Boat Show — Hit or Miss?

[paulrossall]

Re: Dear Mr Isett

Looks to me as if you are trying to take the easy way out and get others to do your work for you. I see in your bio your hobby is "Getting away with it"
If you are not prepared to do some proper research by reading all Boat Show comments then I doubt whether any report you write will be worth reading.
I am only pleased that you do not edit PBO. IMHO

" there is nothing-absolutely nothing-half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats".

 

[powerskipper]

Re: Dear Mr Isett

"Getting away with it"
Intresting term, but with referance to bikes , another type of getting away with it sprang to mind. Bikes in London fastest way I have heard of getting around in that fair city. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif


<hr width=100% size=1>Julie ,
IMOSHO of course,/forums/images/icons/smile.gif

 

[Strathglass]

Better or worse?

Getting there- Took perhaps another 20 minutes, This is irrelevent when traveling from Scotland.

London commuters-
The passage from Victoria using London transport had people trying to cram themselves in front of everyone in there efforts to achieve there only task in life. GO TO WORK. It didn't seem to matter how rude or self centred they were anyone in the way was just pushed aside.
Reminded me of the trains in Japan.

Initail impressions.
Disembarked at Custom House at about 9.30. Walked under a /forums/images/icons/smile.gif covered walkway to the entrance.
We were allowed into the main foyer <font color=red>IMMEDIATELY</font color=red> no waiting outside in the rain like Earls Court.
The staff were extremely well mannered and helpful. The pace and atmosphere were worlds away from the journey to get there
While we were waiting for the exhibition to officially open we has access to food, clean toilets and the RYA and other organising groups. Also there were plenty of seats.
All this time while waiting we were being entertained by stand manners scurrying around like ants pulling bundles of brochures, and many boxes packed with last minute items for stands.

Inside.
Everyone we came in contact with was cheerful and helpful. The place is much wider passages and less cluttered than EC but I felt that I had to walk too far. Next year I will preplan where I wish to go and make more efficient use of my time.

What did we buy?

Nothing/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif(well I did buy an old spokeshave at Covent Garden)

Why?

In one instance an item we intended to purchase was priced at EXACTLY £279 on six different stands. Whilst this was below the normal RSP if that isn't price fixing nothing is. Six different companies cannot have exactly the same efficiencies and work to the same profit margins. They have obviously been told to sell the item at exactly this price by the distributer/manufacturer. This switched me off and I began looking deeped into the prices being asked.
Most of the other items I had intended to purchase (and had the necessary funds with me) were priced such that in most cases I would save money by buying on the net from home.

We enjoyed the show but one day is not enough.

Iain



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[duncan]

In contrast to many I only had a couple of hours - but didn't spend any time on the boats 'cos I don't need a new one at the moment/forums/images/icons/smile.gif although I did look over the Sunseeker Sportsfisher.
Specif answers -
No
Travel from the West End / Centre is not as easy as Earls Court - but not bad. Would have thought it better on average for people.
A quick chat with the same old faces and the fact that you can get around so easily.VLarge area and bar at the Guiness Stand.
Lacked atmosphere - the outside water bit doesn't hack it in January as the pool did at Earls Court.
Probably - but only in company. I only went this year to buy the Dubarry Boots I didn't buy last year. However as I was ignored on the stand by 'hundereds of staff' talking to each other I thought better of it and had a Guiness instead. New HLloyd ones out next month look better anyway..........
Get some atmosphere into the place - the Turkish waterside area at Earls was an excellent example (athough it should have sold Hummus and Efes beer but that's another matter). More sail boats should have sails up, with maybe a very gentle artificial breeze to give them life/shape.
Also agree with the comment about the deliniation of areas by product - helped if you were looking for something specific but killed it for browsing (South was the best balanced hall for this but still not enough). Maybe them the areas somehow - by Geography? - or function - Arvor boats / Advanta Fishing / Andvak diving / Adventure Canoeing all together for example?

Just wish I had bought a pot of that amazing pink cleaner - anyone else get it and does really work on fibreglass stains?


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[Althorne]

I take it you don't bother reading your own and the PBO sites then Tom? There's been very little said about the LIBS since last friday except peoples opinions, good and bad.As one of mine was a very early one because I went friday (PBO site) maybe you should start there. Our overall opinion GOOD. It appears if you search properly decent food can be found but the question is....should we have to go looking, why is it not all GOOD and at reasonable prices. I shall revert to Earls Crt habits and take my own grub in future.

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[c_j]

Hit,
Liked it a lot, in fact need to go back because I missed half of it. Went on Saturday and arrived to hear organisers dodgy joke about holy water. The two Nuns in front of us were not impressed!

Too far from South Coast 310 miles round trip for us, adding around 90 to Earls Court.

But the show had loads of space.

