AIRE Blog

We've got the situation "Handled"

Raft handles have been a bit of a sore subject here at AIRE.  Three years ago we thought we had come up with a good looking, comfortable, functional handle for our rafts and catarafts.   We were mistaken.  They were marginal at best and to make matter worse, they were particularly hard to replace and that makes for a grouchy repair department.  

   
 
  

 The customer feedback was unanimous, something had to be done!  There was a *battle between the Sales and Engineering departments.  It was fought with dirty looks, swords, passive aggressiveness, and an incident with a forklift.  After the dust settled, a new handle emerged victorious. 

  

 We could all agree on this handle because:

• The boat owner can replace his/her bad handles (thou, we would still be more then happy to do it for you if you want to send it in)
• It didn’t look cheesy or make the boat look cheep.
• We could easy change all our new boats to this new handle mid-season.
• It was more durable in a tear test.
• It is still relatively comfortable.
• We have received some positive feedback from Outfitters.

 If your grey handles are falling apart and you don’t want to hassle sending your boat to one of our service centers, shoot us an email to info@aire.com.  Include a picture of your bad handles and your boat serial number so we can send you the handle replacements.   

Instruction are posted here and under the Installation and Repair Tips tab on the www.aire.com website. A new video on handle replacement is in the works are should be posted shortly.  

 *no staff was injured during the production of this handle.  Well…not seriously injured.

 Peace,

 Sheena

A River Story by C.Jay Coles

Life is a good story, life on the river is a great story.  We want to here and share your river stories on our blog.  Email your photos and stories to photos@aire.com, info@aire.com or sheena.coles@aire.com.  If your story is picked for the blog, you can get some sweet AIRE shwag!

And now, a River Story...

The day was perfect for a run down the world famous Payette River in Idaho—hot! It had been awhile since I last went whitewater rafting and after the run on the canyon section I am left to ask myself, “What took so long?”

We began the run just after noon and it started off with a few teaser rapids, wave trains as they’re called (or something like that). These teasers gave our guide (who happened to be my brother) an opportunity to shout commands at us such as, “all forward!” or, “right forward, left back!” to see what and how our response would be. I think we responded well. Then the fun began. “Make sure we’re locked and loaded” I heard from the rear of the boat. Of course, this meant we were approaching a rapid that deserved our full attention. Our boat was getting closer and closer to the rushing whitewater and then, “ALL FORWARD!” My heart began pounding in my chest.

We all dug our paddles into the water hoping to propel our boat forward successfully without flipping and without swimming. Needless to say, it was intense. We made it successfully through the rapid and a few subsequent rapids listening to the guide’s commands and following them. We were approaching our lunch spot and I hear, “Now, this next rapid is the reason a few members of my family won’t let me take them down this section of river anymore. I took a class 4 line and slammed them into the wall.” Not very comforting words. One of the passengers in the boat asked, “What line will we take?” The guide responded, “ Class 3.”

He positioned the boat perfectly and we made it through the rapid successfully and then we were at our lunch spot. The energy lunch provided was much needed as the fiercest part of the run was up next. A few class 4 rapids in succession.  As one kayaker who was with us said, “Now the real fun begins.” And boy, was he right.  After lunch it was class 4 after class 4 with rapids such as Blackadar, Lower Blackadar, Lone Pine (named for the lone pine tree on the cliff above the rapid) and Surprise. I don’t know that my heart has pounded so hard for so long in my life. I loved it! Lets not forget the portage around Big Falls. What a spectacular rapid—how beautiful the river. Oh, and the cliff jumping! Groovy! We made it through our entire run without flipping and without any swimmers. Some might call that a success, some might not. At any rate, that entire run was a blast and the adrenaline was sure in abundance.

What I’m getting at with this story is how great the run was, how fun the experience. Thanks to AIRE for making such great products to allow us to enjoy this world in which we live—to put ourselves in places that only rafts can take us and see the beauty that can only be seen from river level. I suppose I shouldn’t wait so long next time to enjoy me some whitewater! Until then…

C.Jay Coles

We called him, "The Glue"

Troy, the Marketing Manager, sauntered into our sales office like he had done so many times before but instead of asking us to proof some bit of advertising material, he clasped his hands together and said,  “I wanted to let you guys know that my last day with AIRE is going to be June 30^th.”  My jaw just about hit the floor.  Employees come and go, but Troy knew everything about everything.  He was more then the advertising guy, he was my personal Sea Tiger expert, keeper of product history and the company computer whiz.

