The right stuff

Alex Coolman

When the set designers of “The Perfect Storm” were looking to

replicate a vintage boat interior, they stopped by a cramped nautical

supply shop on Newport Boulevard.

“We looking for old equipment,” the designers said. “We don’t even

care if it works.”

Gary Lohela, the manager of the shop, only had one thing to say in

response: “Well, you’re in the right place.”

The place in question was Minney’s Yacht Surplus, a shop that’s been

around for 35 years and is for many boat owners what a laboratory full of

beakers and test tubes would be for a mad scientist.

On a recent morning, a customer who declined to give his name was

buying a few pieces of teak from Minney’s, scraps the shop was selling

for about $9 each.

“I’ve been coming here for more than twenty years,” the customer

noted.

The teak wasn’t in exquisite condition, and neither are many of the

parts on the shelves. There are winches with little cosmetic flaws,

toilets with a chip in the seat, propellers turned green with oxidation.

But what Minney’s has in vast quantities is a sense of unsullied

possibility. On the shelves of this store, one can’t help feeling that

the perfect part for each boat must certainly be hiding somewhere.

Lohela has a theory about the shop’s symbiotic relationship with the

boating community. When times are good, people hope to upgrade the

components on their boat, so they stop by Minney’s for a new water pump,

a bigger spinnaker or whatever.

When times are bad, the boat owner unloads the gear, and Minney’s

fills up its shelves.

“We get it either way,” Lohela said.

The aisles are packed with pieces of people’s dreams. There are sails

that once rippled on some proud yacht and sails for boats that never went

anywhere. There are tillers torn off antique vessels that don’t exist

anymore.

And there are pieces for boats yet to come. For even the most abject

winch and the most grease-slimed cleat, there is the prospect of a return

to the water.

“There is,” Lohela said, “a plethora of stuff.”