Kelly Hanson Sails

[twinswin]

Submitted a quote request through 3 or 4 sailmaker websites.  Kelly-Hanson returned a quote within a few days.  Only one other sailmaker returned a quote, more than 3 weeks later.  Made the order for a new main, with insignia, sail numbers, headboard, draft stripes, 1 full and 3 partial battens, slugs on luff, bolt rope on the foot and 55 ft. of halyard amongst the standard features like teltales, sailbag, etc..   Kept it under $590.  4-5 weeks to build, so we won't get to use it till next year.
Kelly Hanson said there is a possiblility they will be stocking some Com-Pac foresails by next spring, so no wait time.  Looked like that might run around $650-700 or so for a roller furling version.



BaJ

[Bob23]

Thanks, Twin:
   I may call Kelly-Hanson about a quote for my 23 but I haven't made any move to buy new sails yet. Let me know how you like yours when they arrive. I may talk to Mack Sails also.
   I see you are hull number 317. I am #321. Cool...our 23's were born just about the same time!
Bob23

[GlennB724]

Congrats on the new sails.  I just got a set half way through this season from National Sails, (Rolly Tasker Sails).  It's interesting that you got a speedy reply from Kelly Hansen.  I has submitted a request for a quote from them, but they took over two weeks to respond, and I ordered from National Sail who replied within hours. 

Later, I got an email from Kelly Hansen, and when I replied to it, I mentioned that their delay in responding to me was one of the primary factors that I didn't buy from them.  The other issue was that they were between 20 and 25 percent higher than National for comparable sails.  Maybe they have decided to adjust their customer response time.

[brackish]

Congrats on the new sails.  I just got a set half way through this season from National Sails, (Rolly Tasker Sails).  It's interesting that you got a speedy reply from Kelly Hansen.  I has submitted a request for a quote from them, but they took over two weeks to respond, and I ordered from National Sail who replied within hours. 

Later, I got an email from Kelly Hansen, and when I replied to it, I mentioned that their delay in responding to me was one of the primary factors that I didn't buy from them.  The other issue was that they were between 20 and 25 percent higher than National for comparable sails.  Maybe they have decided to adjust their customer response time.

I had the same experience.  Sent an inquiry to Kelly Hansen and five others.  Ended up buying from JSI/Doyle Ploch.  I got a follow up email from Kelly Hansen asking about the order and indicated that the response time on the initial inquiry and the lack of response on questions about the quote led me to go elsewhere.

part of my response to Toby Hammer of Kelly Hansen:

Most folks buy sails infrequently and it seems that if there is no loft close by they are purchased online.  Because of the infrequent nature of the purchase even with significant research, most buyers are not well informed.  The supplier I purchased from called me post inquiry and had a long conversation so that my needs were clear to both the vendor and myself.  Subsequent emails and calls were necessary to make sure I was buying what I needed.  My point is, access is important, particularly at a time when lead times are relatively long and you're trying to get the buying process completed, order placed and sails in by the start of the season.  Without that access, emphasis on the lowest guaranteed price may not be the best selling point, particularly when most of the coastal cruising suppliers get their sails from overseas lofts.  Folks want to quickly get to apples to apples in the quote process and select the supplier who is giving best value in terms of quality and quantitiy.

They indicated they were going through growing pains and were trying to increase support staff.  Hopefully, with Twinswin's good experience they have accomplished that.

I did buy a Chute Scoop from Kelly Hansen and recieved it faster than I got a quote on the sails.

[twinswin]

Yeah, the quote was sent to me, and not long after, Toby called.  We discussed what I wanted.  Many of the the things I would have expected to pay for were part of the base price and already included.  He asked me to double check what I wanted, slug size etc., and I ordered a few days later.  Toby was great to work with.

BaJ

[twinswin]

Thanks, Twin:
   I may call Kelly-Hanson about a quote for my 23 but I haven't made any move to buy new sails yet. Let me know how you like yours when they arrive. I may talk to Mack Sails also.
   I see you are hull number 317. I am #321. Cool...our 23's were born just about the same time!
Bob23

Bob23 - They must be related, they even look alike.  However, yours is a much better writer than mine.    Oddly, my brother-in-law sails a Precision 23 out of the same marina and his sail number is 316. 

BaJ

[GMS]

Do business with Kelly Hanson Sails or Kelly Hanson Marine at your OWN RISK...

I recently signed a contract with Kelly Hanson Marine to buy a prototype of a new boat (Wingz Z-21 catamaran). After a few weeks my contact quit communicating with me regarding the progress of delivery. A few more weeks passed when I received a refund check of my deposit with no explanation and no further communications. Today I found out that the refund check bounced (insufficient funds)! Still ZERO communication!

Thankfully I paid the deposit on my credit card, so it is likely I will recovery my deposit.

The people running this organization appear to have NO ethics or at a minimum are in very bad financial situation.

DO BUSINESS WITH THEM AT YOUR OWN RISK!

[twinswin]

Do business with Kelly Hanson Sails or Kelly Hanson Marine at your OWN RISK...

I recently signed a contract with Kelly Hanson Marine to buy a prototype of a new boat (Wingz Z-21 catamaran). After a few weeks my contact quit communicating with me regarding the progress of delivery. A few more weeks passed when I received a refund check of my deposit with no explanation and no further communications. Today I found out that the refund check bounced (insufficient funds)! Still ZERO communication!

