Straight answers on marine gear: what to fit, why, and where to get it.
Skipper’s Locker has changed. We’ve retired the peer-to-peer marketplace — no more listings, escrow or shipping. We now help you find the right marine part and send you straight to the retailer who stocks it. A full catalogue of thousands of products is on the way; below is a hand-picked start.
A short list to start with. Prices and stock live on Amazon, where you finish the purchase.
High working load for the weight, which is what you want aloft or anywhere a swinging block could hit someone. The usual home is a mainsheet, runner or halyard system, where the loads are real and the block cannot be oversized without paying for it.
Charges over USB-C, which sounds minor until you have spent a season hunting for a proprietary cradle. Floats, survives immersion, and takes the same cable as everything else aboard — one less dedicated charger in the locker.
A small ball-bearing block for control lines — vang, cunningham, outhaul — where the load is modest but friction is what you actually notice. Ball bearings are the difference between a purchase that runs under load and one you have to fight.
A self-tailer is the upgrade that makes shorthanded sailing feel reasonable: the winch holds the tail, so your second hand is free. Size 15 suits halyards, reefing lines and the sheets on a small cruiser. Check your existing base and bolt pattern before ordering — winch footprints are not interchangeable between makers.
A handheld's job is to still work after it has been dropped, so floating and submersible are the two specs that count — this does both, and flashes when it hits the water so you can find it again. Worth having even with a fixed set at the chart table: a handheld goes in the liferaft and the fixed one does not.
The one most boatyards already know how to service. It costs several times a budget heater, and what the money buys is the dealer network and the shelf of spares — which is the part that matters at anchor in February. 2kW is the right output for a cabin; the 5kW and 8kW units beside it on the shelf are sized for trucks.
The other name worth paying for, and close enough to the Webasto on paper that the sensible way to choose is which one your nearest yard stocks parts for. The 7-day timer earns its keep if you want the boat warm before you arrive, and it compensates for altitude on its own, which matters on lakes.
Buy the locking one. A non-locking handle will eventually jump out of the socket mid-grind and go over the side, usually at the worst possible moment, and the replacement costs more than the difference. Eight inches is the all-round choice — ten gives more leverage and less clearance.
The same self-tailing jaws in the size most mid-size cruisers want for primaries. Sizing up is the usual regret-avoider: a winch that is too small is hard work on every single tack, while one that is slightly large costs you weight and money once. Confirm the bolt pattern against your existing pads.
The display to put where the crew can read it — mast, bulkhead or pedestal — rather than making everyone crowd around the plotter. It pairs with the rest of a B&G system and will drive an autopilot, so it is the piece that turns scattered instruments into one network.
The powerboat and fishing answer to the B&G plotters, where those lean sailing. It ships with the RV-100 transducer and Navionics+ charts in the box, which is unusual and worth real money — most plotters this size leave you buying both separately.
The cheap floating handheld. Buy it as the spare, the tender radio, or the one you are willing to hand to a guest — not as your only VHF. It floats, which is the feature that matters most on a radio that lives in a pocket.
We run one of these aboard. It is a Chinese heater and we are not going to pretend otherwise — but it is surprisingly good for the money, and the real argument for it is that if it does fail you replace it without it hurting. A Webasto or Eberspächer is the better unit; this is the one you can afford to treat as consumable. 2KW is the right size for a boat cabin, where the 8KW units sold for trucks are far too much. Fit it properly: sealed exhaust run overboard, fuel line away from heat, and a CO alarm in the cabin.
A plotter built for sailing rather than fishing, which is the whole reason to pay for the B&G badge: laylines, sailing-specific wind and course displays, and the kind of data a passage-making crew actually acts on. It comes without a transducer, so budget for one if you want depth and speed from it.
The side plate opens, so it goes onto a line that is already rigged without unreeving anything. That is the entire point: a temporary lead, a barberhauler, a snatch for the spinnaker sheet, or kedging off when you have put the boat somewhere shallow. One lives in most cockpit lockers for good reason.
We pick marine gear we would fit ourselves, say plainly why, and link you to where it is sold. You buy from the retailer directly.
A short list someone actually stands behind.
We show no prices of our own — you see the retailer’s, current.
Nobody can buy a spot on this list.