on your routine maintenance items such as oil and gas filters, drive belt, impellers,etc do you have an on-line location that you order from or do you use some other resource?
I've been splitting my money between our local Kubota engine dealer, my local Napa store, and Torreson marine: http://shop.torresen.com.
Some of the more experienced members may be more sophisticated then this but I generally comb through the message board to see if the part is a specific to either Kubota or Universal and the order appropriately.
Not necessarily in order
1. www.marinedieseldirect.com; www.tractorsmart.com
2. local Kubota tractor dealer (thermostats and other engine parts) see reply #6 here, find ones in your area or use these, they ship all over; http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,3133.0.html
3. local Universal distributor (Seapower in Oakland, CA) you could find one in your neighborhood, I'll bet
4. Local automobile store for alternator belts
Joe : In general you can get any "tractor engine" related parts for Kubota. If it's something that Universal/Westerbeke did to "marneize" the engine then you may be stuck with the Universal dealer.
I've posted a list of telephone numbers, filter numbers etc on our web site. Go to DEPCO for raw water pump parts and Sem-Dure' at Glenn-Mar Marine for Heat X parts (800)282-0123.
The bottom line is to stay away from the Universal dealer as much as you can, to save many boat $$.
It's Sendure, see Reply #1 here: http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,3744.0.html
its "nuts and bolts" info like this that made me decide to get a sprint card so i could get the internet while on the boat and access this site. tx. joe