Anyone call a kayak shop ?

Anyone Call a Kayak Shop
Steve and Bonnie at Scappoose Bay Kayaking in Oregon are very knowledgeable and helpful. They can and will answer any and all questions asked.



Greg

here’s a nice website resource
http://www.paddling.net/launches/



I love this map. I’m not sure I’d find it at my local shop, but one can find it here in Paddling.net.

No dis or misunderstanding

– Last Updated: Apr-15-13 2:02 PM EST –

Most posts told me about shops in Michigan which
I'm quite familiar with and they know me.

A few people posted about shops in other
parts of the country, which may benefit the
crop of new paddlers exploring the waters in 2013.

Paddling clubs are a wealth of info and I
highly recommend paddling with other people.


MANY questions on the site could have been answered
with a simple phone call to a shop in that state.

Extremely variable
Spans the whole gamut of the human personality and intelligence



Highly informative

Good communicator

Patient

Respectful

Flexible (adapts to individual customer)

.

.

.

.

Not knowledgeable

Impatient

Snarky

Judgmental

Opinionated



To me the knowledge and communication skills of the shop are important and I will hunt across state lines for the right combination of knowledge, service, the right kayak, and the right price.

Paddling Deserts
So on the flip side, who lives someplace where there isn’t a paddling shop within 75 miles (arbitrary distance)? Let’s use specialty shops here rather than include large box stores, just for the heck of it.



See you on the water,

Marshall

The River Connection, Inc.

Hyde Park, NY

www.the-river-connection.com

(new 2.0 website)

someone should create a map

– Last Updated: Apr-17-13 2:37 PM EST –

It'd be interesting to see where kayak and canoe specialty shops are (not counting liveries) in a matrix with waterbodies and population density.

Hey, if anyone could do it, the people running this website could!

would only use shop for select info
Even with a top notch shop you may not reach the top notch person on a call. The shop may cater more to lower level paddlers making questions such as good rock gardening boats tough for them. They may tend to advice purchasing only the brands they happen to carry. They may give overly conservative advise not knowing you and not wanting liability. None of this means you shouldn’t ask your shop questions, but it does mean you may want to compare that advice with other sources.

Proximity to large water bodies

– Last Updated: Apr-17-13 3:42 PM EST –

Michigan is sooo much different than most other states
as it's a peninsula with massive amounts of coastline
some 300 rivers and 1,000's of inland lakes.

How tough is it to find a shop in the other 50 states
that have a few large lakes and rivers ?

The sport seems to be growing each year
http://www.outdoorfoundation.org/research.paddlesports.html

it is interesting to ponder
One would expect to find them in MI along the great lakes, near denser populations, and in the case of anything above Clare, probably has to be a resort or vacation destination as well. As I mentioned earlier, the shops I noted don’t seem like they’re having an easy go of it in this economy.

We are in a unique position and it’d be interesting to see where the shops are in states different than MI.

Great Lakes Basin

– Last Updated: Apr-17-13 4:29 PM EST –

Many states border the Great Fresh Water Lakes
http://www.great-lakes.net/lakes/basinMap2.gif

Paddling shops nearby to answer questions,
get unique personalized advice, info, etc. ?

The more shops there are, the less
they’re likely to know. If I ran smack into one, I might check with them about local river conditions. But having driven around the perimeter of the lower peninsula, and across the top of the UP, without even seeing what I would call a real paddling shop (rather than a rec boat rental), I don’t believe your claim that Michigan has some wealth of so-called knowledge.



And I can’t understand why you think people could get the same questions answered in average paddling shops that they can get answered here. There are precious few paddling shops that have that kind of knowledge.

The USA with all it’s coastline…

– Last Updated: Apr-17-13 8:04 PM EST –

I find it odd that a newbie would ask what kind of kayak
should I get, when the USA is practically surrounded
by water and has countless lakes, rivers, etc.
Surely local paddling shops can handle the question.

Maybe people just don't bother making the effort
to look up a phone number or address to drive there
in an age of computer keyboards.
Kayak shops live and die with traffic in their stores

I also never understood how Dear Abby flourished
with people writing her for simple advice.

Sure there are highly, highly trained, skilled,
seasoned, experienced paddlers who frequent these
forum boards and are willing to share knowledge,
for a wide variety of complicated questions.




First off I suspect that many that consider starting kayaking DO talk to folks in a kayak or other sporting good store. Which store they go to relates both to what is available and how well they advertise since, after all, these are new paddlers that don’t yet know where best to go. So they may end up in a big box store for lack of knowing kayak specialty shops even exist.



But these shops are often NOT the best place to ask the question because invariably the answer would be that the best kayak for the customer just happens to be one of the ones in the shop and we know that can’t always be true.



The real best answer to to talk to shops, clubs and online resources and compare what they say to who you are and what you want to get out of the sport. Limiting yourself to one source is bound to get a biased answer.

shops are great resources
and as good as the folks running them. I’m fortunate to live near Ace whitewater located in Fayetteville WV. Not only can I get great info and demo boats but I also take adavantage of the “free” shuttle they offer weekly. Brad is always ready to share his knowledge about boats. I also deal a lot with Whitewater Warehouse out of Dayton Ohio. The coowner, Bernie, is an old paddlin’ buddy who’ll deliver merchandise and boats to my door. My point is these people actively boat, are passionate about boating, and enjoy interacting with others. Yet, there’s nothing wrong with getting some other opinions or perspectives. That’s a good thing.

I shop at NOC
’nuff said

I suppose
everyone who called a kayak shop and got their questions answered never checked in here.



I live on the gulf of Mexico along the banks of the longest free flowing river in the lower 48. A new kayak shop opened nearby last year. That’s 2 within 300 miles of my house.



Do you shop for cars by walking into a dealership and asking what you need?

Good to have both if you can, but
…one of the draws to posting on a board like this one is that there is no obligation to buy anything from the people who answer you. When you call a shop, there’s always an implication that somewhere down the line you should buy from them. If they’re a good shop they’ll answer questions without making you feel like a jerk, but even so, I don’t like to push too much for free info when their clock is running and they might have actual in-person customers right there waiting for the staff to get off the phone!

how do you know people don’t call
Local shops for advice? Maybe they do both - call local shops and ask other paddlers.



I think part of the answer to your question is that new paddlers have little knowledge of their own to go on. That includes little knowledge of local shops and their employees, and how valid and trustworthy their opinions are. I’ve gotten the hard sell from a local shop before, and I had enough experience to recognize it.



A variety of opinions never hurt anyone.

Shops
I would never call a shop for advice unless I was planning on buying from them.

And U have to expect them to try to sell

– Last Updated: Apr-18-13 10:36 AM EST –

... you what they have. That's their livelihood.