New Booms For Everybody!
Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2021 11:54 am
Sharing my new boom experience...
In this forum, and on Facebook, I have seen several people needing replacement booms for their Daysailers. And the best advice given to them was, "Look for a used one near you." This is of course, because shipping a 10'+ piece of aluminum costs more than piece of aluminum itself.
I was faced with needing a new boom. And I'm pretty sure there aren't too many used ones in my neck of the woods -- not too many sailboat salvage yards in central Indiana. I was perfectly willing to drive the 900 miles (one way) to get it from Rudy at D&R Marine because shipping quotes were outrageous. The lowest being about $400 (UPS Freight). The highest... $1200!! FedEx and regular UPS shipping won't even touch it.
Then, as I was flipping through TV channels, I saw a pole vaulter on ESPN. A thought occurred to me, "How the hell do they travel around the country with those things?!" A little "Googling", and believe it or not, there are pole vaulter forums. The answer to my question... Southwest Airlines.
Southwest Airlines Cargo will ship items up to 165" in length (I think the vaulters get a break on the length because they are travelling on the airline too). The only catch is that it is "counter-to-counter". The item has to be dropped off at a SWA Cargo location, and picked up at one too.
So I worked it out with Rudy. He is now a "known shipper" with SWA (as you can imagine, the airlines want to know exactly who's putting unaccompanied items in their baggage holds). It took a little while, but we worked it out. The cost of the shipping, with taxes, with insurance, and Rudy's time for packing and taking the boom to Providence airport, $120. Rudy dropped it off around 4pm. By 11:30pm it was at Indianapolis airport. At 8:00 the next morning it was in my hands. Tracking was amazing, as their system tells you where your package is every step of the way, including flight numbers that you can track online.
$120 isn't chicken feed, but it seems like a bargain to all the other alternatives. I can see the hunt for a used spar being way more than $120 worth of aggravation and travel.
I hope that Rudy's experience was positive and that he's willing to do it for other customers, and for other bulky items too. You would have to believe that finding an alternative, cheaper method of shipping would lead to more sales.
So that is my experience. Just wanted to share it with others who may find themselves in the same frustrating position.
In this forum, and on Facebook, I have seen several people needing replacement booms for their Daysailers. And the best advice given to them was, "Look for a used one near you." This is of course, because shipping a 10'+ piece of aluminum costs more than piece of aluminum itself.
I was faced with needing a new boom. And I'm pretty sure there aren't too many used ones in my neck of the woods -- not too many sailboat salvage yards in central Indiana. I was perfectly willing to drive the 900 miles (one way) to get it from Rudy at D&R Marine because shipping quotes were outrageous. The lowest being about $400 (UPS Freight). The highest... $1200!! FedEx and regular UPS shipping won't even touch it.
Then, as I was flipping through TV channels, I saw a pole vaulter on ESPN. A thought occurred to me, "How the hell do they travel around the country with those things?!" A little "Googling", and believe it or not, there are pole vaulter forums. The answer to my question... Southwest Airlines.
Southwest Airlines Cargo will ship items up to 165" in length (I think the vaulters get a break on the length because they are travelling on the airline too). The only catch is that it is "counter-to-counter". The item has to be dropped off at a SWA Cargo location, and picked up at one too.
So I worked it out with Rudy. He is now a "known shipper" with SWA (as you can imagine, the airlines want to know exactly who's putting unaccompanied items in their baggage holds). It took a little while, but we worked it out. The cost of the shipping, with taxes, with insurance, and Rudy's time for packing and taking the boom to Providence airport, $120. Rudy dropped it off around 4pm. By 11:30pm it was at Indianapolis airport. At 8:00 the next morning it was in my hands. Tracking was amazing, as their system tells you where your package is every step of the way, including flight numbers that you can track online.
$120 isn't chicken feed, but it seems like a bargain to all the other alternatives. I can see the hunt for a used spar being way more than $120 worth of aggravation and travel.
I hope that Rudy's experience was positive and that he's willing to do it for other customers, and for other bulky items too. You would have to believe that finding an alternative, cheaper method of shipping would lead to more sales.
So that is my experience. Just wanted to share it with others who may find themselves in the same frustrating position.