It is with a fair amount of hesitancy I’m open to accepting donations to support this new venture.
After purchasing the assets of West Side Boat Shop this summer, paying a couple more thousand dollars on top of that to trailer all the molds to Virginia from Doug Bushnell’s barn in Lockport, NY, setting up an LLC, opening a bank account, etc….and after several friends and acquaintances have urged me to accept donations in lieu of accepting investment money…I have decided to allow donations to support this business until we’ve sold our first 5 West Side Boat Shop kayaks.
If you are willing, it is one way to help secure the future of West Side Boat Shop kayak designs.
To be clear, the very best way to support this venture is to order a new West Side Boat Shop kayak, but short of that I could actually use a little help offsetting my costs in building the first several boats and a few new prototypes so we have actual demo boats people can test paddle before they decide to make a purchase. This represents several more thousands of dollars of sunk costs.
This is going to cost me a significant amount of real money for some very expensive demo boats and prototypes just to show people what we have to offer. The materials for these boats are not cheap and some people have said they must test paddle a boat before they buy one. A classic Catch 22. But I understand.
I am taking the risk of rebooting this business because I believe West Side Boat Shop kayaks should live on for those discerning paddlers who value fast, performance, American-designed and American-made kayaks and surfskis.
Yes, we’re also building some surfski prototypes from these wonderful designs.
You heard it here first!
So if you would like to support this business through a donation rather than purchasing a boat, please visit the donation page to make a donation via PayPal or Venmo.
You may also donate to my GoFundMe campaign. gofundme.com/f/support-a-new-kayak-company
Your support is greatly appreciated.
Be sure to check out the catalog and take a look at all the great kayaks I’m trying to save.
Dave The Kayaker | The new home of West Side Boat Shop kayaks 