# Kayak Shipping Options



## thatguy (Nov 9, 2003)

Try DHL, http://www.dhl-usa.com/home/Home.asp
I've not used them before, but the price quotes on their website are usually about $55 for packages under 7'7", the prices over that length jumped up considerably. You might have to try to get around that somehow if you've got a longer boat. I've used sports express in the past, but they seem to be at least $100 these days.


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## latenightjoneser (Feb 6, 2004)

DHL!

We were even able to fill them up with gear at no extra cost, $55. Many of their depots are open late. 3-4 days for cross country.


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## waterboy (May 5, 2004)

forward air is a great option too. They ship out of denver to any of their major hubs, shipping is based on weight so anywhere from 45-60 dollars. I have used them several times and no problems at all. Make sure you pay with cash or money order, they dont take cc or personal checks. The shipping time is about the same as dhl.

Good luck.
Jason


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## gh (Oct 13, 2003)

Only send it DHL if you dont care when or if it gets there.


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## Hammer (Sep 9, 2005)

GH... why do you say that? Have you had problems with them?


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## Swim team capt. (Jun 22, 2005)

Confluence Kayaks will ship your boat using Forward Air and we package the boat for you also so you don't have to worry about finding wrapping materials for about 75$ depending on length, that old Dancer is a little more.
303 433 3676


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## gh (Oct 13, 2003)

Well I guess I should do full disclosure here. I work for Fedex so my feelings may be tainted. Although when you buy something, the shipper chooses the shipper. Had a rug shipped. DHL lost it, took two weeks for them to be sure that they lost it. I wont use them again even if the shipper wants to.


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## AndTheLab (Mar 19, 2006)

if you can ship it to a commercial address (work?), it is ususally cheaper.


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## bkp77 (May 9, 2004)

dhl sucks.

i wouldn't ship used toilet paper with that group of incompetent monkey humpers.

I sold a kayak to a dude in NC and forwardair did it for around $48 bucks. no problems.


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## Caspian (Oct 14, 2003)

Totally depends on where you are going - Forward Air has a far more limited operation than DHL and costs about $10-20 more in my experience. The longer hours can be critical when you are flying and picking up the boat on the way to the river. If you live in a place like Salida or Steamboat, are you really gonna drive to DIA to ship a boat via FA? I've used both and both have worked out fine. I love being able to fill my boat with gear and sending it off without paying any extra. Plus, DHL is generally easier to use than Forward Air and you can do airbills online. If the Pittsburgh DHL depot is near the airport, I'll be using them agian this year for the Gauley instead of FA. Nothing wrong with FA, but DHL got-r-done a little better in my book.


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## bkp77 (May 9, 2004)

Caspian, don't take me too seriously... mostly screwing around. I really don't like DHL or Fedex though. The outdoor gear company I work for does probably $800k of package shipping a year and we get our dicks sucked constantly by ups,fedex and dhl competing for our business. We gave DHL a try for international shipments. It lasted about 2 weeks with not a sinlge on time delivery and many other hassles. They also screwed up our billing for nearly 5 months and we had to explain their job to them finally. A real joke. Bottom line is they don't know their ass from a hole in the ground.

Fedex sucks too. They tried to come in a do what UPS does for us and their incompetent computer tech guys crashed our entire computer system for 2 days. We had to call our own computer geeks to fix it and sent fedex the bill. We could have sued them and they knew it. i could go on about more fedex suck factor but I won't...

I'm sure for more casual shipping they might be fine but my experience and all the horror stories i've heard about from our shipping dept leads me to believe they are monkey humpers.


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## Caspian (Oct 14, 2003)

Not meant to be that serious...but to change the note a bit. does anyone know why UPS and FedEx aren't interested in shipping boats for a reasonable price? It's not like we're a vast market, but every kayaker does know who Forward Air is and I'd guess that's who most boaters, esp. near cities, use. Same deal with the airlines - if AA said tomorrow that kayaks under a certain size are $60 each way, every kayaker would fly American. I don't get why they don't tap the market.


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## eklars (Mar 28, 2006)

If it's a smaller playboat you can ship it with Fedex believe it or not. 3 day express for about $45. All you gotta do is put in the dimensions on www.fedex.com, print out the label, tape it on, and drop it off at kinkos or whatever. It's worked for me several times.


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## bkp77 (May 9, 2004)

I believe Fedex Ground does kayaks. (edit: someone beat me to it)

These companies want to have pretty minimal contact with each package. Imagine having to deliver an old Perception Dancer up 5 flights of narrow stairs in a apartment building...and then nobody is there to sign for it? That's my guess, anyway. 

I think it would be pretty cool if you could kind of do a forward air approach through UPS though. Drop it off at a store/hub and pick it up at the nearest local hub. Nearly every decent sized town has one.


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## gh (Oct 13, 2003)

BKP77, Uh, it wasnt me that was doing the sucking or was I the 'tech' that screwed up your computer system. I do however apologize if you had a negative experience with Fedex. We would love the opportunity to earn your business again.....lol, how was that....i should move to sales.

The reason why Fedex Express doesnt ship larger kayaks is because they dont fit in our containers that we put on our planes. Fedex Ground on the other hand ships kayaks all the time since they are shipped on a truck. Sports Express uses Fedex Ground as one of their carriers. Express will ship most playboats but Ground is your best choice.


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