Now Serving: The Build List

Hello, thanks for stopping y the bog to check out our build list. 

Honestly this list is tough for me to publish because we shouldn't have to do this. In a perfect world, we would have enough money, enough materials and enough people to just pop these things out like candy. Obviously that isn't the case currently. We are way behind.

Last year we undertook the seemingly reasonable task of "on shoring" our raft production from overseas to our new sister facility in Montrose Colorado, SFD MFG CO. 

It's gone really well actually. Despite the delays we are building the best boats we have ever built and the folks here have done a stellar job in helping me do what it is we set out to do which is make these things in the US. Something nobody else seems interested in doing. 

It hasn't been without pitfalls though. A few months ago we ran out of drop stitch material for our floors and then we ran out of the body material for our tubes! Which sucks! So we've been having to order in the drop stitch from overseas via air freight, which is expensive. We also had to switch up our tube material to a comparable material from a US based warehouse and get those rolls in a few at a time. If we had a few extra million dollars to invest, like most of the competition, then we would just stock up and kick ass. But this thing is bootstrapped and cash flowed out of sales andmy own rather shallow "normal guy" pockets, so we don't have infinite cash reserves to just plow into materials and hours to catch up. 

So we have been slowly working on making the list shrink as best we can one raft at a time. 

So in the intervening time we'e had some people grow impatient and grumpy about our lack of ability to deliver their rafts in a timely manner and according to our agreed upon timeframe. As you can see from the list above there are people who've been waiting quite a bit longer than the original estimate of 6-8 weeks. I'm really sorry about that. 

We are currently building approximately 2-4 four rafts per week in the best case scenario. So the current list is somewhere between 4-9 weeks out. Not great, but it is what it is.

What I'm asking for is continued patience on your order and the grace to get the work done and get the boats out to you. And if you are thinking about getting a raft this spring get your order in NOW so you can have it when you need it. 

I've been working on a new round of funding with a bank but they just keep dragging it out and asking for more and more documentation etc, but I hope to able to get everyone a refund who would like one as soon as that is complete. Refunds are dependent on funding, sorry that's just reality. 

Believe it or not, I've actually had one customer get pissed and call the cops on me saying it was wire fraud, which it isn't, and then call a prosecutor! I've also had someone tell me they were going to come "find me" which is a bit unsettling, but is what it is I suppose, the guy is from Cleveland and that's how they do things there I guess. 

If you think for a minute that I'm some sort of scammer or thief you are sadly mistaken. I'm working as hard as I humanly can to get this list down to zero! And then I'd like to build up the inventory so you can just order the raft and it ships the next day! Imagine that!

It's true I don't want to talk to you on the phone or email. It's not personal. It's just I don't want to answer your phone calls. I don't want to hear about what an asshole I am. I don't want to talk to your lawyer or hear about how I've screwed up your fishing season or hear about your theories about how I've run off with your money laughing all the way to some luxurious surfing retreat in Bali.

I'm only not answering the phone because I need to focus on keeping my employees working on building the best boats we can. 

So the above is the list, if your name is on it, know we are working on it. And each week we will publish the revised list hopefully a few boats shorter so you know where you are on it.