In response to the people who damn Sunseeker et al because they dont show you the same respect they do to thier known customers, then if you really are in the market why not contact them before the show and ask to be shown the boats?

I hold no brief for Sunseeker but one of their guys who knows we have a boat went to great lengths to show us several boats. I too have been pi**ed off before when salesmen waltz to the front of the queue with VIP customers, but it does feel good when its you! and why not, lets face it, they need to show serious punters the boats, or is the boat show a charitable occasion giving an opportunity for everyone to look at a Sunseeker?

Anyway back to the plot, good show IMHO.

<hr width=100% size=1>CJ
cjs@stone.uk.com


<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.stone.uk.com>http://www.stone.uk.com</A>

 

[TomIsitt]

Re: Dear Mr Issett

If all PBO readers are as cheerful and friendly as you, then you're not the only one who's pleased I don't Edit PBO.

It's not a question of "proper research". We have journalists at The Show conducting Vox Pops to see what people think...I just happen to value to opinions of people from MoBo Chat and wanted to give people here the opportunity to express their opinions in a structured way.

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[TomIsitt]

Sigh...

Yes, I DO bother reading our forums (well, Sucttlebutt and MoBO Chat...can't seem to empathise with the PBO one, somehow), as any regular here will confirm. And yes, I HAVE read through countless posts on all manner or LIBS-related subjects. But, I was hoping to get people's views on specific apsects of the new Show.

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[cngarrod]

Went yesterday afternoon, found the journe on the DLR tedious as it seems to take forever, but that bears littel relevance to the show itself!

Venue is lighter, more airy, better planned, cleaner facilities and easy to navigate. The food and rink was as overpriced there as anywhere else, so that was ok!

Best bits - had to be the increase in space between each stand / exhibitor and ver nice to see a Grand Banks in the hall too!

Worst Bits - Cant help but get the feeling that there were less exhibitors here than at Earls court.. but maybe thats a misconception due to differences in floor space!

Will go again next year for sure.

As for improvements, i didnt go outside (too cold!) so not sure if that was worth seeing or not and i didnt have to queue for a ticket or entry as i went in after lunch... Yes you can make sales people more friendly, but hey they are like it at every show irrespective of the market! So not sure what i would get changed, other than a larger ybw.com stand... it seemed very small this year?

Cheers,

C

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[tcm]

I agree with robind!

Not only was there nowhere to sit and eat sandwiches, but the free giveaway pens which i rather rely on for the rest of the year were much less in evidence.

Good point about the hot dogs AND they only give you a measly two paper napkins - much better in Earls Court when the (admittedly still onion-free so-called luke warm "hot" dogs) included unlimited free paper napkins. The frankfurter hotdogs are also much harder to divide between four people, not that i would waste my money on them of course, as we too take sandwiches.

Other issues were that the "how to get there" map is much less use - unlike Earls Court which inlcuded central london and i have kept for future reference.

The brightly-lit stands are good and I took the opportunity to leave a solar powered torch hidden on the Sealine stand, although when i returned an hour later to retrieve the (now fully-charged) torch they weren't very nice about it at all - I certainly won't be inviting THEM to quote for repairing our broken hatch lock, although i think i have found a way of using some sellotape and a cut-up water bottle to do the job better than any of the so-called professionals.

Also, if the show could be squeezed into a smaller space next year it would save on shoeleather, not that this really affects me but I needed to replace the protective duct tape on the soles of my shoes three times at Excel but only twice at Earls Court.




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[Kevin]

LOL most of the posts, after mentioning the journey, are about quality and choices of food!! Do people think upon anything else when out and about? no wonder we are a nation of hideously overweight lard bags. Population of UK 60 million number of chins over 120 million!

-insert smiley face-

Kevin

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[terryw]

In my opinion it was much better than Earls Court

Travel - 35mins door to door by car (Would have been less but A13 busy due to bad weather)
Parking - Easy and only £8 for day (Parked in East)
Tickets - Had an Exhibitors pass this year so fantastic value.
Layout - Loved the way everything was together so you could make comparisons very easily and quickly
Layout 2 - Loved the long straight aisles (like supermarket). You could walk full length and return down next aisle so you see everything, and only once.
Layout 3 - Central Food/Access area very bright and clean, and made moving from one section to the other easy.
Features - Although coastal I thought the Inland Waterways feature was very good.
Other - Seemed to be less Swindlery's than before. Never went outside because weather was cr*p (Preview day). Friendly staff, and I have never had £8 removed from my card so quickly (I thought the machine had rejected my card)
Will I go again - YES. Well done ExCeL (Note spelling)

Terry

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[Nich39Nige]

Duncan,

Pink stuff works!

Just tried it on a bit of my hull (couple of sq ft) and it worked a treat. Will do the rest at the weekend, weather permitting.

