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Have it shipped or go get it?
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)
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at the 51st percentile of ursine intelligence
Gary D. Schwartz, Needham, MA, USA
Please reply to: garyDOTschwartzATpoboxDOTcom
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