Finally after a what seemed like forever of shopping and changing my
mind, I have bought a sea kayak. Thank you to everybody who took time
to give opinions, make suggestions, etc etc etc. John Fereira,
especially.

Now the question is... The boat (kevlar Seda Impulse) is in
Deltaville, VA, and I'm a 7 1/2 hour drive away in Greer, SC. The
place I bought it from said they'd ship it for $125, which seems kind
of high. I'm a sucker for a road trip and I have a very nice road
truck so I wouldn't be too adverse to driving up and bringing it back
myself, especially if I can get somebody to ride up with me. I hear
alot of, "Ah, that's stupid to drive that far, have it shipped" and
"80% of composite sea kayaks are damaged in shipment, bringing it back
yourself is the smart thing to do."

The man at the boat shop seems plenty experienced & competent enough
so I would trust him as far as the packing job he would do, and the
shipping arrangements he would make, but he seemed happy when I said I
might drive up and get the boat, so that makes me even more inclined
to go get it.

What do you think?


Nace

On 22 Dec 2003 09:59:58 -0800, (Nace) wrote:

Finally after a what seemed like forever of shopping and changing my
mind, I have bought a sea kayak. Thank you to everybody who took time
to give opinions, make suggestions, etc etc etc. John Fereira,
especially.

Now the question is... The boat (kevlar Seda Impulse) is in
Deltaville, VA, and I'm a 7 1/2 hour drive away in Greer, SC. The
place I bought it from said they'd ship it for $125, which seems kind

The man at the boat shop seems plenty experienced & competent enough

What do you think?

With a composite boat in particular, I would strongly recommend
avoiding any sort of truck freight shipping. Things in a delivery
truck, especially large or odd shaped things, will occasionally get
treated roughly. After all, "Fragile" is a foreign word which means
"throw as hard as possible".

When I worked at an outdoor shop in the Boston area, occasionally one
of the employees would go on a road trip to one of the manufacturers
in northern New England to bring down a special boat for a specific
customer on their roof racks (with cradles), if we did not have it in
stock. They did try hard to double up these runs and bring back two at
a time.

Also, I know the Boston Chapter AMC Canoe Committee has occasionally
set up a deal where a number of people order boats from a particular
manufacturer, and someone goes to the factory with a canoe trailer,
which ends up saving at least $100 per boat for shipping.

Find out the details of their shipping. If it is on a boat trailer or
a roof rack, and done by employees of the retailer or the
manufacturer, I would be OK with it.

You may still want to drive a bit yourself, and save a few $$. Maybe
you could work a deal with the retailer and bring back another boat
for them, or something like that, and then adjust the price of yours.

If it is truck freight, I would be worried. Anything could happen, and
not all damage is apparent right away.

When buying a new boat, I think you should have the honor of putting
the first ding in it.

Happy trails,
Gary (net.yogi.bear)
------------------------------------------------
at the 51st percentile of ursine intelligence

Gary D. Schwartz, Needham, MA, USA
Please reply to: garyDOTschwartzATpoboxDOTcom

If you and the seller are near one of the cities they service, Forward
Air will probably ship it for a lot less than $125. I shipped an 18'
boat from Boston to Denver for ~$84. It must be dropped off and picked
up at their terminal, but that's a minor inconvenience for the time and
cost savings involved. www.forwardair.com

--
Regards

Brian

(Nace) wrote in
om:

Finally after a what seemed like forever of shopping and changing my
mind, I have bought a sea kayak. Thank you to everybody who took time
to give opinions, make suggestions, etc etc etc. John Fereira,
especially.

Now the question is... The boat (kevlar Seda Impulse) is in
Deltaville,

Congrats, Nace. I didn't realize that the Impulse was kevlar.

VA, and I'm a 7 1/2 hour drive away in Greer, SC. The
place I bought it from said they'd ship it for $125, which seems kind
of high.

Not especially.

I'm a sucker for a road trip and I have a very nice road
truck so I wouldn't be too adverse to driving up and bringing it back
myself, especially if I can get somebody to ride up with me. I hear
alot of, "Ah, that's stupid to drive that far, have it shipped"

When I bought a used whitewater boat a few years ago I posted an ad on a
university electronic bulletin board offering $50 to someone that might be
driving from that direction to pick it up and deliver it. It got here safe
and sound.

and
"80% of composite sea kayaks are damaged in shipment, bringing it back
yourself is the smart thing to do."

How do you suppose kayak retailers get their kayaks? They're shipped in
trucks. Some of them *do* get damaged but if it was 80% kayak retailers
wouldn't be able to stay in business.


