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

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

 

DEMO SALE, DEMO SALE, DEMO SALE!

AIRE’s demos will be posted for SALE on Monday, September 14^th!!!  Be watching our specials page and get ready to call your nearest dealer to get your hands on a used raft, cataraft or kayak.

Peace,

Sheena  

Testing

The other night a few of us from work headed up to the Banks put in for the run down the mighty Main Payette seeking a relaxing evening of whitewater fun.  During the impromptu planning stages for this evening trip, (i.e. throwing whatever boats and equipment were still available from the demo room into our rigs) it was decided that this would be a good opportunity to test a couple of the new Force prototype kayaks side by side with some of our other models.  

Other boats that made this trip were a Tomcat Solo, Lynx I, Force XL and a Strike.  After the short drive to the river, getting the boats and ourselves ready, we were off, or rather on the water and moving.  

The rapids on the Main Payette consist of about 5 Class III rapids and a few Class II's sprinkled in.  During a couple of our brief stops, boats were traded so that everyone had a chance to try the other boats.  I was excited to paddle the prototype Force and soon began to appreciate its new dimensions.  The bow and stern are higher than the old model which made it much easier to turn, its wider hull and redesigned floor allowed this boat to surf easily.  Everyone who paddled this boat really enjoyed it and wanted to paddle it more.  So be on the lookout for this great new boat in 2010.

The take out arrived all too soon and after the shuttle was run, we loaded up and headed home.

Cold river water is always refreshing.  Enjoy some today!

Troy

P.S. You can see photos from our trip on Facebook.

New Idaho Law Effects Non-motorized and Motorized Boaters alike

I wanted to pass along news that effects all Idaho boaters and boaters coming to enjoy Idaho's excellent whitewater.
  
A new state law requires the owner of any boat and any non-motorized vessel - canoe, kayak, raft, drift boat etc. - to buy and display an Idaho Invasive Species Fund sticker to legally launch and operate the boat in Idaho.

What does they cost?
Stickers cost $5 for in-state and out-of-state non-motorized vessel more than 10 feet long, $10 for motorized vessels registered in Idaho and $20 for out-of-state motorized vessels.  There are discounts available for non-motorized commercial fleets.

Where are they available?
Stickers can be ordered by mail, using a downloadable form available at http://parksandrecreation.idaho.gov/. Mail completed forms, with a check payable to the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation, to: IDPR Registration Unit, P.O. Box 83720, Boise, ID 83720-0065. Please allow seven days for processing.

Stickers also are available online at http://parksandrecreation.idaho.gov/; a service charge is added to online transactions. For questions about sticker purchases, contact the Idaho Parks and Recreation registration help line at: 1-800-247-6332.

 

How will these funds be used?

The funds raised from the sale of the Idaho Invasive Species Fund (IISF) stickers will be used for vessel inspections, washing stations as well as information materials. 

Idaho Fish and Game's full press release can be seen at http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/apps/releases/view.cfm?NewsID=4876

Idaho Department of Agriculture's information on Idaho Invasive Species can be found at http://www.agri.state.id.us/Categories/Environment/InvasiveSpeciesCouncil/indexInvSpCouncil.php

The Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation has a nice FAQ section about the Idaho Invasive Species Fund that can be found here.

 

So plan ahead and get your stickers for your rafts, catarafts and kayaks over 10' long.

 

Until next time.

Troy 

Sea-Tac, the FBI, and the Ham Sandwich

While getting ready for the Big AIRE 20th birthday several of us on the sales staff were led on "refresher" tours of our production area so we can have interesting things to say for the tours on Saturday. I started noticing things happening in 3s: AIRE makes rafts, cats, and kayaks. The day was 3/3/09, also known as Square Root Day (the next square root day will be April 4th, 2016). Warren Zevon only asked his dad to send 3 things when he was jailed in Havana: lawyers, guns, and money. On the tour yesterday we ran into AIRE President Greg Ramp and he told us a story that had another 3 pack: a ham sandwich, the Sea-Tac Airport, and FBI. 

