14 years,18,000 hours, not a drop of water. It’s tough, I’ve proven it.

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 so 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 without 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 updated 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

Read what satisfied customers have to say about Tides Marine

We wouldn’t raise our reef or mainsail without Tides Marine.

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 –...

The Tides Marine sail track is “magic.” Enough said.

Crazy Partner just installed a 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...

Exceptionally helpful; tracked down cause and delivered remedy.

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....

20 flawless years in, zero failure after 45,000 operating hours.

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 without failure. Just ordered a new one to bring everything back up to new specs and look forward to another 20 yrs of flawless...

There is no comparison to the old track I used to use.

I sailed with Tides Marine Track on my Class-A sloop “Red Stripe” in Best of the Best Regatta in Nassau, December 2018. 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...

Very impressive. Quick response and the issue resolved ASAP!

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....

Strong Track keeps our mainsail dependable and I trust it.

Sailing Vessel "Carlyn" is a 61ft yawl, built in 1996 and designed and built 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,...

18 years and 10,000 hours on my seal: thanks for the dry bilge.

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...

With gratitude for your generosity, professionalism, and staff.

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...

Excellent service and a firm that stands behind their products.

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 to you on May 13th that I had installed the seal and...

Sail that sets beautifully, and service to be proud of.

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...

A stand-out in customer service, an experience not often found.

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...

0
YOUR CART
  • No products in the cart.