Kingquad7686 wrote:
I don't usually participate in forums but I am a long time reader for years and have learned a lot from this forum. I currently have one yellow Island and my new to me Red Tandem Island which is work in progress.
I purchased a Tandem Island demo boat from St. Louis Sail and Paddle in MO unseen....
... I am looking forward to getting it on the water but so far its turning out to be a lot more TLC than I thought!!!!!
A little more information: We also bought a "demo" (used) red TI from St. Louis Sail and Paddle for $3499; this was about 16 months ago. We live nearby so our purchase was not sight unseen. At that time there were two available on the showroom floor. Both were scuffed up and showed signs of wear. Apparently they were used in some kind of marathon river race, and perhaps one of them is the TI in the YouTube Videos at Creve Coeur Lake
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWIGPa0-YHk [Cyril Narishkin is one of the owners of STL Sail and Paddle.]
Thing is, the salesperson and I went over the two boats, cherry picking the best stuff - seats, paddles, sail, mirage drives, etc. I can't say if the one you bought is the same one we picked from, but who knows.
On the positive side, STL Sail and Paddle asked for a week to clean up 'our' boat and fabricate a trailer for us. That was fine; when we returned the boat was ready to go. Yes, the hull and amas still were (and still are) scuffed up - it's a used boat. I mention this only to say that they can do better. At the same time, though, if yours is the second TI that I saw over a year ago, well, it's just dumb of them not to have cleaned it up, made repairs, and had it ready to go.
I'll be curious to learn what resolution they offer you.