 

After 12 years with the AIRE, Troy had collected a few good stories, and since he is not here to protest, I’m going to tell a couple:

Troy had the opportunity to travel to a few trade shows and one particular trip to Colorado was especially memorable.   The trade show was the same weekend as a Rockies game and Chris, the Sales Manager (who is an avid baseball fan), had a group of people put together to go to the game after the show. Troy was not a huge baseball fan, but it is the All-American pass time so he joined his baseball lovin’ associates to the game.  Deep in the 9^th (I don’t actually know the inning) a foul ball came sailing into his section.  It has been said that Troy never moved so fast in his life. That ball rested proudly on his desk from that point forward, much to the chagrin of the Sales Manager.

 

Troy was in charge of promotional items and had quite a good collection of hats built up in his office.  He had sample hats, hats from other companies, hats of all shapes and colors. One winter day, they “mysteriously” disappeared.   For a month he did not know where they were or who took them (though, I’m pretty sure he had a good idea).  When he got back from Christmas break his screen saver reveled a photo of the entire sales, purchasing and engineering staff (including Zeke the dog), lined up on the stairs each grinning from ear to ear, wearing one of his hats.  Maybe he was mad, maybe just more mature then any of us, but he never really did say much about the hat incident…we all thought it was pretty funny.

 

One June 30th, he gave me some final pieces of advice, got pushed into the testing pond and pointed car to the East where a new adventure is waiting for him!

 

Peace,

Sheena

 

Doing Our Part

Businesses that adopt “green” policies tend to find some financial savings and can pick up some good pubic relations.  So, here is my shameless attempt to impress you with our environmental awesomeness and with a cooperative relationship we have with a local Boise company.    

Early, every Monday though Friday our factory fires up and sheets of fabric are laid over two huge cutting tables.  The cutting tables are like reverse air hockey tables, they suck the fabric down tight so an automated blade can skate across the fabric whipping out amazing boats and accessories.  For the most part, we have been able to pattern our cutting to keep scrap at a minimum.  

But even with our efficient engineering, there is still a small rainbow assortment of waste that we don’t really want to pile into our dumpster.  AIRE has done pretty good keeping our scrap out of the landfill; some scrap is sent out to our service centers, some turn into d-rings and some of it is goes to Esh. 

What is Esh? I’m glad you asked!

Esh is a grassroots, local clothing manufacture that is beginning to gain a little niche in the climbing/outdoor market.   Rich Gardunia, the founder of Esh, is a crazy good climber, cranked a bike from one end of this county to the other, can brush his teeth while walking across a slack line and can run a pretty mean sewing machine.  He started Esh with one product called the Belay Slave and has since diversified his line using recycled materials such as old climbing gear, bike tires and now, scrap AIRE material.  

  

I think Esh is a pretty cool business and I’m glad our two outdoor companies can work together to save the planet one piece of scrap PVC at a time!

Peace,

Sheena

Tributary and AIRE are Not Created Equal

I have been pondering how to write this blog without sounding like I’m dogging on our Tributary brand, but it is true, Tributary and AIRE are not the same.  We created Tributary as a cheaper division of AIRE, and by cheaper I do mean lower in price, warranty and quality.  We’ve had Tributary boats for 6 years and it has been a great addition to our selection.  With Tributary we try to compete with the price of glued PVC boats and still give you a well constructed boat with good components. 

We try really hard to have a good reputation of customer service and satisfaction and do our best to go above and beyond expectations, so it bums me out whenever I talk to a Tributary customer who thinks they have an AIRE warranty.  I end up feeling like the bad guy and they end up feeling mislead.   Here is my attempt to explain and clear up any misunderstanding between AIRE and Tributary and be as entertaining as possible.    

Materials – All AIRE boats use Ferrari brand PreContraint PVC.  If you have ever been to the Denver Airport, you have seen Ferrari PVC.  It is high quality material, it has to be, it is associated with the word “Ferrari”.  We use Ferrari PVC on the callers and floor bottoms of Tributary Rafts as well as the tubes of Tributary Catarafts.    We didn’t want to skimp on the PreContraint technology on the bigger boats, however; it is lighter PVC (31oz per square yard) then the AIRE PVC (35/43 oz. per square yard).  We also cut a little corner on cost and quality by using Chinese PVC on the raft floor tops, thwarts and all the Tributary kayaks. 

