Where Credit Is Due: July 2014

EdsonLopolightImtraLunasea

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Beneteau Oceanis 47

Photos courtesy of Denis Foster and by Ralph Naranjo

This winter, I completely rebuilt the Edson steering system on my boat. With the kind of monopoly that Edson International (www.edsonintl.com) has, I expected the type of customer service one would have found in a Soviet-era supermarket. Boy, was I wrong!

Reed Austin and the other Edson crew provided prompt, friendly service during all of my myriad requests and calls. What a great company!

Kris Kimmons
Pearson 303
Via email

Beneteau Oceanis 47

Photos courtesy of Denis Foster and by Ralph Naranjo

We installed an arch with davits on our boat. The tender masked the transom stern navigation light, so in 2009,

I purchased a Lopolight (www.lopolight.com). (I had been impressed by the quality of their LED lights seen at the Paris boat show.) We installed it on top of the arch, improving its visibility greatly. We kept the orginal light with a separate switch and changed the color to a deep blue LED that can’t be mistaken with a white light that illuminates the transom platform.

The light failed five years later. I contacted the Lopolight aftersales manager, Mette Oberg, and the company offered me a free replacement, including shipping, just after receiving by mail a picture of the light with a serial number. A few days later, we received in Spain the transom light, which is now perfectly working. I think this is outstanding customer service.

Denis Foster
Hibernia, 2007 Beneteau Oceanis 43
Sete, France

A friend of mine needed new springs for the brushes on his 1988 Lofrans windlass (www.lofrans.com). He could not find them locally (in Spain), but noticed a comprehensive listing of Lofrans parts on the Imtra website (www.imtra.com). On his behalf, I called Imtra and asked Steve Grabert if any of the springs listed on their website would fit my friends very old windlass. Mr. Grabert called back saying that none would, but that they had looked through their stock of parts for obsolete models and had found a set of springs that would fit the Albatros-model windlass. He then sent them to me free of charge. Imtra and Mr. Grabert deserve to have this superlative customer service mentioned here.

Steve Babcock
Columbine, Steven Seaton-designed 44-foot cutter built by
Liberty Yachts

Beneteau Oceanis 47

Photos courtesy of Denis Foster and by Ralph Naranjo

Both our Lunasea LED anchor light and LED tri-color quit working. I bench-tested them and found that the anchor light was dead and the tri-color had some of the LEDs out. Lunasea (www.lunasealighting.com), under its lifetime warranty, agreed to send replacements.

Even though Lunasea had not asked me to return the original LEDs, it was my intention to send them back for analysis. Before sending them back, I decided to test them one more time, and Im embarrassed to say that the tri-color tested fine. Only anchor LED was dead.

I am very impressed with Lunasea, its lifetime warranty, and its products.

Ted Wasserman
Spree, Outbound 46

Darrell Nicholson
Practical Sailor has been independently testing and reporting on sailboats and sailing gear for more than 50 years. Supported entirely by subscribers, Practical Sailor accepts no advertising. Its independent tests are carried out by experienced sailors and marine industry professionals dedicated to providing objective evaluation and reporting about boats, gear, and the skills required to cross oceans. Practical Sailor is edited by Darrell Nicholson, a long-time liveaboard sailor and trans-Pacific cruiser who has been director of Belvoir Media Group's marine division since 2005. He holds a U.S. Coast Guard 100-ton Master license, has logged tens of thousands of miles in three oceans, and has skippered everything from pilot boats to day charter cats. His weekly blog Inside Practical Sailor offers an inside look at current research and gear tests at Practical Sailor, while his award-winning column,"Rhumb Lines," tracks boating trends and reflects upon the sailing life. He sails a Sparkman & Stephens-designed Yankee 30 out of St. Petersburg, Florida. You can reach him by email at practicalsailor@belvoir.com.