About Us

Located in beautiful Bellingham, WA - the gateway to the San Juan Islands - we live, sail and work in one of the premier boating destinations in the world.  A thriving marine industry is the result of the activity with several large manufacturers and dozens of smaller ones located in the Bellingham area.  They bring products, knowledge and resources to bear and we all benefit as a result.  48° North Marine also benefits from having ready access to a fleet of boats for development and testing products. 

Difference in Approach

Most manufacturers size their snubbers, bridles and mooring lines using boat length and then offer one length in each respective diameter.  We feel you can't right-size the diameter without considering weight, and the length of the line should be dictated by the conditions you're likely to encounter and not by a manufacturer trying to limit their working capital by stocking a single size. 

Regarding diameter, take a Nordhavn 52 at 90,000 lbs and a Beneteau Oceanis 51.1 at 30,700 lbs, using a "length only" sizing table, the recommendation would be 1" for both vessels.  However, when calculating the load of the boat using the same set of conditions at anchor, the Nordhavn would generate a strain load of ~3900 ft/lbs and the Beneteau would generate ~1450 ft/lbs.  1" would likely be the correct bridle size for the Nordhavn but it would be grossly over-sized for the Beneteau which should use a long 5/8" or short 3/4" bridle.  

As for length, are the needs of a fair-weather weekender's the same as a full-time cruiser's?  The former may simply want to eliminate noise from the chain sawing on the bow roller for better sleep while the cruiser needs a bridle to weather the occasional 50 knotter .  The weekender could use an 18' bridle while the cruiser needs 40' or more. 

We offer most of our stocked products in a variety of sizes and lengths, and we have a customer-configured, made-to-order option for most products available in the off-season (roughly October - March).

Innovation

It would be easy and more profitable to be "one and done" when it comes to a product design and find someone overseas to make it as inexpensively as possible.  But, that would take the fun out it.  The motivation is perfecting our products and not squeezing more profit out of every transaction.  We actively seek feedback from our customers, use our products on the water, and we're constantly asking how we can improve them. The evolution of our products over 8 years is dramatic (our earliest releases are not somewhat embarrassing, frankly).  For 2024, we're releasing a new 12-strand bridle, Dyneema anchor strop (replaces the chain hook), and a new chain plate that will take ground tackle to the next level.  The 12-strand bridle took over a year to design, develop and to locate the raw materials, not to mention a significant capital investment, but we believe it will be the best product on the market.

Innovation is equal parts pain and elation.  As long as elation doesn't succumb to pain, we'll keep innovating.

Philosophy

At the end of the day, if our products are good value and we offer great service, our business will grow organically via word-of-mouth.  That's ideal for us.

We see value as good quality at a fair price.  The price part is easy; put a reasonable profit margin on your product and move on.  The quality part is not so easy and it requires vigilance.  Sourcing the rightmost raw materials is a part-time job as even the largest manufacturers are frequently changing their products or having issues with their supply chains. Making a consistently high-quality product day-in, day-out is also a challenge and, since the product is hand-made, the question of what are the allowable quality tolerances (mostly aesthetic) is always present.

Finally, we cannot be available 24/7/365 because we need to sleep.  However, that doesn't preclude our ability to provide you with great service.  Most of our stocked products can be shipped same or next business day, and made-to-order products can usually be shipped within 5 business days.  If there's a delay, we'll send you an email notifying you of same.  We try to respond to web inquiries and VM's within 24 hours on business days.