From an outsiders POV I have to say that you are all handling this quite well.  I have shown up on this thread a few times looking at chips that somebody was selling and if I could invest in them based on the customers that SB has, I would.  Sadly, the chips were overdue the first time with no explanation, the next time the chips were being held in customs (at that point with no end date in site) and as of now, I feel that I may as well just wait until the product actually comes out (there will be people who want to sell it to recoup some of their costs when it actually arrives.)  With that said, I have read almost the entire thread now.

Again, from an outsider looking in, SB had done a fairly good job until recently.  The design looked good, the assembly process looks like it will be quality and I honestly believe that he will likely get them assembled at a record pace once the chips arrive.  If I had chips and an order with him I would still be fairly comfortable, though anxious.

Regarding the latest controversy and the refund... It would have been far better for some communication to have occurred.  I am pretty positive that there will be people who want their refund (especially those who bought bare chips.)  I would think there will be bare chips out there soon at a reduced price and if I had bare chips I would probably hedge my bets with a refund request and an eye on the market section.  With that said, I do not know that there is a major panic (yet.)  The other group buys were able to get their refund lists put together mostly in a matter of two days.  Providing that the process starts at the beginning of the work week, there is still time.

From somebody with no vested interest I would have loved to see some responses from Steam Boat.  The sale thread that lead me here was posted by somebody with an early batch order.  Even a response from him clarifying whether the boards will be assembled based on assembly paid date or which chips arrive first would be helpful to anybody thinking of buying one of these orders.  (Right now with the speculation that Yufi may ship the later batches first it adds yet another uncertainty to a perspective buyer as well as making it very difficult for present customers to decide on asking for a refund or not...)

Well, that is it for now.  I sincerely mean it when I say "best of luck to each of you."