All the Tributary Rafts and Catarafts and Strike series kayaks have urethane AIREcells (clever name for bladders) just like the AIRE boats.  The Tributary Tomcats and the Sawtooths have Vinyl AIREcells.  Vinyl is not as good as Urethane, but it is not as expensive either and we pass that cost saving onto the consumer.

Construction and Design – For the most part, Tributary boats are constructed and assembled the same way as AIRE boats, basically, a PVC shell with an air holding bladder layer.  We don’t glue seams; this is true for AIRE and Tributary.  Tomcat and Sawtooths have polyester stitched seams all the other Tributary boats have welded seams.  Most of the Tributary boats have designs based on old AIRE designed.  The Catarafts are old Jaguarondi and Ocelots, the Strike is an old Force Expedition and the Tomcat is based off the Caracals. 

Labor – All AIRE boats are made in the heart of Idaho.  All Tributary Boats are made in China.  Need I say more?

Warranty – NONE of the Tributary boats have a no fault warranty.  All of the AIRE boats have a no fault warrant.   Tributary has 1 and 5 year limited warranties which are not the same as the AIRE no fault warranty.  This piece of information is getting lost somewhere between shopping, buying and realizing the Tributary boat has flown off the trailer onto the highway and completed a few back flips on the pavement.   I beg you, please read the warranties, they are right here, they are short, you will see that the no fault warranty protects against user damage and the limited warranties do not.   

So, now that we have established that Tributary is a completely different product line then AIRE, here is some Tributary boats doing some Awesome whitewater, enjoy!

 

 

Peace,

Sheena 

Material Things

AIRE has been making boats for over 20 years with a PVC shell and the Urethane AIREcell (bladder) system.  Last year AIRE introduce a new fabric option and built a few boats with a Urethane shell.  Since that time we have been getting a few questions about our Urethane boats.   

At this particular point in time, we have no intension of going completely away from PVC.  We have been using PVC for over 20 years for good reasons.  PVC it is tough, resilient to river abuse, and relatively inexpensive which is a savings we can pass onto the users. It is also easy to work with in the manufacturing process and makes a strong weld.  We trust our PVC with the urethane bladder combination to give you top performance and durability and we back it up with a 10 year no fault warranty.

The urethane fabric we are offering is not PVC material coated in spay on urethane, the fabric is Urethane.  Both fabrics have a 1670 base denier polyester weave but instead of Polyvinyl Chloride being layered onto the bass fabric, it is Polyurethane. 

The Urethane fabric is about 10 times more abrasion resistant then PVC, which is a big part of why we decided to offer it as a custom, top of the line option.  For example, with a PVC fabric, it took a little over 1200 cycles using the TABER H-22 wheel test to expose the base fabric. The Urethane fabric took over 12,000 cycles before the base fabric was exposed.    (This test compared Erez PVC to Erez PU)

All our rafts and catarafts can be built with urethane in the colors yellow, blue and orange and they still have urethane bladders.  These boats will be a few pounds heavier then their PVC counterparts and they will look more shinny.  When we tested the above urethane boat on the Lochsa, I think it felt a little stiffer and it still looked brand new when we took it off the water.  The urethane material is much more expensive then the PVC and will increase the price of the raft or cataraft by about $1100.00.  At this point, we do not stock Urethane boats here at the factory.  If you would like one of these boats call your local dealer to place an order, it usually takes us about 4 weeks to get urethane boats through production.  Boats built with Urethane still get the 10 year no fault warranty.

If you have any addition questions give us a call at 1-800-247-3432 or send an email to info@aire.com.

 Peace,

Sheena

 

'Tis The Season

AIRE wishes you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Good Boxing Day, Wonderful Kwanzaa and Festivus for the rest of us!  May Santa Clause bring you river gear a'plenty and get nice and rowdy to bring in 2010. 

Peace on earth, good will towards man (and woman and animal),

Sheena

Living the Dream, Working for The Man and Kayaking with Grandma.