Back in the 40's, some engineers were working on the radio transmitters at their base. They stopped to eat and one placed his ham sandwich on top of the transmitter box for a minute. when he returned, it was warm. The concept of using radio frequencies to heat things was born. Much of the research in the RF field was going on in the Seattle area in the 70's. While working on the technology that would eventually make AIRE handles and D-rings, the engineers were tuning the frequency and duration of the weld cycles. This research was going on in the flight path of the Sea-Tac Airport. The frequencies of the welding machines actually jammed the radios of the landing planes causing brief losses in communication. The FBI was called and actually used the surrounding radio towers to triangulate the location of the RF machines. They showed up at the research facility with guns drawn, expecting to find terrorists with radio jamming machines. When the FBI arrived, many of the general laborers actually fled the building and ran into the forest for various reasons, further increasing the amount of explaining the engineers had to do.  

Here we are years later with radio frequency welding, the fastest, cleanest, most ecologically friendly way to attach a d-ring, install a handle, or seal an aircell. Come by the AIRE 20th Anniversary party on Saturday the 7th where we will be giving factory tours packed with more stories like this. Local dealers will also be selling brand new AIRE boats for 10% off. This is rare, jump on it. 

We hope to see you Saturday,

Eric

Happy 20 years!

This coming March 7th AIRE is doing its part to stimulate the economy by giving employees an opportunity to punch in on Saturday, purchasing our fair share of hamburger patties and selling a kayak for the not-so-everyday low price of a raffle ticket.  (Proceeds benefit the Idaho Whitewater Association).  What’s going on?  AIRE is celebrating 20 years of playing on the water!

20 years ago AIRE was rockin’ out to “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel and “Strait Up” by Paula Abdul.  While AIRE was kicking out its first models of rafts, kayaks and catarafts the rest of North America was enjoying the newly released Sega Genesis and Disney World’s grand opening to the public.    1989 also brought us Dilbert, 100 years of North Dakota and South Dakota, and the Premier of Seinfeld.   One the very day, March 9^th 1989, that AIRE was organized a strike forced Eastern Airlines into bankruptcy and a few days after that, a 4400 year old mummy was discovered in the Great Pyramid of Giza.  Bread was $.67, your could by a stamp for $.25 and the Dow was a whopping 2,753.

It really is quite the accomplishment and we plan to be around for many more to come.  If you are in the area or want to hop a plane to Boise, here is the schedule of events for March 7^th at AIRE: 

·         Open house:  9:00am – 5:00pm.  Yep, we are here all day!

·         Factory Tours:  10:00am, every 15 min or so.  The factory will be in full production mode and watching the life cycle of a boat is really quite fascinating. 

·         Boat Repair Clinics: 

o   10:00am: Airecell System – once you get the hang of it, it really isn’t so bad.

o   11:00am: Field Repairs – For the times your field is broken

o   1:00pm: Rebuilding Valves and D-Rings.  

o   2:00pm: Boat Maintenance, Transport and Storage.

·         Fly Casting Clinics:  9:00am to 11:00am - Brought to you by the Idaho Angler, 1:00pm to 3:00pm – Brought to you by Anglers

·         Lunch: 11:00am to 1:00pm.  Burgers, chips and drinks.  Hits the spot every time!

·         Raffle: sometime between 3:00pm and 5:00pm.

We hope to see you there! (Google Map)

 2021 E. Wilson Lane

Meridian, ID 83742

Peace,

Sheena

Warranty / Survey Card drawing winner announced

This past year AIRE included a special warranty card with each of its AIRE branded boats.  The special thing about these cards is that they included a brief survey along with the standard warranty registration information.  For each person that returned their completed warranty/survey card, their name was entered into a drawing for a FREE Tomcat Solo inflatable kayak.  The drawing was held on December 15th and the winner Edward Okrasinski and his wife were very excited to have won.  Congratulations! 

AIRE will be holding this drawing again in December of 2009.  So remember to return your completed warranty/survey card to enter the drawing for a FREE Tomcat Solo.

Good Luck

Welcome to AIRE Blog

Welcome!!!

Everyone at AIRE is excited about our new website that reflects the same innovation that is put into our boat designs!  We are calling it one of our 20th anniversary presents.  Also to celebrate our 20th anniversary we are introducing some sweet new kayaks, catarafts and rafts. This site is designed to be more user friendly, from researching the perfect boat to the technical support after your trips.

We could use your help, though. We need to show the world how cool your AIRE boat is or how fun your last whitewater or touring trip was.  Please submit your video footage and/or photos to us and they will get posted.  You could get lucky and have your photo be featured as the Shot of the Week. This website will not be complete without your help.

Please take a look around our new site.  We might have the boat, technical tip or link you have been searching for.  Check our site and blog for regular updates from the AIRE team!