Scuba Swap Meet?

[enchantmentdivi]

For those of you who have been around awhile, I'm sure you remember and/or have attended one of the Boeing Seahorse Dive Club scuba swap meets. They were awesome! Not sure if they still do them...haven't heard anything about one in the last several years. I kinda miss 'em.

What about a NWDC Scuba Swap Meet? For those of you unfamiliar with the Boeing version, it was simply a big huge scuba garage sale. Individuals, groups, clubs, LDS's, etc could rent a table/booth to sell/trade scuba gear. You could find excellent deals ranging from drysuits to tanks to goody bags to photography, etc, etc, etc, etc. Individuals used the swap as a time to purge old gear, find some bargains, etc. LDS's used it as a time to sell off rental gear, etc.

In the past, I myself purchased two great tanks from Silent World (rental stock), several clips/gadgets, a crab goody bag, etc. I sold an underwater camera, hoods, drysuit undergarments, etc.

Would there be any interest in this? The club could charge a rental fee per table (I remember Boeing used to charge ~ $10/table) to cover any cost towards the facility rental. Any extra earned could go towards a charity of our choice...or perhaps a memorial fund for some of our recently fallen comrades.

Advertising could be free...on the board, Craigslist, etc.

The "fun" potentional is huge...hanging our with your dive buddies all day long and meeting all sorts of new folks coming into shop/browse/hang-out.

I will say that I myself have no time to organize this...somebody else would have to grab the ball and run with it. But, I would most definitely participate if such an event were to occur.

Thoughts???

[coachrenz]

Great idea Jenn.

Boeing had to quit doing theirs because corporate policy changed who they could have on site. They weren't going to be allowed to have non-boeing vendors/sellers or visitors. At least this is how I remember it. At the time, I had offered up my school as a great facility to house something like this as we would have been able to accommodate indoor or outdoor booths depending on the weather. That was also back when I could use my school facility for free. The school would now charge to use the space, so, it isn't as attractive of a facility.

I still have and use many things that I purchased at the Boeing Scuba Swap meet.

I certainly would be interested in attending and even possibly selling some stuff depending on the location. I think it would have to be mid-puget sound area to be the most attractive to the most people.

[Pez7378]

I LIKE it! I've got a small amount of "Scuba Junk" that isn't really worth the effort to post for sale, or put up on Craigslist, But I'd be happy to haul it to an annual "yard sale"!

I think this would be a fun idea Jenn!

[enchantmentdivi]

Boeing had to quit doing theirs because corporate policy changed who they could have on site. They weren't going to be allowed to have non-boeing vendors/sellers or visitors. At least this is how I remember it.

Oh yeah, that's ringing a bell....

I think it would have to be mid-puget sound area to be the most attractive to the most people.

I agree.

Also, to clarify, sellers would keep their money from whatever they sold--not donate it to raise money for the club and/or a charity. Only income for the club/charity would be from the table/booth rental fee.

[mz53480]

Hey cool. I'd be in for sure. Let me know when/where....
How much do you think a 'scuba turkey' or 'scuba snowman' (weather permitting) would go for?

http://www.nwdiveclub.com/viewtopic.php ... 105#p72105
http://www.nwdiveclub.com/viewtopic.php ... 489#p74489


MZ

[Grateful Diver]

I'd be up for it.

Any suggestions about venue?

A pavilion at Saltwater State Park, perhaps?

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[bigsky]

perfect place
rent the pavillion at mukilteo lighthouse park

[spatman]

wow, jenn, you read my mind. i was thinking the same thing lately!

but as someone who comes up from portland, muk wouldn't work for me. if it's that far north, i'd have to skip this one.

[babs13]

[Dusty2]

Good Idea, I am a member of the Boeing club and could post it there. I used to make all of them and there were some great
bargains. Unfortunately Boeing decided that there facilities could not be used for events like that. The excuse was liability issues? Sound familiar? I think it should be held somewhere so of Seattle so everyone could attend. Maybe a county or city park? I know several of them have rental facilities.

[Pez7378]

perfect place
rent the pavillion at mukilteo lighthouse park

Actually, this could win some favor with the folks at the City Council. Looks like we're going to have another N vs. S issue. Should we claim our colors now?

It's great that so many people were willing to attend the Boeing event, which is real close to Mukilteo Lighthouse Park. Or was it held at the Renton plant?

[Burntchef]

great idea, i have a bunch of stuff that i would love to sell.

[Dusty2]

perfect place
rent the pavillion at mukilteo lighthouse park

Actually, this could win some favor with the folks at the City Council. Looks like we're going to have another N vs. S issue. Should we claim our colors now?

It's great that so many people were willing to attend the Boeing event, which is real close to Mukilteo Lighthouse Park. Or was it held at the Renton plant?

