Thursday 28 August 2008

More websites

I have taken a break from making the dinghies. Instead I've been busy making websites; lots of sites. Some are related to my main interest - boating. Others are sites that I will enjoy writing about on a regular basis and will add to my income, in some small or large way. So far there are 4 sites concerned with boating of some sort, www.dinghy4sale.co.uk and its USA equivalent, www.dinghy4sale.com; www.sailorpower.co.uk which advertises used outboard motors; and my latest site - www.secondhandsails4sale.co.uk.

The other websites such as www.affiliateauctions.co.uk, advertise several affiliate programs associated with ebay. In a departure from boating I thought my wife might like to get involved in building a website which interests her. So she chose www.letspartyparty.co.uk, which tells you a lot! My youngest daughter, who is in her final year at university has also inspired me to change the focus of a previous website I had, selling ebooks. www.know-how-ebooks.co.uk has shifted from advertising ebooks to featuring cheap business management textbooks. The site also has other textbooks advertised that students would find useful.

So you can see I have been busy these last few days and hope to tell you more about each of the websites as I add content etc to them.

Sunday 24 August 2008

second website

I have been busy adding a second website, www.sailorpower.co.uk, just to keep me occupied these long summer evening!

This new website helps people locate and buy used, second hand outboard motors. All the main outboards are advertised, mercury, evinrude, johnson, yamaha, as well as the old 'favourite' british seagull engines! Spares are also featured for all of the above mentioned.

Also on the site is a brief history of outboard motors, who invented them and the main players. Some development work is also discussed, especially the reduction in emissions and the now wide spread use of 4 stroke engines.

I hope you will visit the new website and find something useful on it. I will be adding more content articles to 'sailorpower' over the coming weeks, so add it to your favorites to visit it again.
Hi, its been just over a month since my last post. The reason being the holidays and a break from making dinghies. However, I have just sold my latest dinghy! As usual it was not straight foreward. You know, advertise it, someone phones, comes to see it, then says they will buy it, then takes it away. No, no, not with me. There is always some complication.

This time out of the blue I got a 'phone call from someone who needed a dinghy, quick. He said he would be around to view the dinghy after dinner, and arrived at 8pm. Within 5 minutes he decided to buy the fibreglass dinghy. But had only £15 as a deposit and no means to transport it. We looked at his car, a Ford Focus, and could see no way of adding a roof rack to it. However, he said he had a small trailer that with some adaption could take the dinghy. I heard myself volunteer to make two spars to add to the small trailer, a bit of drilling and bolting. So we arranged for the next evening that he would bring the trailer up and I would add the spars.

The next evening I had everything ready and shortly after 7.30pm he arrived. He was towing a 3 ft by 3ft (1m x 1m), box trailer similar to those you see transporting garden rubbish to the dump! A super quick operation of marking out, drilling and bolting the spars onto the trailer and it was ready to take the dinghy. A couple of straps and some rope was enough to secure the dinghy, upside down on the trailer. Money was exchanged and the new owner was delighted with his purchase. With plans to use the dinghy for fishing next week, he was off down the road! Another happy customer.

OK it involved a bit of extra work on my behave but it all adds to the whole experience, doesn't it? One of these days someone is just going to view a dinghy and take it away without any hassle! 'Till the next time.