Hello, all,

I'm new to this newsgroup... Well...I haven't been on it since about 1985 or
so, anyway. But I have a question, if I may?

I live in Texas, and years ago -- around that same 1985, I guess -- I bought
a kayak from a guy in Boston. Those were the days when the internet was
small and you could pretty much trust people, so I bought it based on a
couple of photos, and it turned out to be fine, just as described. Not
wanting to drive from Texas to Boston, I went to rec.autos.driving and
advertised for someone who was driving from Massachusetts to Texas. Offered
to pay his gas if he would put my kayak on his roof and bring it down with
him. That worked out too. My kayak turned up at a friend's house in Austin,
my friend reimbursed the driver for his gas, I drove to Austin to pick up my
boat, and everyone lived happily ever after.

Well, now I find there is a 16' dory in Michigan I just have to have. What I
need is a trustworthy person planning to drive from Michigan to Texas who
would be willing to tow the boat on its trailer in exchange for the cost of
gas for the trip.

I know I'd be ridiculously lucky to find someone on this newsgroup planning
to make that trip and willing to pull my boat; that's not my question. I've
been away from Usenet for years, so my questions are, a) have you ever done
anything like this; do you think it's still doable?, b) If so, what
safeguards can you suggest to be sure I don't hand my boat over to a boat
thief? And c) which newsgroup(s) do you think would be most likely to turn
up someone making the Michigan-Texas trip. Rec.autos.driving still, or
somewhere else?

I'll be grateful for any comments. Thanks!

Jim

Excellent advice. Thanks!

Jim


On 10/23/10 5:50 PM, in article
, "I am Tosk"
wrote:

In article ,
says...

Hello, all,

I'm new to this newsgroup... Well...I haven't been on it since about 1985 or
so, anyway. But I have a question, if I may?

I live in Texas, and years ago -- around that same 1985, I guess -- I bought
a kayak from a guy in Boston. Those were the days when the internet was
small and you could pretty much trust people, so I bought it based on a
couple of photos, and it turned out to be fine, just as described. Not
wanting to drive from Texas to Boston, I went to rec.autos.driving and
advertised for someone who was driving from Massachusetts to Texas. Offered
to pay his gas if he would put my kayak on his roof and bring it down with
him. That worked out too. My kayak turned up at a friend's house in Austin,
my friend reimbursed the driver for his gas, I drove to Austin to pick up my
boat, and everyone lived happily ever after.

Well, now I find there is a 16' dory in Michigan I just have to have. What I
need is a trustworthy person planning to drive from Michigan to Texas who
would be willing to tow the boat on its trailer in exchange for the cost of
gas for the trip.

I know I'd be ridiculously lucky to find someone on this newsgroup planning
to make that trip and willing to pull my boat; that's not my question. I've
been away from Usenet for years, so my questions are, a) have you ever done
anything like this; do you think it's still doable?, b) If so, what
safeguards can you suggest to be sure I don't hand my boat over to a boat
thief? And c) which newsgroup(s) do you think would be most likely to turn
up someone making the Michigan-Texas trip. Rec.autos.driving still, or
somewhere else?

I'll be grateful for any comments. Thanks!

Jim

Find somebody who has a contract with an over the road shipper. Years
ago I used to ship boats all over the US by Roadway Express. The local
UPS store (now Kinkos) had a contract with Roadway, last time I sent a
ten foot boat from CT to San Diego, UPS store to the guys house for less
then 500 bucks. Shipped a smaller boat, like 8 foot iirc, to Louisana
for about 350.. Funny though, once I tried to send one closer and it
would have been more, just depends on where the hubs are...