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u/blindjoedeath

r/virginislands r/boating r/Rollerskating
▲ 1 r/virginislands

Recommendations for inexpensive shipping to St Thomas

I have multiple boxes of donated medical supplies (none heavy, but not small either) that I’m trying to ship down to St. Thomas. I live near Seattle, WA.

I checked standard USPS quotes for shipping and the costs ($260+) per box are more than the supplies are actually worth. Note: I don’t care if the shipment takes a few weeks to get there.

I’ve attempted to use AI tools (Claude, Gemini) to assist on this and, while they are helpful, they only go so far. It seems the top recommendation is to use Less Than Truckload shipping from my location to a Crowley or Tropical Shipping port in Miami or similar, then coordinate with them to ship everything down. (I have folks down in St. Thomas that can clear customs and take delivery.) I‘ve used Tropical to ship years ago, but I was present myself at one of their locations in Florida to organize everything.

Anyone have advice on this?

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u/blindjoedeath — 6 days ago
▲ 1 r/boating

Tilt/trim issue - mid-2000s Honda BF50a

Problem: I have a 50 hp Honda that slowly trims/drifts down when not on the kickstand. (I’m not the original owner but have had the boat for about 3 years.) It raises just fine but after 5 minutes it’s 2/3rds of the way down.

From the looks of it, it‘s a Showa tilt/trim unit. From the exterior things look in pretty good shape, and I checked the fluid and it was full.

Questions:

- There seems to be very little information on the internet of tilt/trim seals and rebuilding and even less about Showa units in particular.

- Is there a mechanics manual about Showa, or even a few bullets about what various bolts/adjustments do? Torque specs for “release” bolts? Is there even a release bolt/adjustment? Parts lists for o-rings and gaskets?

- I know the answer to this is “Bust Out Another Thousand”, but even used and crappy looking tilt/trim units are hundreds of dollars. And rebuilding services are $500+. I’ve got a 50 hp - I fear what a 200 hp unit would cost. Why is THIS particular part so dang expensive?

- Any advice in general for dealing with this problem?

Thanks in advance.

u/blindjoedeath — 2 months ago