Suppose a person wants to buy a kayak that’s, say, 1,000 miles away. Can’t make the trip himself/herself. I was thinking of the dog rescue transports I’ve been a part of. Someone coordinates different legs of the trip for specific times, etc. It works really well. Many of the transports cover two days, going from southern Arkansas into Canada with an overnight somewhere in between.
Why couldn’t this be done with kayaks? Plot a route and ask for volunteers to handle the various legs of the trip.
This isn’t for me - I’m not in the kayak-buying market right now. I was actually thinking of Yanoer’s plight with the damaged QCC.
I didn’t read the whole thread so forgive me if I am missing pertinent details, but I was thinking if he could sell it (to QCC or whomever) for $1,000, he could buy the QCC 400 that’s listed now in the p-net classifieds for the same amount. It’s near Syracuse, NY. I think Yanoer lives in IL (correct me on that…)
Thoughts? Or maybe Yanoer has already resolved his QCC dilemma… not sure.
Donna
More thinking (oh no!)
Seems like it might be worthwhile for QCC to buy it from Yanoer for $1,000, right? Because they are the experts at repairing, they could probably repair it to like new and sell it for $2,500. Depends on how much time (labor) and material it takes, I guess, but the numbers don't sound terribly unrealistic to me.
But then I have no clue what I'm talking about. Just have these thoughts bouncing around inside my brain...
*edited* I'm not suggesting QCC owes anybody anything in this scenario. Just saying it might be profitable for them, as well as getting Yanoer out of a jam. A win-win for all. Yes? No?
that explains the noises.
Thanks for your concern.
I have much more than $1000 invested in the boat and I prefer a rudder on a QCC, rather than a skeg. I believe that the 400X advertised in the p.net classifieds has a skeg.
Thanks again for thinking of me.
Better watch it, bubba
Don’t forget, now that I am a member of the Barracuda Club, you can’t paddle away from me so easily now. hehe And that water sure is cold…
Yanoer
I’ve got a yellow glass qcc400, got a rudder from Seaward (nice rudder btw) but have been enjoying it without a rudder. Like you’ve I haven’t pulled out the parts to do the installation. It’s a nice all around boat.
I figured you had more than that
invested, but figured if you could sell for 1K and buy for 1K, it's a wash and you have an almost new boat. (Assuming you don't have any trasnportation expenses, which is what my original post addresses.)
I know what you mean, though. I prefer rudders also.
Damn. I really wish something could be done. Oh well. Sorry.
Another blond question
Can you put a rudder on a kayak that already has a skeg, and just not use the skeg?
I also have a glass '97 Caspian Sea
without rudder or skeg, which is actually like the p.net 400X for sale. The Swift Caspian Sea and 400X are basically identical. The early Caspian Seas were built by QCC for Swift.
The main reason for buying this kevlar 400X is that it weighs 10 lbs less than my '97 fiberglass Caspian Sea and I was having some difficulty carrying the 56 lb Caspian Sea. The rudder would also would also be welcome on long stretches of windy water and when approaching wildlife quietly.
Thanks again for your concerns.
Oh, didn’t realize it was kevlar
and that you bought it for weight reduction.
And all that thinking for nothing… 
DANG!
…that would sure end the skeg vs rudder debates!
Donna
Sure. But then you would still have to deal with the skeg box in the aft compartment.
Not to mention the fact that you would be going against the given rules of the universe which state that “Thou shalt have only skeg OR rudder, thou shalt never have the two together.”
It would also just confuse the rudder vs. skeg debate as SuperTroll already mentioned.
You gotta quit this thinkin’ outside the box stuff!
All that thinking wasn’t for nothin’
because it was done out of a generous heart in an effort to help another person in distress.
That type of thinking and effort is always worthwhile.
Have a great day.
Maybe I should
run for public office! Motto: Solving world problems wherever I go.
Thinking
re: “You gotta quit this thinkin’ outside the box stuff!”
Definitely. I’ve already set off two smoke alarms. Gotta find a new, less-strenuous pursuit.
D.
Back to the original idea…
I’d had the same idea of networking p-netters “on the move” to transport kayaks as a courtesy to fellow paddling bretheren. We’ve all got the right equipment to transport boats safely and if it’s on the way, why not? I even thought about p-netters that live near highways and junctions volunteering to be drop-off/ pick-up points when commuter times don’t match up well. In the end, I couldn’t think of a fool-proof way of insuring scammers/thieves din’t get into the mix. The whole concept takes a lot of trust, and it only takes one bad apple to keep an eye on threads and pose as a p-netter picking up. If someone else has an answer to the security factor, I’m still in. I live about five minutes from a major artery here in SW Michigan, and about twenty from an interchange. Though I don’t travel much, I can act as a safe drop-off/pick-up point for others. Thoughts for future use?
Jim
Longshadow
I think there’s great potential for this idea… maybe we should work on it.
As far as scammers, here are my thoughts (much of it based on how dog rescue transports got started, and that takes a lot of trust, too, by the way. People steal dogs for various reasons.)
Anyway, initially it takes a core group of people, whom you just have to trust. Photos along the way help, even if you don’t SAY it’s to prevent fraud. For example, take a nice, friendly picture of the boat being loaded onto the next vehicle, pic of the smiling driver, and if it includes the license plate # in the pic, so much the better. There’s a transport coordinator who you check in with along the way, to be sure everything going as planned and communicate if things are runnning behind.
After establishing the initial group of transporters, maybe we require later additions to be referred by someone we know. The paddling community is small enough that someone local should know them and be able to vouch for them.
Maybe we could set up a Yahoo group for this specific purpose. I’d be happy to get it started.
Comments?
I was just thinking
When I first signed up for dog rescue transport duty, they got a lot of info from me, including car make/model, color, license plate number, etc.
That info is communicated to the next person on the transport. If it doesn’t match, you don’t turn over the goods.
I think there are safeguards we could put in place to make it less likely to get scammed. And to catch the scammer if we did.
Still, everyone would have to agree to hold all parties harmless because it’s always possible someone drops a boat or absconds with it. Not sure if we could get some insurance or something… I’ll see what I can find out.
I just called my insurance agent
He says non-motorized boats are covered under your homeowner's policy (minus deductible) up to (depending on company) usually about $3,000 or so. In his opinion, that would include a boat you've bought that's being transported to you and gets damaged or stolen in the process. There's no requirement that the boat has to have been stolen from your residence, or damaged while the owner was using it.
However, to cover a transport activity wouldn't work as it's just too complicated to determine the driving and/or criminal records of the people doing the transporting.
So if we put certain safeguards in place, and if we charged, maybe $25 per transport (?) we could create a fund to help out if anything went terribly wrong. Yet $25 is still a very small fee to pay to get a boat transported.
Jump right in here...
Pro bono
The fund’s a good idea, but who holds the money? Who lays claim and how? It sounds like a can of worms waiting to be opened. My vote would be to keep money out of it as much as possible. Insurance is really a speculation for profit’s sake, hedging bets against the probability of misfortune. What happens if in week one, the first user loses his purchase in a transit accident before ever seeing it? He paid $25, but there’s only $25 in the kitty. In fact, there would have to be 120 runs to reimburse one $3000 boat. And why should a guy buying a $300 boat pay the same rate? I’m not trying to be a stick in the mud honestly. I make the offer of a spot in my garage freely…just don’t use me as long term storage. 
You get what you pay for and “free” offers no insurance policy…savvy?
I like the idea of a contact list with photos, but adresses, license numbers, etc. should remain on a “need to know” basis to the links in the chain directly before and after you.
Jim