I had been working seasonal jobs and enjoying the variety of University life for 6 years, but on November 1, 2007 I had a desk; a green one with PC on it and one side bumped up next to a cubical wall.   It was a bitter sweet moment in life.  It was sweet to be working for an outdoor company and I was happy to have been offered a good job with some great people, but it was still a desk and this was my first year-round career working for the machine of industry, working for…The Man.  Then, as I was getting situated in my new surroundings, my desk gave me a little gift of inspiration and the bitter in the moment was gone.  Scotch taped to the inside of my desk drawer was a quote.  The quote probably originated on a 70’s era bumper sticker and is one we have all heard before:

“Life’s journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn-out, shouting holy sh*t, what a ride!”

 It was a little reminder to keep it real. A reminder that the work week may be 40 hours, but the weekend is 48!  Working a “real” job was going to be okay, and it has been.  "Living the dream" can happen in any circumstance.    

People I get to interact with at this job remind me of the tattered little quote taped in my desk.  We have a dealer in Colorado and the owner lost his hand while playing in the great outdoors a few months ago. On Nov 9th he posted a picture of himself back on his mountain bike.  Another that comes to mind was an email I received from Grandma Dale (not my grandmother), she said;

 “I'm a 65 year old grandmother with two artificial knees and a hip replacement who has never been on the river before. My new husband has been a white water canoer for 30+ years. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get out on the water with him due to all those restrictions.  However, look at me!!!  This picture was taken on my 4 trip out in my new boat. I haven't had so much fun in years.”

Who needs original joints, you can go kayaking anyway and as it turns out, The Man is quite a good boater himself.

Peace,

Sheena

Sale Boats

We have had a few more Rafts and Kayaks trickle back into our demo stock from our regional reps.  They are posted on our specials page and are in need of a good home!

Peace,

Sheena

People of the AIRE Inbox

In the crazy summer selling months I sometimes have to live my river trips vicariously through my email inbox.  There is usually a good story to every repair questions.  I get to help people getting ready for big trips and get work with outfitters and dealers from around the world.  Most email conversation come and go as questions are answered and stories shared but some people I get to hear from a few times a year.

One particular favorite is man who goes by the call-sign “GHD”.  I first got to know GHD when he emailed me a small novel about the zipper he was fighting on an old, prototype 156E. I liked GHD right away and could tell he was a character; he kind of has that “old man of the river” feel and humor about him (thou, he would need a few more years to be considered old) and has talent for writing and enjoys to do it.   Everything with him is a good story, even the process of a zipper replacement. 

He emailed once and said, “ I got great news today.  I mentioned the Colorado River in my own boat is the last item on my personal "Bucket List."  Well today I got my ticket to ride... or row rather” he continued a few paragraphs later with, “The sad part of my news is that I will have to sell my IK's to afford to go on the trip.  I love them like I would a slightly handicap child.  But since I only use them a couple of times a year and I really NEED this Colorado River trip I will post them for sale soon.”   I laughed out loud.

GHD wrote a poem about a white man fire once and I was lucky enough to be on the email list that received it, here is a verse, “His ritual born, when Ancients reigned, required him this test, of leaping naked through the flames, and hoping for the best.”  The poem was an attached word file and at the end of his email he said, “So, if for some reason Mt Lemmon burns completely down this weekend ... I was not there.  Later – ghd”.  Again, I laughed out load.

He sent me a story about his solo run down the Salt River at high water.  Here is my favorite paragraph:

“I was so cold I was physically shaking or it might just have been my adrenaline.  Standing at the edge of the water, I kept fiddling around; I knew I was hesitating.  I was second-guessing myself, that armchair adventure charm when it all sounds so exciting sitting at home warm and safe was gone. I stood before the truth and most of my excitement had evaporated with the cold reality.  About that time I heard a group of people talking as they huddled together on the small sand hill behind me sharing some hot coffee. The wind brought me their words like a Biblical Prophet.  The small group was discussing my survival with a definitely negative slant. It was at that very moment I knew I had to at least get in the river no matter what outcome might result.  I had to at least try and find out if I could do it.”

I must admit, I get a little smirk on my face when a see a message from GHD in my inbox.  Without fail I get tidbits of life’s adventures, challenges and disappointments in the form of river stories, photos, videos and forwards. People and stories from my AIRE Inbox usually tie me over until I can get out of the office and back out on the river!

Peace,

Sheena