: Wow you guys and gals are a rough crowd! As I scratch sawdust from my hair
: after ripping strips all day I sit here writing this. We try and run our
: business as open and responsive as possible.

You may or may not choose to continue to participate on this forum. I hope you do. You might decide you're too busy building boats to post for everyone out in the ether to read...which is probably a good problem to have!

You've shown a great deal of gentlemanly restraint and posted some very professional responses to some rather critical posts. Keep it up. Honesty is the best policy, and you're establishing yourself as a straight shooter.

The more you share here, the more you learn.

Get some boats on the water for people to paddle. Even if one of us doesn't buy a custom kayak from you, chances are we can give one of your "real" customers an honest evaluation of your boats' performance.

Cooperate with other wooden kayak builders in your area and elsewhere. It's a small world, and you'll be best served by friendly cooperation rather than intense competition. Look to the negative advertising between Pygmy and CLC 5 or 6 years ago to see how bad it made both of them look. Nick discourages outright commercial posts here, but he and Rob and Joe all post here frequently with ideas that help everyone. It makes you look good without having to proselytize about your own product.

Talk to Joe Greenley about participating in R2K3. There's a great community of people here on this forum, and it's even more evident at events in real life. Joe puts a great deal of effort into the event, and I believe he still gets a lot out of it. He may welcome another commercial sponsor.

The advice you received about being a high quality provider is sound. Poor people don't have money. But we have skills and ideas and passion for building!!

If it's ever not fun one day, set down your tools and go boating. Boatbuilding should always be relaxing, not stressful, and you'll be smiling while you work after taking some "me time" to paddle.

And this advice is worth every penny you paid for it!

Best of luck to you and your company!

shawn baker