Actually it was held in the Kent Recreation center. Which is centrally located since they have Boeing facilities from Everett to Frederickson (south of Tacoma)

[Nwbrewer]

Not that it matters, but the Boeing event was canceled because some bean counter got a bug in his but about business being conducted on company property. Only "Boeing approved suppliers" were allowed to conduct transactions on Boeing property. At the time I was Pres. of the pottery club, and they decided we could no longer sell clay to our own members because we were not an approved supplier. I hate people whose sole job is to make rules. They tend to make rules that are stupid to show that they are doing something.

oh yeah, and I'd go to one. In order to make it worth while for sellers you're going to have to get a facility really cheap though.

[FlyinV]

I would come and buy junk! I don't have anything to sell

[Scubak]

Too bad it couldn't be correlated around the time of the dive expo
Somewhere close to that event would really bring alot of vendors and buyers alike
Hhhhmmmm.....
K

[zekethesheik]

Sounds great!!

[Scuba Jon]

Great idea Jenn.

Boeing had to quit doing theirs because corporate policy changed who they could have on site. They weren't going to be allowed to have non-boeing vendors/sellers or visitors. At least this is how I remember it. At the time, I had offered up my school as a great facility to house something like this as we would have been able to accommodate indoor or outdoor booths depending on the weather. That was also back when I could use my school facility for free. The school would now charge to use the space, so, it isn't as attractive of a facility.

I still have and use many things that I purchased at the Boeing Scuba Swap meet.

I certainly would be interested in attending and even possibly selling some stuff depending on the location. I think it would have to be mid-puget sound area to be the most attractive to the most people.

I am an executive board member of the Boeing Seahorse Dive club and have been involved with the swap meet in the past. What has been said in this thread about our past swap meet is for the most part right. What mother Boeing told us was that we could use their facilities for a swap meet if we only allowed boeing employees to attend. That pretty much took the wind out of that sail (or would that be sale?) Now, saying that, our dive club still has a swap meet at one of it's general meetings twice a year. It is not even close to the size and content it was historically but it does still happen. As a matter of fact, our April 23 general meeting will be one with a swap meet. Here is the real rub of the whole deal. If any of you wanted to show up and attend our general meeting, you could. If you happen to show up an hour early, there will be a swap meet there. If you happen to bring some stuff you want to offload, nobody will stop you (within reason - we still can not allow dive shops or other commercial businesses in). The general meeting is held at the Kent Rec center (Same building as the old swap meet was in). The swap meet is at 6 and the meeting is at 7PM. Chris Huss will be our speaker this month. He is a local professional photographer.
If any are interested, I will come up with a physical address (I don't happen to have that right now).

[spatman]

i'm reviving this thread to see if anyone is still interested in a NWDC swap meet. i know a lot of us have gear we'd like to see go to a good home.

the major obstacle is a venue for the swap meet. does anyone have a large space we can take over for a day? maybe some place equidistant from the northern folks and the southern folks? (well, puget sound folks that is - equidistant from oregon is maybe a bit too far south...)

all input and suggestions are welcome.

[coachrenz]

I wonder if there is a way to take over the Redondo parking lot...

During the winter time, the upper parking lot is always empty. People could bring those pop-up tent things, set their stuff up for the day, do some meeting and greeting and swapping and maybe even squeeze in a dive or two.

Some would probably even offer a try before you buy situation.

[pogiguy05]

The only other thing I could think of would be to talk to the south center mall management about the parking lot? Although the closer you get to xmas that is out of the question. I am sure you would have to talk with the city of Des Moines if there is any need of a permit to use the parking area. You know how governments love to take your money. Also Redondo is a great venue cause you could dive it right after you buy it.

[spatman]

if one of you locals wants to take the lead and find out about the redondo parking lot, that would be great. i would think springtime would be best so people don't freeze standing around for hours outside. otherwise an indoor venue is best.

and speaking of which, we may have one in lynnwood available. i'll let you know when i hear more.

[dsteding]

The VFW Hall on Mercer Island is $285 if we do it on a Sunday. If we got 30 people to commit at $10, or at least 20 people to commit, and then charge, say a $5 admission fee or something we could probably swing it.

Easy access to everywhere, east side, up north, and down south. It is right off of I-90 on the north end of the Island.

[Gill Envy]

I attended a few of the Marker Buoy Dive club's gear auctions many years back and I have to say it was quality dive comedy with Dave Hancock as MC... events like these can be a lot of fun! Maybe have tables for personal sales and accept donations for NWDC through an auction and get local stores to throw in some door prizes. I wish I had more time, otherwise i'd be up for helping.
g

[BASSMAN]

Okay, I too, would go to this, but whoooooooo is going to organise it?

I vote for enchantmentdivi (Jenn) it was her