NEWS PAGE

Boat show listings at the bottom of this page.

Customer Service is far more important than most people give credit.  Rigging Only is not just an office, a store, or a warehouse; we are a rigging shop and we service what we sell.  Have a problem with a product?  We want to know about it.  Let us help you resolve any problems.  

Some of the companies with very strong customer support are Harken, Schaefer,  Andersen and Sta-Lok.  We haven't had to use their support much as they make good products, but when we have they've been top flight.  Most of the other companies we deal with are very good; it's one of the factors we consider before offering their products.  When making a decision on who's product to buy don't just let price be the only factor. 

M.A.P. Programs

MAP stands for Minimum Advertised Price. Manufacturers implement MAP programs under the guise of preserving the local knowledge base. What they actually accomplish is handing you the consumer to the large old style, discounters or to your local boat yard, both of whom typically provide minimal discounts, product knowledge, and product support. The small shops and retailers who serve as this knowledge base have already survived the onslaught of the 90's and have found their nitch. We encourage you to seek these folks out, our sport needs them. Regional wholesalers and the big discounters, representing up to 70% of a manufacturers sales, are seeing their unit sales decrease or stay flat. Overheads need to be maintained. Both of these groups encourage and applaud MAP programs. MAP programs help to insure that an additional middleman gets some of your money and the big discounters can increase their profit margin or make you think they are competitive. Of course it's illegal to set the price that any one sells something for, instead a manufacturers use MAPs. Manufacturers use phrases like strongly encourage, strained relations and so on to impress upon the retailer the gravity of their policy. If you don't adhere to their guide lines you may loose your distributor ship, not be able to get product, and receive minimal customer support. MAP's cost you money. At Rigging Only we constantly search for new and better products in order to keep the sport enjoyable, safe, and affordable. If you see call in a price column it doesn't mean our price is high it may mean the manufacture didn't get their prices to us in time for publication or it's a MAP program and we won't play games with you.  You can now check out MAP pricing in our shop online feature and of course you can always call.  You'll have to use the search function with the part number than add it to your cart to view the price.  Sorry for the inconvenience.  Your thoughts on this would be appreciated

Harken has introduced a MAP (minimum advertised price) policy.  This policy requires dealers to not advertise prices below specific levels.  Because of this policy and that we do not have a shopping cart on our site we are not able to display your actual purchase price on Harken gear.  If you are interested in Harken equipment you'll need to call or email for pricing.  Please note Forespar, Profurl, Lofrans, Muir and Lewmar have the same policy and you will need to do the same.

Manufactures notes; 

Wichard has purchased Profurl.  As many folks have heard the Wichard group had experienced delivery problems with product the first few years after acquiring Profurl.  We're happy to say they have turned things around and deliveries of their products have been good.  Rumor has it that the Profurl Classic series of furling gear will be manufactured in the US.

Andersen winch sales continue to sky rocket according to the importer.  A new style of motor will allow you to mount the winch with no motor below deck or the option of a very low profile motor below deck.  These winches are variable speed.  Most sizes are now available. 

Schaefer Marine has completed their new addition allowing for more manufacturing capacity.  They now have packaged traveler components, listed in our traveler section, making it easier to chose what parts you need.  Schaefer has introduced the new M series blocks.  They're strong and a bit under the price of the competition.

Hayn Industries has added more CNC machines to their new CT facility, they're already talking an addition (yea Carl!).  Hayn is the importer of Hi-Mod compression wire terminals (mfg by Petersen Rigging in the UK) and they've been a huge success!

  2009 BOAT SHOW SCHEDULE

CHICAGO at NAVY PIER early Feb 09