Thankfully I paid the deposit on my credit card, so it is likely I will recovery my deposit.

The people running this organization appear to have NO ethics or at a minimum are in very bad financial situation.

DO BUSINESS WITH THEM AT YOUR OWN RISK!

This information, as it turned out, was spot on.  Sail was ordered in early October.  Quoted 4-6 weeks for delivery.  After many phone calls, excuses, being led on and lied to, the new mainsail finally arrived on July 23rd.  I would not do business with these folks.  On the bright side, the sail is pretty awesome and is exactly what I expected, if not more.  Nice bag, nice job on the insignia, sail numbers, slugs, headboard, reef points, telltales and draft stripes.  The batten retention system is something I have never seen, but seems well designed.  Its "shelf-footed", which may be a trade off between traditional footed and loose footed. 
Pictures coming soon.
Bruce

[Shawn]

Bruce,

Glad your are happy with the sail you finally received, that is encouraging. I am going through the same delays too with the changes to their designs and changing lofts.

In late November I ordered a 6 ounce main with full battens, loose footed, slugs, 2 reef points, insignia, headboard and Cunningham. I also orderd a 1.5 ounce 170% (200 square foot) high cut foot hanked on drifter. I have a package en-route at the moment so I will hopefully finally get the sails I ordered as well.

Shawn

[Bob23]

   I'm glad I got my sails locally from John Eggers Sailmakers, Inc. in South Amboy, NJ. Everything was perfect, sails were done on time and on budget and Dave, the lead sailmaker is the most knowledgable man concerning sails I've ever met. He is familiar with the conditions of my local sailing grounds and built the sails with that in mind. Plus it's cool to visit his loft!
   That's not to say that an online source can't be good. I just like doing business with real humans and I'll pay a bit more for it. Glad I did. I had initially contactd KH but after a very delayed quote, decided to use Eggers. Check out www.johneggers.com
Bob23

[brackish]

Lot's of negative stuff floating around on the TSBB lately about KH.  My experience with JSI/Doyle Ploch was great.  Great response to my often dumb questions, good price, and delivery was within the quoted range.  I would probably do what Bob did but the nearest loft to me is about 400 miles away.  Next best thing was watching my sail being constructed on the Doyle Ploch loft web cam.  Didn't get much done that week, kept going back to the computer to look at the progress on the asymmetrical.

[Shawn]

Up till this point I think Kelly Hanson had a pretty good reputation. They were very responsive when I was asking questions and ordering the sails. I believe Toby at Kelly Hanson is no longer there which also hurt communications during this ordeal.

KH say the delay was due to first redesigning all their sails and then also their existing loft raising prices considerably so they switched lofts. That put a big backlog on any of their non-stocked sails. I've seen several reports of custom sails finally starting to be delivered so hopefully they are getting over the hump at this point.

I did check into a local loft but the prices were dramatically higher. The main alone would have cost more then the main and drifter from KH. For the combo of main and drifter Doyle was about 1/3 higher, might have been worth that to avoid the delays though. I went out for a night sail on Friday and was really wishing I had the drifter that night, would have been great.

Shawn

[Shawn]

Excuse me while I vent...... *****AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH****

After waiting almost 9 months two sails arrived today. One of them might be the sail I ordered, the main certainly isn't.

I ordered a main from 6 ounce fabric, loose footed, fully battened, with insignia. The main I received has no insignia, is partially battened, doesn't appear to be loose footed and the fabric weight may or may not be correct.

Waiting for a call back from Kelly Hanson to see how they are going to handle this............

Shawn

[Salty19]

Shawn...I'll vent with you my friend....that really stinks. I can't imagine the four, five and seven letter words used this evening at your house, but surely you found a way to work them all in.
I would go completely ape on them!

Just had a very good experience with National Sails.  Good price, ontime, well made, great performing and exactly as specified (2 furling headsail and FBLF main).
You will cry when you read this, but 2 were delivered in 5 weeks, one in 4, to the day.

[Shawn]

Thanks, just sent a quote request in to National and a request for a revised quote from Doyle. I can't do anything till I get my money back from Kelly Hanson and I'm worried about that. 

I couldn't even go ape on Kelly Hanson tonight as they didn't bother to get back to me on this problem. What *really* is ticking me off is about 4 weeks ago they told me they were going to ship my order out that day or the next. After 2 weeks of no tracking information I called them back and was told that the sails hadn't shipped yet and that they would again go out that day or the next. The guy made an offhand comment about how one of the Compac 23 sails came in missing the insignia. I very wrongly assumed that extra delay from the 'it is shipping today or tomorrow' from 4 weeks ago was that they were correcting the missing insignia.

Nope.

Instead, they knowingly shipping a sail that wasn't what was ordered, didn't ever call to talk to me about it and either missed that the really botched the order (no insignia, partial vs. full battens, bolt rope vs. loose foot) or hoped that I wouldn't notice.

What is really maddeningly frustrating is that the drifter that also came today is a great looking sail and so far appears to be exactly what I ordered.

Over all these delays I had been joking with my father that they were probably going to ship me a jib for a sunfish..... they came close....

Shawn