Nigel

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[jfm]

I liked it.

Easy enough to get to. 15-20min cab from central London, and on saturday I came down M1/M25/M11 - all fine

My sister pre-bort tickets by phone, Telegraph offer, came by car on saturday, was directed to a parknride, got dropped at East entrance, then told her ticket only valid West entrance. That is really crap, needs to be fixed by Excel. What does it matter which frigging door you come in through? It is a long walk East to West, esp with couple of kids.

I liked the layout where all electronics/inflatables/whatever were located together, in zones

Food was rubbish, nowhere much to sit and eat the takeaway food. I can't corroborate the frankfurter/hotdog onion debacle, I must have missed that detail, but if it occurred then it's a big issue

I'd go next year. In fact I might go back tomorrow. All I want from boat show is lots of boats and kit laid out so I can compare and choose and buy some, and Excel did that fine. I dont care about the rest. Boat shows are never perfect, the punter has to filter out the good/helpful salesmen from the PITA types, but that's part of the game. If you want to see a boat and the sales person wont let you, you have to be pushy. We did buy some stuff by the way, i got a jet rib and my sister - once allowed in - bought a dinghy for her kids, totally on impulse, on the laser stand

So, imho, a hit.

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[simon]

Is it better of worse than Earls Court?
Better
Was it easy to get to?
Yes - travelled by car from The Midlands. Car parking was fine.

Best bits at the Show?
Boats


Worst bits?
Food
Will you go again next year?
Yes

What would you do to improve it?
Cattering and more seating


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[Deleted User YDKXO]

I admit that I was sceptical of the new venue but I have to say its a definite hit with me. The thrash round the M25 and down the M11 was less painful than I anticipated, we managed to park about 3 mins from the entrance (a definite bonus) and I liked the way they'd give you a pass out so that you could get take stuff back to your car and then go back into the Show. The Excel layout is good with the central atrium parallel to the exhibition halls so you can dip in and out of the exhibition as you wanted and, unlike others, I thought the food was entirely acceptable although there is'nt enough seating.
My major dissapointment was that there were less boats than I was expecting. Its true that the UK Big Four had even larger stands but where were all the smaller less well known manufacturers? In this respect Southampton is still better. I thought the outside display was well worth the effort (if only to drool over the Ferrettis) but the signage to the outside area was so hidden that we didnt see it until late in the day. Apart from that, the cloakroom attendants and information desk personnel were generally dozy pillocks
However, all in all, a good Show

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[TomIsitt]

Re: Snigger! (nm)

.

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[Nautorius]

Must admit I am not yet converted.

We went on Tuesday and the trip down was easy from MCR, M6,M1,M25,M11...Excel. Parked in park and ride (only a fiver..well done) and thought the venue was large but good. It did not have the atmosphere of Earls Court and I was lost looking for those little stalls that used to be in a corner at Earls Court. Most of the sales people had given up trying to sell boats, they just waved me on. Well done to Princess, the salesman on the V42 was great and he was helpful about second hand V40's as well. Now I just need to save up. The raggy sales people were better than the power salespeople who just looked at me as though I had crawled out from under a rock. Every year I change my boat but not one of them (Except the V42) was even interested in selling me one. Their loss, my bonus is arriving next week so back to essex boatyards to spend it!

In summary the location better than Earls Court, the place bigger, no atmosphere, the sales staff snotty or disinterested but the Guiness corner bigger!

<hr width=100% size=1>Will I ever find the perfect boat?

 

[PGD]

Went to the show today and after having exhibited there before I expected hell - but this was not the case.

Journey from Bucks 1hr 20 by train.

Show not that packed so could walk about with ease.

After reading many of the threads about bad attitudes from some sales staff I saw none of it, Sunseeker said sure you can climb on the boats, so to did Sealine, Fairline and a whole host of others and I didn't need an appointment.

Visited Seajet to ask about prop paint, got good helpful service, so too from Merlin Marine about flowscan fuel meters.

All round quite pleased with the day.

Downside - food and drink was expensive and my complimentary tickets offered to me by MBM couldn’t be claimed due to Orange phones not working too well at the show /forums/images/icons/frown.gif but never mind.

Missed the try a boat that’s at Southampton, would have liked a trip out past the Dome.

Peter


<hr width=100% size=1>Complete the Consumer Survey <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.mssa.org.uk>http://www.mssa.org.uk</A> Marine Service Standards Assistance

 

[Alistairr]

Hi Peter,

Thats a coincidence, At the beginning of December, I too was offered complimentary tickets for the show, from MB&Y, I am still waiting for them.. And we visited the show on Monday there.

A bit of a let down..

Cheers

Alistair.


<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://arweb.co.uk/argallery/alistair?&page=1> My Pictures, Look if you want.</A>