The man at the boat shop seems plenty experienced & competent enough
so I would trust him as far as the packing job he would do, and the
shipping arrangements he would make, but he seemed happy when I said I
might drive up and get the boat, so that makes me even more inclined
to go get it.

What do you think?

I'd probably take the road trip.

If you don't mind the drive, I concur with John.
I have had three boats shipped to me and two arrived damaged.
Maybe it was just my bad luck, but........

Safe Paddling,
Joe

"John Fereira" wrote in message
. ..
(Nace) wrote in
om:

Finally after a what seemed like forever of shopping and changing my
mind, I have bought a sea kayak. Thank you to everybody who took time
to give opinions, make suggestions, etc etc etc. John Fereira,
especially.

Now the question is... The boat (kevlar Seda Impulse) is in
Deltaville,

Congrats, Nace. I didn't realize that the Impulse was kevlar.

VA, and I'm a 7 1/2 hour drive away in Greer, SC. The
place I bought it from said they'd ship it for $125, which seems kind
of high.

Not especially.

I'm a sucker for a road trip and I have a very nice road
truck so I wouldn't be too adverse to driving up and bringing it back
myself, especially if I can get somebody to ride up with me. I hear
alot of, "Ah, that's stupid to drive that far, have it shipped"

When I bought a used whitewater boat a few years ago I posted an ad on a
university electronic bulletin board offering $50 to someone that might be
driving from that direction to pick it up and deliver it. It got here
safe
and sound.

and
"80% of composite sea kayaks are damaged in shipment, bringing it back
yourself is the smart thing to do."

How do you suppose kayak retailers get their kayaks? They're shipped in
trucks. Some of them *do* get damaged but if it was 80% kayak retailers
wouldn't be able to stay in business.


The man at the boat shop seems plenty experienced & competent enough
so I would trust him as far as the packing job he would do, and the
shipping arrangements he would make, but he seemed happy when I said I
might drive up and get the boat, so that makes me even more inclined
to go get it.

What do you think?

I'd probably take the road trip.

Hi Nace ;
If you go to pick it up take with you or pick up kayak carrying equipment
(carrying bars, saddles and bow and stern lines).
Have fun paddeling!
Bill

On Mon, 22 Dec 2003, Nace wrote:

Finally after a what seemed like forever of shopping and changing my
mind, I have bought a sea kayak. Thank you to everybody who took time
to give opinions, make suggestions, etc etc etc. John Fereira,
especially.

Now the question is... The boat (kevlar Seda Impulse) is in
Deltaville, VA, and I'm a 7 1/2 hour drive away in Greer, SC. The
place I bought it from said they'd ship it for $125, which seems kind
of high. I'm a sucker for a road trip and I have a very nice road
truck so I wouldn't be too adverse to driving up and bringing it back
myself, especially if I can get somebody to ride up with me. I hear
alot of, "Ah, that's stupid to drive that far, have it shipped" and
"80% of composite sea kayaks are damaged in shipment, bringing it back
yourself is the smart thing to do."

The man at the boat shop seems plenty experienced & competent enough
so I would trust him as far as the packing job he would do, and the
shipping arrangements he would make, but he seemed happy when I said I
might drive up and get the boat, so that makes me even more inclined
to go get it.

What do you think?


Nace

If you go to pick it up take with you or pick up kayak carrying equipment
(carrying bars, saddles and bow and stern lines).
Have fun paddeling!


Ah, thank you, thank you, thank you! I have Yakima bars on my truck
for my canoe and I just got a set of cradles, so I'm pretty set. All I
need is a little stool to stand on to reach up over the bars.

I've found somebody to ride up with me, so I'm set to take off as soon
as I can arrange a couple of days off in a row. Boat shop is closed
until after New Year's so I have to contain myself for a while, but I
am so excited and I can hardly wait to get the boat and start learning
it.

"When buying a new boat, I think you should have the honor of putting
the first ding in it."
I'm going to be putting in off docks and paddling in deep water for
some time, so I hope that first ding will be a while.

Nace

(Nace) wrote in
om:

"When buying a new boat, I think you should have the honor of putting
the first ding in it."
I'm going to be putting in off docks and paddling in deep water for
some time, so I hope that first ding will be a while.

I few years ago I spent a winter building a CLC Northbay. As Spring was
approaching I was almost finished and spent the last week or so varnishing
and sanding, and varnishing and sanding, making the boat about as pretty as
I could. Finally, launch day arrived. I put it in next to a low dock,
climbed in and paddled around for 15 minutes ago. Then I came back to the
dock, to wait for some friends that were going out with me for a longer
paddle. As I climbed out the stern slide under the dock, making contact
with a steel pipe and put a scratch on the deck 5" long and about 1/4"
wide. Now, I was truely finished building the boat.