I have been holding out on you for purely selfish reasons. I waited to tell you about the best darned marine book selection until I found the last book I really, really wanted. Yes, West Marine will carry a few books and you can always order books online but if you are like me and kind of enjoy hunting for a bargain then these options will not satisfy as much as hunting and gathering in person. Maybe its a girl thing, this need to seek and find an object and bring it home.
The best darned marine book selection ever is at the Half Price Books store in Clear Lake. While they don't get everything in stock and you do have to be willing to wait and to dig a bit, the selection of sailing related books at bargain prices is pretty darned amazing. While they say that the books will be sold at half off the retail price, they run sales fairly often. So often that I've picked up excellent books- both helpful and just entertaining such as Chapman's Piloting brand new for around $8.00, The Motion of the Ocean for about $6.00, Nigel Calder's Cruising Handbook for around $20 and so many others. (I've included links for those impatient folks who just want to order them, will happily pay shipping and get on with it.)
The one, last book that I have been searching for for literally months finally appeared, I snapped it up happily and paid around $16 plus tax. I scored what I consider to be the best overall, comprehensive book for long distance sailors- Beth Leonard's Voyager's Handbook. Yes, I know that time and money I spent on gas searching for it is probably greater than the shipping costs from Amazon but again, thrill of the chase. Girl Thing. Move on.
HPB only had one copy and its now mine and since I no longer have any books I feel like I need to have, I can tell you about the treasure trove that is Half Price Books. Seriously, a really great selection of books that is ever changing and at great prices. A bigger selection than I have seen even at dedicated marine stores.I have to ding Half Price a little though because I think every great book store must have a cat in residence. They used to have a cat but he has not been seen in a year or two. No cat, no 5 stars from me so if you want to get bumped back up to 5 star status get a cat. Preferably a really fat orange one who likes to lounge on the sales counter and really doesn't like anyone but stoically endures everyone lavishing him with praise and affection.
And now for the latest round of marine retail low points. I try to keep my complaints to a minimum but sometimes I get overwhelmed by the sheer lack of business savvy displayed by marine suppliers. I guess maybe they figure since the customer doesn't exactly have a ton of choices that they can strive for mediocrity and we will all just suck it up because again, how many choices do you actually have?
My nominee for the Marketing Genius of the year award goes to Porta-Bote. Mark and I wrestle with what dinghy to purchase and after speaking with folks who have lived with one, seeing them in person at the Annapolis Boat show almost 2 years ago we thought this was the way for us to go. It wouldn't be ideal, but it would allow us to skip davits which we really want to do and if we decided later we needed an inflatable, well those are available pretty much anywhere you find boats. Porta-Botes aren't perfect, but they are tough as nails, easy to stow and have many other attractive attributes but there are some trade offs that are less than desirable.
Then I saw the Porta Bote Crib and low, it appeared that all of the drawbacks I thought we would have to accept would be just washed away. This could be the answer for us! I in my naivete, contacted Porta Bote telling them that I had gotten the information on the Porta Bote, had seen it in person but was really interested in the Porta Crib and could they send me the pricing information and would they have one at the Houston show they would be attending?
Now, I am not going to point out that a company that has sold over 90,000 boats should be able to hire a web designer to put together a real web page that does not look it was originally hosted on Geocities. What I am going to point out is how desperately they need to hire someone with some kind of marketing background. Any Girl Scout who has served as a cookie pusher would do a better job. When Porta Bote replied to me, they promised to send me the information I requested. They then went on to tell me that no, they would NOT be bringing a CRIB to the Houston Boat Show because IT IS OVER 3 TIMES THE COST OF THE PORTA BOAT AND AT $6000 ITS TOO EXPENSIVE TO BRING TO A BOAT SHOW.
What kind of intellectual giants are they employing? Anyone with even the tiniest bit of marketing savvy would understand that if you are offering a product that is much more expensive than your usual offerings you probably want to, I don't know let people see why its more expensive and to be able to show the value. I could be wrong...no. I am not wrong. People wonder why they don't see more Porta Botes out and about and I think we have the answer. No one there has a clue about marketing.
Oh and when I finally got my information package in the mail it contained the price list for the Porta Bote, which I had explained I already had but absolutely zero information or pricing for the CRIB. So now I have to rethink the whole dinghy option because I am seriously wondering if perhaps they are just too dense to do business with.
