As someone who had worked in the wilderness sports biz during my twenties (managed an outfitter who sold kayaks as well as offered instruction and guided trips) it always kind of bothered me that Feathercraft chose to sell direct which, to my mind, undercut their dealers. I bought my first FC (Kahuna) from a dealer – love at first sight – and bought subsequent accessories through their dealers in Colorado (Doug of Folding Kayak Adventures) and Connecticut (the Small Boat Shop). I hope they gave you dealers a decent discount to make it worthwhile.
I did feel a little guilty getting my Wisper direct from Vancouver but they did give me a Wisper loaner and a Klatwah paddle to use for an entire afternoon around Vancouver Harbor when I was vacationing out there. I guess the lack of a wide distribution network and the small market kind of necessitated that.
I wonder if the blue cordura 1996 K-1 that I owned for a while was originally purchased from you, Wavetamer? I bought it from a lawyer here in Pittsburgh who told me he had purchased it during a trip to Alaska. Apparently only used it there and it had sat in his basement for 12 years since – one of the longerons was frozen but since I only paid $2500 for it I was able to get replacements from FC. It proved to be too big of a boat for me (5’ 5" and 145 lbs) so I sold it after a couple of year to another lawyer who drove all the way from Chicago to Pittsburgh to buy it for himself and buy the Kahuna for his wife. I got $4500 for both boats and used the money for the Wisper, which I use to this day.
I do admit to now lusting after a Trak 2.0 after having seen a couple of them on a local lake last summer. I hope Trak has good success with their boats since we need to keep folders as an option for paddlers, at least IMHO. Their “Trak pilots” independent rep program is an interesting model.