Whitewater and fly-fishing
rowing frames are in ths
section, and oars are found in
the "Oars & Paddles" headings.
We don't stock many raft
frames due to the hundreds of
possible variations, and no
cat frames at all, so if you
are in a hurry please email or
phone us first with your needs
and location. After that we
can determine whether we can
get the product to you on
time. Lead times can vary from
a few days on some of the AIRE
Frames up to 3 weeks for NRS
frames. Please scroll down to
the third paragraph for more
information.
Fishing frames come in many
configurations for both
catarafts and regular rafts,
more than we can cover here or
include in the shopping cart
system without it getting
confusing. Normally any boat
under 13' is very limited as
to the type of fishing frame
you can use, and it is almost
never possible to accomodate
two anglers plus the rower on
anything shorter than that.
Take-apart frames are handy
for portability, and having
one may make the difference
between getting your frame to
a fly-in destination, or
having a bush pilot sadly
shake his head. The aluminum
frames from NRS can also be
adjusted on oarlock, footbar,
and seat positions for
different size people, and
ordered in varying sizes for
different widths of coolers
and dryboxes. These frames are
held together with either
strong cast fittings that
won't slip or clevis pins (on
the steel frames from AIRE),
and come with one padded
low-back tractor seat or slant
board unless otherwise noted.
High-back seats may look comfy
in the pictures, but they do
not allow a natural body
movement when rowing and can
actually make your back very
crampy. The seats for the
front & rear angler on most
fishing frames are a padded
plastic body fold-down chair.
These rarely survive a flip in
rocky water but then again,
even the metal seats can be
damaged if a heavy raft is
upside down.
Frame pricing and accessory
discounts:
We get quite a few requests
for "package deals" on rafts
or catarafts with frames. What
buyers need to understand is
that dealer discounts on most
frames are very small and
incoming freight fees (many
cataraft frames are so large
boxed up that they cannot come
by UPS) are very high.
Manufacturers simply have too
much labor - or sometimes too
much expensive metal - into
the end product to build in
larger margins for dealers.
Most are 25 to 30% before the
credit card fees that any
retailer pays are figured in,
and before incoming shipping
costs are factored. This means
the net profits are more like
8 to 15%, so it is not
possible for us to extend the
10% accessory break on frames,
or on dryboxes, which are also
"freight intensive". We can
get an extra 5% on some frames
by pre-season ordering, but we
are reluctant to do this since
customer's needs and wants are
so inconsistant, and because
as mentioned at the top of the
page, there are so many sizes.
Please understand that frames
are also difficult to quote
accurately.
For many of you that live
in the NorthWest part of the
U.S. your best option on an
NRS frame would be to buy
direct from them even if you
have to pay some sales tax.
Many years back NRS was
willing to drop-ship items on
a limited basis, but they
changed their minds and it
does not make sense for us to
have them ship it to
California, and then for us to
send it back northward to you
again. Additionally, if there
are any problems they can be
cleared up with the source
instead of through a dealer.
The summation of all this
is that you need to be
flexible when shopping for
"packages", and understand
that sometimes buying one item
like a frame or drybox from a
separate source may make
sense. You will still receive
a 10% discount on all other
accessories with your boat, so
there is some "package
pricing" involved, just not
one specific set of gear we
are overstocked on & trying to
ram down your gullet. Those
great sounding package deals
you sometimes see on Ebay
almost always involve a glued
pvc raft with a finite
lifespan.
There are only a few
representative photos in our
frame section due to all the
variables. Specify the size of
your raft or cat and let us
know what all you want to
pack. Frames for big boats
over 16' are sometimes subject
to an upcharge; e-mail or call
with your zip code for quotes
and we will do our best to
quote your needs. At the same
time, large, heavy fishing and
cat frames requiring multiple
shipping boxes are almost
impossible for us to
accurately quote motor freight
or UPS fees on ahead of time
until we have the boxes in
front of us - at which point
you are commited to taking the
gear. We know this is not an
ideal situation from a buyer's
point of view, but we do not
mark up UPS or freight fees.
It has also been our
experience that NRS's order
desk computers have some
weight figures shown that are
way off (on the low side), so
we cannot base your shipping
quote on what they tell us. It
takes a lot of time to do
these shipping quotes where we
can, so we ask that you only
request them on big items like
frames & rafts if you are
serious and ready to purchase,
and understand we cannot do it
in short order over the
telephone.
Frames are generally not
returnable. If an error has
been made on our end or by the
supplier, we will process any
needed exchange or replacement
for you.
