posted 10-06-2009 11:12 AM ET (US)        

All's fair in love & business! lol ;o)

posted 10-06-2009 01:13 PM ET (US)            

Every item we make is hand made & finished here in my shop. We pick the grain from our stock that consists of over 3000 bf of the best mahogany & FEQ Teak anyone can buy......something the competition is unable to do.

Mike

posted 10-06-2009 02:02 PM ET (US)            

...like i said, all is fair in love & business.
Not too much I can do about anyway.

Narragansett,
Do they have a retrun policy?

posted 10-06-2009 04:41 PM ET (US)            

I am always going to support a business where the products are coming right from the owners hands, built in their shop, right here in the US.  You can not have any better quality control than that.  The small business you can walk through the front door, talk to the owner, have them show you their shop (and pride for it) where they themselves build their goods is the type of business that built this country and what is missing from today's world. While not all of your customers are able to experience your business as I get to, your quality speaks for itself in person and says everything it needs to about your business.

Keep innovating Mike. Yes it will always keep you ahead of the pack.  While coping is called the most sincere from of flattery, you can never win you the race if you are alwThe cost of product development is always born on the shoulders of the person/company willing to make the investment in man hours, prototyping and other costs.  That is why we have intellectual property laws here in the US.  While I am not a lawyer and I do not know if adding a third support gets you far enough way from infringement I none the less find it slimy. 

I am always going to support a business where the products are coming right from the owners hands, built in their shop, right here in the US.  You can not have any better quality control than that.  The small business you can walk through the front door, talk to the owner, have them show you their shop (and pride for it) where they themselves build their goods is the type of business that built this country and what is missing from today's world. 

posted 10-06-2009 04:53 PM ET (US)            

Depends on who is judging and who is setting the rules of the race.

Getting somewhere first doesn't always mean you win in business.

That said - I agree with your sentiment about supporting local businessmen and businesswomen - and about that something that is missing when you deal with a faceless corporation - and why they employ agents. That something is called "community". Members of a community support one another - for various reasons, but the underlying motivation is to make the world in which you live and work a better place - for everyone in that community.

Good luck Mike - you do great work. I hope I can come up with a project or two for you in the next year or so...

Dave

posted 10-06-2009 05:04 PM ET (US)            

Whence cometh Boston Whaler motorboats. How far we've come since then...thanks a lot, Brunswick (and all the other multi-national corporations which--temporarily I hope--rule the globe).

posted 10-06-2009 07:49 PM ET (US)            

An official letter to the Speciality marine CO and also posted to this site may be in order.
Kind of the purpose of your opening statement;
I will have guessed.
And this in order to inform of this breach in etiquette.
To send them the same letter will be seen as the thing to do.
You would think that such obvious commercial photo copying would have been on the No No list.
Just possibly the work of a young temp executive.
Since I do have you online Mike;
Where will be your reference to giving Teak or Mahogany a permanent glossy finish?
I hope that this photo borrowing of yours will be a temporary situation.

posted 10-06-2009 10:23 PM ET (US)            

Thanks Again, Mike

posted 10-06-2009 11:47 PM ET (US)            

All's fair in love & business! lol ;o)

Mike;
I was under the impression that Specialty marine had borrowed your advertising photo and your design in the stern bench seat ad.
Sounds like the design format was all that they borrowed.
In any event;
Thanks for giving me your recipe for "glossing" my teaks.

posted 10-07-2009 06:37 PM ET (US)            

10% off to Continuous Wave members through the month of October.....except for those in California ;o)......come on, thats FUNNY!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320433184062&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

posted 10-17-2009 09:18 AM ET (US)            

Thanks Andy, I've already sold a couple of them!

posted 10-19-2009 04:28 AM ET (US)            

The first "Specialty Marine" is a Honda dealership in Oxnard California owned and operated by a very good friend of mine Eric Peterson. He has 3 full time mechanics on duty and they do excellent work at a reasonable price.
As a "West Marine" employee I send many of my customers to Eric for their boat and motor repair needs. Their business phone number is (805) 984-6538.

There is a 2nd "Specialty Marine", that I have had the misfortune of dealing with. They appear to do a great deal of business on ebay.
I made the mistake of purchasing a Boston Whaler bow light from them on ebay. The "Buy-It-Now" price of $169 seemed to be very reasonable.
The ad claimed that the Classic Boston Whaler bow light fixture was
(and I quote)
"Made from high quality mirror polished 316 Stainless steel"
As General H Norman Schwarzkopf would say
"That claim is nothing but Bovine scatology"!
Rust began appearing on several areas of the bow light within 24 hours of my first outing with the boat. When you consider that I properly wash down my boat after each trip this rust was inexcusable!
I contacted "Specialty Marine and they assured me that they would take up this matter with their vendor and gladly replace the light once the replacements came available. That correspondence was over a month ago. They continue to sell these inferior bow lights on ebay and have made no further effort to replace my rusting light fixture.
I give them 2 thumbs down!

Most sincerely