Canoe Colorado
Performance Canoes and Sea Kayaks

Frequently Asked Questions

These FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions), are summaries of questions we have been asked over the past year. This is by no means a complete list of all the questions, but we hope that the answers here will help you. Please don't hesitate to contact us with any questions, we love talking about paddling.

Why isn't your shop open normal business hours?
Why do you encourage on water demos?
Do you ship boats to other states?
Did you receive my e-mail?
Do you rent canoes or kayaks?
How do I join your club?

Why isn't your shop open normal business hours?          back to top of FAQ's

We are a group of paddling enthusiasts who sell boats because it is the only way we could find the high quality designs we were looking for. No one else sold them, and if we did not sell them, they would not be available. We do this as a hobby, some might say a passion, but we also have real jobs so that we can keep this enjoyable for everyone. We have tinkered with the thought of opening a full time shop, but our preference is to paddle, not to sit around waiting for customers to walk through the door. We also decided that if we rely on paddling to make a living, it becomes work and not fun, and we want to keep it fun.

Other shops are not able to profitably sell the type of boats we enjoy because of their high overhead. Instead they sell cheap boats, and a whole lot of them, to pay the rent. By reducing our overhead, and focusing on performance boats instead of mass marketed junk, we can afford to carry performance boats. By showing boats by appointment, at one of our warehouses, we further reduce our overhead, because we don't have to pay a sales staff to wait around.

Our appointment based system also allows people to test paddle the boats they are interested in. On water demos are expensive for most shops, but very easy for us. We feel that the only way to know if a boat is right, is to actually paddle it. By setting up an appointment, you have the option of meeting us at a warehouse, or meeting us on the water with the boats you are interested in.

We could open up a shop with normal business hours, but gradually you would see fewer quality boats, and more of the easy to sell junk. Since we started selling boats because we could not find what we were looking for, such a plan goes against our whole mission.

Why do you encourage on water demos?          back to top of FAQ's

How else will you know if a boat is right? Would you buy a car without a test drive?

Most local shops rely on a so called "paddling expert" to tell you which boat is right for you. At those shops, customers must rely on the "experts" opinion, which is always biased. The end result is that you can easily end up with the wrong boat.

At Canoe Colorado, we know we are biased. Eric likes very fast boats, Ray likes very stable boats, Jerry likes the canoes he designed, we know our preferences, and we know our preferences are not necessarily yours. While all of us will be able to help you with your boat purchase, the best source of information on how a boat will work for you, is yourself.

Part of the on water demo is to allow you to feel for yourself which boat is right for you. We will use our expert knowledge to help you reduce your choices to a manageable level, but ultimately the only way to tell which boat is right is by a "seat of the pants" feel.

By comparing two or three different boats, you can start to feel which one really fits in with what you want. You don't get that knowledge standing in a store talking to a salesperson, you only get it on the water.

Another reason we offer on water demos, is that we are proud of our boats. We know we sell good boats, and we are not afraid to compare our boats to our competition. Other shops which sell junk, realize that if you actually paddle their boat before buying it, you won't buy it. They need to rely on a sales approach that keeps you off the water in order to sell their product.

Our on water demos also give us the chance to give you basic paddling instruction. Beginners often buy a boat they will quickly outgrow. By spending a couple of hours on the water with us, we can improve your skills and experience. This allows us to put you in a more advanced boat, that you will be comfortable in, and get years of enjoyment from.

So instead of asking why we encourage on water demos, you might wonder why other shops don't offer them. From what many of our customers have told us, we are the only shop in the Denver area that offers no hassle demos of all our boat models.

Do you ship boats to other states?          back to top of FAQ's

Yes and No.

We would strongly encourage you to work with your local dealer on canoe purchases. Local dealers can help you with questions, problems, and they are a great resource for local paddling. If you have a local dealer who will be able to help you with your boat purchase, we encourage you to work with them.

An example of dealer support is in how we treat our customers in Colorado. We offer a wide range of trips, classes, and events which are either free or have a minimal charge. We are a full service shop, capable of doing most repairs in house. We can help you change the outfitting in your canoe, replace or modify parts. We take care of our customers. Many paddling shops share a similar philosophy. If you damage your boat, we will help you repair it, either by showing you how to do the repair, or charging a minimal fee to do it in our shop. Our customers are our friends, and we treat each other as such.

What shops may not tell you is that loyalty goes both ways. If someone buys a boat from our competition, and then starts to have problems, we will first tell them to contact the dealer they bought the boat from to get things resolved. If they are unable to get things resolved that way, we may offer to help, but the situation is treated differently than if they are our customers. This negative aspect, which is also shared by most paddling shops, is another reason we encourage you to buy your boat from your local shop. You will get better service if you are also their customer.

We understand that the types of boats we sell don't have dealers on every corner. If you are unable to find a dealer to help you out, or if you are having problems with your dealer and do not want to give them your business, then we will help you buy a boat.

Shipping boats is expensive, and the risk of damage is very high. Our success rate on shipping composite boats is only about 50%, that means half the boats have some type of damage when they arrive. Damage ranges from minor stress cracks, to holes in the side where the boat was punctured by a forklift. It is for this reason that we haul our own boats from the factories on our own trucks and trailers, because we have know there will be no damage to our boats if we haul them ourselves..

Rotomolds and Royalex are fairly easy to ship, because they are so durable. We can wrap them in bubble wrap and plastic, and send them down the road. Shipping on Rotomolds and Royalex runs about $150 per boat (without insurance). About the only way to damage these boats is to run over them, or ram them with a forklift. If they are dropped or bumped, they can absorb most of that impact.

Shipping composite boats is different. If a composite boat is dropped, bumped, bent, it will be damaged. To prevent damage to composites, they need to be crated. The cost of crating a canoe, and the added cost of shipping insurance, makes this cost prohibitive. Expect to pay at least $300 for a composite boat to be crated and shipped. If the composite boat is a rare or one of a kind, we will probably refuse to ship it common carrier. There are some boats that are too unique to risk trashing this way.

While we can ship boats, we do not believe it is cost effective for most customers. If you have an effective way to ship the boat, and just want us to drop it off somewhere in the Denver area, we will happily do that.

Did you receive my e-mail?                    back to top of FAQ's

We will respond to all e-mail as soon as possible. If we are on a trip, then obviously we can't respond. Please check our latest trip schedule to see if we may be out paddling.

We normally check our e-mail at least once a day, so if you have not heard from us in 48 hours, we probably did not receive your e-mail. Please try again!

There is also the possibility that your e-mail was blocked by our SPAM filter. We use SpamCop.net to filter all incoming e-mail. We check the SPAM filter about once a week, and if your e-mail is in there, we will inform you of the circumstances. In the past year, only two legitimate e-mails have been caught in the filter, verses the hundreds of thousands of SPAM, so we feel it is a very good system. If your e-mail is caught in our filter, we will inform you.

If our reply is caught in your SPAM filter, then there is nothing we can do to help you. Lately there have been many "undeliverable" e-mails kicked back to us. If you include a phone number, we can call you if your e-mail doesn't accept ours.

Do you rent canoes or kayaks?                    back to top of FAQ's

Yes! Our rentals are run through the Colorado Paddlers. More information can be found at
http://www.coloradopaddlers.com/rental

How do I join your club?               back to top of FAQ's

Our paddling group is open to everyone. There are no membership dues. The only requirement is that you have the proper equipment for our trips. Our group is a little less formal than serious clubs. We are about paddling and tripping, and not really concerned with newsletters (we do publish our annual trip schedule) or politics (no elections, we're dictators).