Pros and cons from actual customers please. Thanks.
I patched a friends boat he had shipped
Forward Air. It was a CLC Chesapeake 17 LT. Forward Air drove a fork truck right through the side of it. They wouldn’t cover it because it wasn’t in a plywood crate. A CLC C-17 IS a plywood crate for Pete’s sake…
LOVE FORWARD AIR !
I used them many times with 100% success when I got fed up with all the drama involved in dealing with ______________.
As in the other post and have said it before …
Take the time to make a plywood crate. Doesn’t have to be beautifully crafted … Stagger the plywood or chipboard sheets and use 2X2s + plywood scraps to hold it all together. Place the boat in there on some foam. I would do this assuming the crate would somehow get rolled or stood on end. … I would lightly tie the boat down from end pad eyes too.
Put some 2 X 2s under the crate so the forklift can get under there and do the guys a favor. Mark the CB point on all sides and put some heavy grab lines on the ends so they can grab it if need be. A couple pieces of pvc threaded onto these shows you care and from experience, the guys appreciate it.
Everytime I would bring a boat over, the guys on the floor would walk up and tell me what I nice job I did and “if only everyone did it like this” NOT Kidding here … The floor workers would gather around it and smile.
why go thru all that effort…
…when you can pick up the phone and call KAS? Forward Air is not a specialized freight carrier and rwven’s is just the latest horror story I’ve heard.
Only Small Crafts (Sub 10’)…
four waveskis and two ww boats. It’s always here/there (intact) as promised. Caveate – skis were heavily wrapped in bubble and cardboard with big lettering all over, screaming — FRAGILE! FRAGILE! FRAGILE!
sing
Two WW boats
All wrapped in bubble wrap. Both came through without a scratch.
1 hour to build crate, ship the same
day and know when its gonna get there vs … waiting around for something less than professional.
1 hour? maybe for you
The way you described it I think would take most people a bit longer.
I’ve heard great things about KAS, the only drawback being the wait. But I live on the mainland.
They moved a Tempest 165 from South
Carolina to Tampa Fl for me and did a great job.
Generally, good service
FA and Old Dominion have been fine with plastic boats. FA did trash a composite one and dragged feet in the resolution of the matter.
cross country Forward Air
Skin on frame from Oregon to South Carolina. If I remember correctly, it had one layer each of bubble wrap, brown kraft paper, and clear plastic. No problems.
It did have a large hand written note on it - something like “kayak, please handle carefully”
Not bragging, honestly one hour from
starting the saw 'till loading on the car. NOT including filling out paper work though.
FA
Three times. Poly WW kayaks and Royalex WW canoe. No problems. Wrapped in cardboard or nothing.
Postive experience for us…
Had a Kestrel 140 in TCS shipped to us from Delaware in 2006. Very pleased with the results.
T
Have used them many times
to buy and to sell (ship) kayaks. Never had a problem. I have heard some bad stories about using them to ship composite kayaks, though.
I always completely unwrap the boat and inspect it BEFORE signing for anything I have bought. I was concerned they’d get nasty with me for taking up their time doing that, but they didn’t - they were actually very nice.
I would recommend them for anything except composites.
that’s pretty good
I see here that others fared well with cardboard or bubble wrap.
KAS is the only shipper I’ve heard of that specializes in kayaks, so with any other shipper some protection is probably wise. Might as well make it difficult for them to mess it up.
There’s a market here somewhere for the independent trucker returning home empty.
Rolling the dice with CB and Bubble wrap
– Last Updated: Jul-28-11 12:26 AM EST –
This may stop or prevent minor surface dings and scratching but you could put 10 plys of whatever on and its still not gonna prevent crushing loads possible with heavy equipment.
Years ago, These guys:
http://affordableboatcarriers.net/default.aspx
were 125.00 door to door
For sure if a guy with a truck and trailer wanted to start up .. Plenty work and the commercial builders I know would switch right over to avoid damage and drama.