Here is the text I recieved from Raymarine regarding my snippy letter to them regarding product support. I would view this as good news, especially with respect to the five-year MINIMUM support mentioned: Thank you for your letter received on the 22nd of September concerning the ST80 instrumentation system. As a responsible manufacturer we are committed to providing spares and support to our products for a minimum period of five years after the date of the last manufacture and in general the support we can offer extends well beyond the five year period. With regard to the attached thread I would suspected that this is related to the fouling of one of the vertical carbon fibre ST80 masthead arms, which was damaged after passing under a bridge. We do have replacement for these carbon fibre arms and whilst they maybe temporarily out of stock in the US they can of course be ordered through the US direct from ourselves and I would be please to ensure that these are made available to replace any damaged by low bridges. I hope that I can reassure you that we are most certainty committed to providing long term support and where possible we ensure that customers are able to continue to use their equipment for extended periods. There are of course times when unfortunately the difficulty in obtaining supply of specific components may cause a hiccup in the supply chain. However, these are generally few and far between. I there is any other way of which I may of assistance or may be able to offer help, please do not hesitate to contact me Assuring you of our best interest.