That sucks Kieth. I can't defend or speak about any other dealership but my own. You may want to just communicate with him as to what your needs as sailors are. It would be more convienient to walk into his shop to pick up a part rather than wait on shipping. Who knows, he might really lag...then it's mail order for you!
On the other hand, I can tell you that Surf City is the other way around, we sell kayaks and plastic boats to be able to sell H.P. cats. As far as the relevence of a certain cat company, each area of the country has a dominant fleet. As I said before diversity is nice. Are we done with this thread yet?
Don't apologize for being 'raw', sometimes it needs to be said.
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Yeah, the parts shop for cats used to be in the dealership based in Annapolis. I tried buying stuff to stock up for my Hobies at the time. Most stuff out of stock and had to be ordered. Then they closed up the cat parts and moved the stock to Alexandria, still didn't stock much, stuff was all on back-order, and to get it I'd either have to drive or get them to mail it to me (mail order from the local dealer). Went down to SC for a wedding, found the Sail and Ski Connection, and found out how good things could be. Everything was in stock, and since I was mail ordering anyway I decided to go with the people that actually acted like they wanted my business.
But now I sail NACRAs, so I have no reason to bother with that local dealership except for trying to build the Fleets and bring more boats out. The location of the dealership near our two clubs seems to have no interest, but in the end it's their loss.
Glad to hear your dealership is better, I know the good guys are out there. I'll mail order from just such places (except in those times when the factory refuses to drop ship because it's not the local dealer - seen that one too).
The kayak tri is a good idea, although hardly the future of sialing. If you feel like homebuilding check out
Chesapeake Light Craft
