When is Defender's big clearance weekend?

JonnyBoats · Post by **JonnyBoats** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:12 pm

Does anyone know when Defender in Wallingford, CT will be having their big annual clearance weekend? If memory serves me last year it was about March 1st.

Figment · Post by **Figment** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:22 pm

WATERford, CT. You'll have an unpleasant day driving around Wallingford looking for a boat store!

I don't think they've made an official announcement yet, but it's generally the last weekend in March or first weekend in April. I'm starting to wonder, though. You'd think they would have spread the word by now.

Mark.Wilme · Post by **Mark.Wilme** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:26 pm

Stuck (magnetted) to my Fridge door

Defenders 11th Annual Warehouse OUTLET SALE
Everything on SALE!
42 Great Neck Road - Waterford - CT
800-628-8225 www.defender.com

March 29 - April 1, 2007

I have a long list including flares, rode, chain and possibly an anchor.

Figment · Post by **Figment** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:35 pm

so... let me see if I have this straight.
Nary a week goes by without something in the mail from West marine.
I seem to get a new catalog from Overton's 4 times a year.
Hamilton this or that every so often.
Jamestown sends catalogs and flyers to me by 4 different names at this address alone...

But I've somehow fallen from Defender's mailing list?!?!!!!!

It's a strange strange world.

Mark.Wilme · Post by **Mark.Wilme** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:51 pm

What can I say? Maybe your invite and catalog migrated ? On no wait it can't this is a temperate zone.

EDIT :Actually I picked up the note at the Providence boat show, nothing arrived in the mail (yet). It might though because the swallow may fly south with the sun or the house martin or the plover may seek warmer climes in winter, yet these are not strangers to our land?.

Post by **Tim** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 7:35 am

Figment wrote:Jamestown sends catalogs and flyers to me by 4 different names at this address alone...

Plus a catalog with every single order, whether you want it or not.

I could build a house out of the Jamestown catalogs I've received. What a waste--all the more so because I never even look at the catalogs when I order (all online).

Oh well.

Triton439 · Post by **Triton439** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 8:21 am

EDIT :Actually I picked up the note at the Providence boat show, nothing arrived in the mail (yet). It might though because the swallow may fly south with the sun or the house martin or the plover may seek warmer climes in winter, yet these are not strangers to our land?.

[/quote]

Are you suggesting coconuts er, catalogs migrate?!

Rachel · Post by **Rachel** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 1:07 pm

I'm probably over-sensitive, but I've been getting annoyed by Jamestown's catalogs lately (as much as I like their operation). It's the combination of "over-catalogage" and the growing tendency for "suggestive" cover models that gets me. Not that I'm a prude, but I think it undermines their professionalism and is somewhat unnecessary. The boats are shapely enough on their own.

Triton439: Welcome to the forum!

Rachel

Post by **Tim** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 1:49 pm

Rachel wrote: It's the combination of "over-catalog-age" and the growing tendency for "suggestive" cover models that gets me.
Rachel

Hey! How come I've never gotten a Jamestown catalog with a suggestive cover model? Rats...I think I'm getting gypped. hehe

Figment · Post by **Figment** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 3:24 pm

I think she's referring to two catalogs ago, when the cover art was provided by Festool. It wasn't quite up to the standards of Snap-On or Miller (welders) marketing material, but it was good for a laugh.

Hirilondë · Post by **Hirilondë** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 8:10 pm

Jamestown Distributors used to be in an old wooden structure on Narragansett Ave in the tiny so-called 'business' section of the town. Everyone who worked there knew where every bin was, and what all the fasteners were called. The front of the store was a no-frills showroom the size of a large bathroom with a counter. All of the merchandise, well almost all was in the back and you asked for what you wanted at the counter. Now they are located in Middletown, (though they would like you to believe in Newport) and their business is almost exclusively wholesale, phone or internet. It isn't the same place any more, though they still are a good source for stuff.

Mark.Wilme · Post by **Mark.Wilme** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 11:30 pm

Triton439 wrote:Are you suggesting coconuts er, catalogs migrate?!

No just a little of the old Pythonesque sillyness, was one of those days at work that needed evening balance.

Figment · Post by **Figment** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 11:46 pm

JD moved to Middletown? I thought they moved out of the Wood Street place and into more spacious accommodations off Gooding Ave.

Mark.Wilme · Post by **Mark.Wilme** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 12:30 am

I thought that they moved to Bristol, midway between 114 and 136 there.

EDIT - Gooding Ave is Bristol, RI : it runs between 114 and 136. Used to go that way to Colt State park when we were trailering a Venture 22.

Figment · Post by **Figment** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 12:11 pm

Is that launch site at Colt as much of a nightmare as I've imagined it to be? It always seemed like a very exposed spot. There could be no such thing as "delicately" mating boat to trailer in a stiff westerly.

Ramble on.

JetStream · Post by **JetStream** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 8:30 pm

Yes, Jamestown Distributors was a great place on Narragansett Ave. in Jamestown. It used to be Jamestown Hardware and Lumber Co. I knew Bill Murdock, the owner and was in there a lot. When I was a kid, I used to run over from my Uncle's house (300 feet away) to get 3 screws for him to finish a Rooster Class Sailboat that had to be finished, painted and sailing in the NBYA race the next day. (Just a typical scenario back then.) Sometime in the 70's (I think), they built a big concrete block building behind the store to warehouse all the fasteners and Bill closed the lumber business first, and then closed the general hardware business. They then opened a store in Newport near the Navy Gate plus the store on Wood Street and closed the Jamestown store. They also had a store in South Carolina for a while because Bill had a home there. Eventually they closed the Newport store and only had the one on Wood Street. I don't remember when they closed the SC operation. Then they closed the Wood St. and moved the whole shebang to a nice building at the present address on Peckham Drive in Bristol. And by the way, I believe the way the whole thing started was that Bill bought a couple of barrels of stainless fasteners at an auction and started selling them to local boatyards.

Mark.Wilme · Post by **Mark.Wilme** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 9:50 pm

Figment wrote:Is that launch site at Colt as much of a nightmare as I've imagined it to be? It always seemed like a very exposed spot. There could be no such thing as "delicately" mating boat to trailer in a stiff westerly.

Yes - absolutely, nice actual ramp and free parking but awful dock to tie up to. I can tell you a story or two about it.

Figment · Post by **Figment** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 3:28 pm

Tim wrote:
Figment wrote:Jamestown sends catalogs and flyers to me by 4 different names at this address alone...
Plus a catalog with every single order, whether you want it or not.

I could build a house out of the Jamestown catalogs I've received. What a waste--all the more so because I never even look at the catalogs when I order (all online).

Oh well.

JD's new BIG BOOK calendar arrived with my latest order. That house just became a palace.