Developments
Developments
SAILSetc remains open four days each week, Monday to Thursday. This applies to collection of goods as well as dealing with mail order business - our customers seem to have adapted well to the new format, thanks. As usual the website will be able to take your orders at any time and on any day, but please bear in mind we will not be able to take your phone calls on Fridays. Our total working hours are un-changed so our production capacity remains much the same.
The SAILSetc office is staffed by Lili and Jorge four days a week, Emma in the mornings, Graham much of the time and Lorna occasionally.
After a long absence of a Bantock designed IOM being available in the UK, the prototype FORKILO has been produced by Martin Dovey. Contact martin(at)design2sail.co.uk for details. Martin's range of Bantock designs now includes an IOM, a 10R, an A Class and a freee sailing A Class.
Having taken a table at the MYA's Boat Jumble at the 2023 and 2024 AGMs we plan to do the same in 2025. This year the AGM will be at Chelford, south of Manchester and not far from the Lovell radio telescope at Jodrell Bank. We will have many of the experimental and slight reject parts that have accumulated in the SAILSetc workshops over the years. The items are not good enough to offer in our normal range here and too useful to scrap, so we hope they will find good homes via this outlet.
Masts for IOM
A new batch of high tensile mast tubes with a slightly thinner wall thickness will be in stock some time in April. Available in natural orblack as usual.
Important updates
The pricing regime of the supplier of our printed parts has fluctuated over recent months. Thankfully the most recent change has reduced the price of several items considerably so it may be worth checking again if you were put off before.
At the beginning of last year year we indicated our plan to wind down the business of SAILSetc over the coming year. However, we are pleased to announce that we now have a new member of staff, Jorge, who joined us at the end of April 2024. He will be able to take over the production work previously carried out by David and more recently by Graham. This is a long term solution that allows SAILSetc to carry on trading in the future as it has in the past. Our message here is – the usual reliable and excellent SAILSetc service is back to normal.
We thank all those who sent their messages of thanks and appreciation for our past service and good wishes for the future. They were very encouraging and much appreciated.
Some of our products that have been deleted since the beginning of 2024 will re-appear as we re-stock.
Sailors who have used SAILSetc boats/designs to place well in major events will find their names in a log we have been keeping for some years that is accessible on the History page of this website. Please let us know of any errors or omissions.
Discontinued products
Some products we have offered in the past have been, or will be, discontinued when stocks are depleted. In general these are ones that are sold in small numbers and cannot be obtained economically now. We have had to withdraw batten sets and batten material recently because the printed circuit board we use is no longer flat enough. If anyone can direct us to a source of top quality printed circuit board we would be very grateful.
Internet Security - several things to note.
SAILSetc has NO facility to take payment on line. Our preferred payment method is by BACS. We always ask our customers who want to pay by card to phone us with card data or to send it in several e mails. PayPal is a safe alternative but a little more expensive. If you receive an e mail asking for all your card details, it will not have come from SAILSetc - do not respond.
SAILSetc does not store any customer card data on its computers. We are GDPR compliant with regard to personal data.
From time to time customers report not getting a response from us. Usually this is because your junk mail settings automatically filter out any mail that has 'sales' in its title or source address. We are normally very prompt at responding to orders and enquiries about SAILSetc products. If you do not get a reply within a few days then it is worth checking your junk mail settings. If our mails are going there, please identify our mail address as one that should never be blocked.
Export orders
On all sales to customers outside Great Britain we deduct British Sales Tax (VAT) from the cost of goods. This amounts to 16.67% of the headline prices that are displayed on this website. You may have to pay your country's VAT before you receive the goods and this may cause a delay in delivery. Hopefully this will not be a major problem. Experience seems to show that for small value orders the local tax may be waived and delivery is not unduly delayed. Sadly this is not the case for all countries so please allow plenty of time for delays with deliveries.
As from May 2024 there is a new stockist of SAILSetc products in the European Union. Virginio Bogliette of Barcheradiocomandate in Brechia hopes to be able to supply our goods to EU based customers within a few days of ordering and without any problems with customs. Look for the stockists tab on our website home page.
Delivery times
While the time taken for our products to travel to customers in Australia, New Zeland, the Far East and the Americas remains much the same as usual, the passage of our products through the customs control of European (EU member) countries has increased to several weeks. In some instances it now takes 6 weeks for our goods to arrive with the customer. This is something we have no control over, is a result of Brexit, and depends on how each European country treats imports from the UK. All we can suggest is that you take this into account when planning your purchases and consider having them delivered by a carrier rather than by post.
Suitability of our products
To help you fiind products that are ideal for your application the website allows you to choose products by class as well as products by category. If you use the products by class route to find, for example, standing rigging, you will be shown only products that are suitable for the chosen class. On some product pages, for example, those for rigging wire and Dyneema lines you will find a link to the SAILSetc Rigging Guide. This guide lists all the major component rigging parts (excluding spars) and the suitable products for the common major classes. The Rigging Guide can also be found on the Downloadable Documents section of this website.
Cheques
We have taken the decision to discontinue taking payment by cheque. Apologies to those who like to use this form of payment - it has become amazingly costly to pay any cheque into our bank account and is totally un-sustainable for any normal value of cheque.
All best wishes for a healthy and happy 2024,
Graham, Lorna, Lili, Jorge and Emma.