Myself and a chap from the marina I keep my boat in went off to the boat show on Saturday. I’m going to do a couple of posts about it since I think some of the people or exhibitions I saw deserve there own little post, but for now I’ll do a quick overview for your consumption.

Lack of boats

Ok, so there wasn’t exactly a lack of boats, but more of a lack of boats that I was interested in. Apart from day boats and dinghies NOTHING was under 30ft, or about £85,000. Of course, that is unless you were interested in the motorboats which I was not. I did look around a few and was impressed by the payout and extra space, but not quite enough to pulled in that direction, away from the majesty of the common garden sloop. The opposite effect, however,  seemed to overwhelm my motorboat owning marina friend who has since decided his next upgrade will feature a mast

One thing I did find interesting is that it appears Bavaria are trying to out price (as in upwards) Beneteau. The admittedly well kitted out but poorly built Bavaria 30 was £79,000 (as a used demonstration model, £91,000 new according the sales guy) as opposed to a brand new Beneteau 31 for a smidgen under £85k. The difference in quality between the two was substantial. If you do visit the show and look at these boats, take the time to dig round in the lockers and look at the joinery. Bavaria show their true colours in this light… then again, I have a 33 year old Newbridge so perhaps I have no right to an opinion :p

Lack of buyers

I spoke to quite a lot of salesmen around the show, some who whom I was actually buying from (although they didn’t know at the time) and some of whom I was just day dreaming with (although again, they didn’t know.. well, most of them didn’t). All of them said one thing in common, and that was that I can pretty much name my price. The Harken guy actually said that verbatim, and Mailspeed subsequently got my business after a reasonable discount on some winches and other bits. If you’re heading up there this week and are indeed intending to buy, then bear that in mind. People are apparently willing to move considerably more than usual given the lack of people with cash (or credit, I should think).

As for me, I was one of the one’s supporting the industry. Not through any moral sense of course, but because I wanted some new bots while they were cheap. I came away from the show with a couple of Harken winches and cam cleats on order, as well as a Standard Horizon CP180i chart plotter. The latter being fitted in about an hour on the Sunday.

Lack of People

If you visit, go outside. The Severn class Lifeboat is out there for a wonder around and the crew are incredibly welcoming. Since, as the chap put it, I was once a ’statistic’, I felt overly compelled to keep giving the collection tins money. I think I deposited about £20 in change that day.

HMS Westminster is there and viewable, although I couldn’t be bothered to be honest. There was a big queue and you have to leave bags behind on the shore.

One thing I would suggest though, and that which is the reason for the above subtitle, is visit the narrow boats next to the RNLI boat. Walk down to the end of the pontoon and you’ll find two owned by the same company (Owner Ships). They were both great people to chat too, and if it wasn’t for departing friends and ears in danger of frost bite, I would have stopped and talked for a lot longer.

Richard, my  motorboat owning mate, even got offered a brew on one of the narrow boats!

Lack of Adults

While, as a big kid, my entertainment was the Guinness bar, I thought should mention the fact that kids seemed reasonably well catered for too. From a chance to have a race around the Radio Controlled yacht pool (I REALLY want one), to surfing on the indoor (dry) machine that operates on rolling brushes. In all I think there’s plenty to keep the younger aspiring yachties entertained, but dads, do bear in mind that there is PLENTY to buy. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

In all….

I had a cracking day out including a couple of beers in the Guinness bar (with an Irishman, who complained profusely about the quality of said pint poring) and on the whole thought it was well worth the £15 entry fee. Even though I wasn’t right then and there in the market for a boat, I would have appreciated seeing something a bit more suited to, not the lower end of the market, but the smaller.

Boat show organisers(!!), there are short handed sailors out there you know, and 2.2million quid Oyster 655’s are not really their sort of boat. I know we’re not exactly flush at the moment, but you can’t complain about a lack of sales when the entry level of the market is all but forgotten about.

Anyway, as I said, I’m going to write a couple of specific things about people I met and also you can expect some articles about fitting these winches…. and the Eberspacher…

Oh, a final thing to suggest because it made me laugh. Check out the HM Customs stand. They have a display case with all the weird and wonderful ways people have tried (and obviously failed) to smuggle narcotics into the country. Apart from giving aspiring drug lords a few ideas, it is worth a look to see the ingenuity people will go to to make a few quid.

I’ve just edited this post, adding a few links and correcting my rushed grammar and spelling from the original diatribe. I intend on revisiting the boat show on Thursday evening to pick up some final bits while they’re cheap. It’s open until 9 on Thursday night and while it’s quiet I’m going to take full advantage of people eager to get my business…

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