So, I am off to go do yet more dinghy research and yacht tender navel gazing. I still think the Portland Pudgy is pretty darned nifty...if only it were just a little bit bigger. *sigh*
The best darned marine book selection ever is at the Half Price Books store in Clear Lake. While they don't get everything in stock and you do have to be willing to wait and to dig a bit, the selection of sailing related books at bargain prices is pretty darned amazing. While they say that the books will be sold at half off the retail price, they run sales fairly often. So often that I've picked up excellent books- both helpful and just entertaining such as Chapman's Piloting brand new for around $8.00, The Motion of the Ocean for about $6.00, Nigel Calder's Cruising Handbook for around $20 and so many others. (I've included links for those impatient folks who just want to order them, will happily pay shipping and get on with it.)
The one, last book that I have been searching for for literally months finally appeared, I snapped it up happily and paid around $16 plus tax. I scored what I consider to be the best overall, comprehensive book for long distance sailors- Beth Leonard's Voyager's Handbook. Yes, I know that time and money I spent on gas searching for it is probably greater than the shipping costs from Amazon but again, thrill of the chase. Girl Thing. Move on.
HPB only had one copy and its now mine and since I no longer have any books I feel like I need to have, I can tell you about the treasure trove that is Half Price Books. Seriously, a really great selection of books that is ever changing and at great prices. A bigger selection than I have seen even at dedicated marine stores.I have to ding Half Price a little though because I think every great book store must have a cat in residence. They used to have a cat but he has not been seen in a year or two. No cat, no 5 stars from me so if you want to get bumped back up to 5 star status get a cat. Preferably a really fat orange one who likes to lounge on the sales counter and really doesn't like anyone but stoically endures everyone lavishing him with praise and affection.
And now for the latest round of marine retail low points. I try to keep my complaints to a minimum but sometimes I get overwhelmed by the sheer lack of business savvy displayed by marine suppliers. I guess maybe they figure since the customer doesn't exactly have a ton of choices that they can strive for mediocrity and we will all just suck it up because again, how many choices do you actually have?
My nominee for the Marketing Genius of the year award goes to Porta-Bote. Mark and I wrestle with what dinghy to purchase and after speaking with folks who have lived with one, seeing them in person at the Annapolis Boat show almost 2 years ago we thought this was the way for us to go. It wouldn't be ideal, but it would allow us to skip davits which we really want to do and if we decided later we needed an inflatable, well those are available pretty much anywhere you find boats. Porta-Botes aren't perfect, but they are tough as nails, easy to stow and have many other attractive attributes but there are some trade offs that are less than desirable.
Then I saw the Porta Bote Crib and low, it appeared that all of the drawbacks I thought we would have to accept would be just washed away. This could be the answer for us! I in my naivete, contacted Porta Bote telling them that I had gotten the information on the Porta Bote, had seen it in person but was really interested in the Porta Crib and could they send me the pricing information and would they have one at the Houston show they would be attending?
Now, I am not going to point out that a company that has sold over 90,000 boats should be able to hire a web designer to put together a real web page that does not look it was originally hosted on Geocities. What I am going to point out is how desperately they need to hire someone with some kind of marketing background. Any Girl Scout who has served as a cookie pusher would do a better job. When Porta Bote replied to me, they promised to send me the information I requested. They then went on to tell me that no, they would NOT be bringing a CRIB to the Houston Boat Show because IT IS OVER 3 TIMES THE COST OF THE PORTA BOAT AND AT $6000 ITS TOO EXPENSIVE TO BRING TO A BOAT SHOW.
What kind of intellectual giants are they employing? Anyone with even the tiniest bit of marketing savvy would understand that if you are offering a product that is much more expensive than your usual offerings you probably want to, I don't know let people see why its more expensive and to be able to show the value. I could be wrong...no. I am not wrong. People wonder why they don't see more Porta Botes out and about and I think we have the answer. No one there has a clue about marketing.
Oh and when I finally got my information package in the mail it contained the price list for the Porta Bote, which I had explained I already had but absolutely zero information or pricing for the CRIB. So now I have to rethink the whole dinghy option because I am seriously wondering if perhaps they are just too dense to do business with.
