My intent was not to offend...
I hate to even bring this up. But since I opened my mouth earlier in the thread, I will divulge...
I am the original creator and inventor of the Tuff-Thrust steering washer kit that is offered by John at JSS.
http://www.jetskisolutions.com/p71_umi_tuff_thrust_steering_thrust_washer_kit.html I came up with the setup many many years ago and he liked the idea so much that he wanted to sell them on his site. It was a good fit for the type of products and services he offers. To this day I still produce every kit that he sells.
So a few years back now, I saw you (Boyer/OCD) come out with your version of this kit
(for the record I have never seen on of your kits in person, but they appear to be exactly like the JSS kit - please correct me if I'm wrong) . I was a bit offended, upset and perhaps a bit flattered too. Especially since I know you had done quite a bit of business with John prior to that. And it's a small market, a very small sport and the UMI type setup is becoming less and less popular. So my thoughts at the time were: The product was already being offered by JSS, why copy it? You have alot of other products that are unique, original designs and very nice. Why copy this one?
Over the last few years, my orders have dropped tremendously. Mostly due to the lack of popularity of the UMI type setup these days with so many other systems being offered. For that reason, I never said a word about it, never made a stink about it. I talked to John about it and he was surprised but we both agreed that with the declining popularity, we should just carry on and see what happens. We still sell a few, but not near what we used to. And by no means am I getting rich off this stuff. It was mostly a way to help other riders and make a little cash for some new ski parts... You know what I mean?
Fast forward to this thread. I apologize for letting my tongue get loose. It always still bothers me when your kit is mentioned, especially by an old-school guy like Scott that I have known for a long time. So I threw a little jab in there and offered to help him with a new kit.
I now have a test set of thrust washers that should work in the RRP setup, just need to test them a bit. Not possible in my climate right now. However I was going to send a set to Scott to try and also a set to TOBY, since he donated the steering system that I mocked up.
Thats the whole story... Boyer, i've never met you personally - You are a well respected member here, seem like a good guy, we know many of the same people in this small sport you have very nice skis with great attention to detail and good, helpful posts and write-ups on the site. So I have nothing against you personally. It just always irked me that you are selling this product. I know there are no patents or anything to protect the design. So I'm screwed there. But again, its such a small sport and market for this item... it just rubbed me the wrong way. Again I apologize, for bringing it up now. I have kept quiet for years and had always tried to just let it go but I slipped up this time and felt I needed to explain.
Hope that clears up my comment earlier. If you want to discuss further, please post, or we can take it to PM and/or I can give you my phone number.
-Neil
