gorgeous. If you ever need a recommendation or referral for the Sphaera, keep me in mind. I’m looking at doing it on my Bertram 26 that I am rehabbing for my boys. Probably put an order in tomorrow with Skip. Thanks for the great products and great service

Respectfully,
Colin Mack

Nevel

Jeff,
For 48,000 nautical miles, over thirteen years of world sailing, we have relied on Tides Marine SailTrack and Slide Systems.

From heaving-to in South Pacific gales, beating south to New Zealand, to 28 days of steady tradewind sailing across the Atlantic Ocean – no matter what the conditions, we wouldn’t want to raise or reef our mainsail without it. Thank you Tides Marine!

Respectfully,
Nevel S/Y Dream Time