So, I am off to go do yet more dinghy research and yacht tender navel gazing. I still think the Portland Pudgy is pretty darned nifty...if only it were just a little bit bigger. *sigh*
Imagine if you ever have to deal with customer service at PortaBote? I'd be having second thoughts, too. Oh, BTW, nice score on Beth's book. It's my favorite by far!
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts exactly re: customer service. This whole interaction has me seriously questioning what that experience would be like.
DeleteI love Beth Leonard's book. I actually paid full price for it at Barnes and Noble when it first came out, but I admit I did have a gift certificate. Also love our Half Price Books but it is a way dangerous store for me to enter. I, too, have bought many marine books there, and also chart books for this area. Now our library is so extensive that I cannot remember what books we have and what books we don't have. I'm likely to come home with a duplicate.
ReplyDeleteNow, re marketing, I get more than irritated at any company who cannot simply put the retail price on their website. Really, there is no value in requiring me to fill out some form with all of my customer information, just to get a price. I'll just move on to the next company who doesn't try to collect my data to use later. I know it's a common thing, but it really gets my knickers in a twist. What, the price is different for everyone or something? Just put the price in plain English and move on. If I want the thing, I'll pay the price.
But 6000$ for a dingy? That's steep. I know you have to carry 4 people, but Yikes! Even though they do not feel like they must serve their customers by bringing it to the boat show, maybe they will at least have a boat show special deal on it.
Even if they brought it a boat show,offered a discount and promised to wash my car I am so annoyed I am unlikely to purchase and that is saying a lot because I absolutely LOVE the engineering behind the CRIB. I had to fill out a form- again. I had to request information. Again. Despite being very specific in our correspondence about the information I needed, I received a packet with nothing of use or help to me.
DeleteToo much effort on my part for too little in return.
I like your attitude. I concur. Plus, I don't know if the Crib would do this, but the one time i rode in a portaboat, I got very wet. No problem, as the water was warm, but still. I'd like to at least have the chance to stay dry.
DeleteSaw a prototype of the CRIB here at Costa Baja back in January 2010. I was VERY interested but the only info I could get was that it was being built by some guy in Grants Pass, Oregon and wasn't quite ready for market yet. It sure looked good to me. I was continually frustrated over the next 12 months or so as I tried to track down any kind of info on it. Now that I see the finished product is circa $6000, I'm just as glad we no longer own the PortaBote as I don't have to give any thought to whether or not I want to spend even more money than I did on my watermaker.
ReplyDeleteAnd as to PortaBote's poor marketing. What can you say except AAARGH!!! Point me to someone to choke!
I think the phrase you are looking for in regards to Portabote's marketing is "fantastically underwhelming". So why did you ditch the Portabote and what are you using now?
DeleteWe got lazy. The Portabote was great for allowing us to have a roomy, stable 10' dinghy on a 28' boat. But, we started to shy away from towing it after submerging it once while underway. So, that meant dismantling it to stow it on deck and then "re-mantling" it when we got somewhere. We found ourselves pulling into an anchorage late in the day and deciding we didn't want to hassle with assembly so we'd just leave it. The next day we might find ourselves saying things like, well, we're just going to leave tomorrow and, since we want an early start, we'll have to disassemble the dink tonight so let's just not bother at all. And so we'd stay aboard instead of going ashore. Pure, unadulterated laziness. But, as they say, "it is what it is". So, we decided to replace the PB with an 8' hard dinghy that we could actually store on the cabintop. We bought a Walker Bay 8. It's a great little rowing dinghy, light as air and easy to deploy and stow. Other than that, it's got nothing on the PB. The PB was stabler with it's hard chines,and a lot roomier being a 10 footer vs. our new 8 footer. If the CRIB had been available at a reasonable price, it would have been the answer as it's super easy to assemble and disassemble and would still fit on a side deck. But $6000? I don't think so. We know people cruising the Sea of Cortez in ocean-going sailboats that cost less. We are going to break down and buy the inflatable collar for the Walker Bay making it a sort of a rigid inflatable and adding a lot of stability (and built-in fenders for when we visit other boats at anchor).
DeleteI like the post very much. I hope Marine repairs books will also be available out there as other marine books are. Do you know about that?
ReplyDelete