Boat Show Tips

[Deleted User YDKXO]

We went to the Show yesterday. Here are a few tips

1. If you're coming from the M11 to the east side of Excel you will see 'Park n' Ride signs. We ignored those and drove straight into the car park adjacent to Excel. Cost £8 per day
2. There seems to be only one cloakroom and it is located in the middle of the central foyer. As there are only 3 dozy attendants, suggest you pick up your stuff well before closing time to avoid rush
3. Book one of the upstairs restaurants if you want lunch
4. It is not immediately obvious how to get to the on-water exhibits. The stairs are behind the Princess stand. Worth going for swanky Traders and Ferrettis
5. There are some eateries also downstairs by the on-water exhibits which nobody seems to know about and are therefore empty
6. You can get pass out wristbands so if you have parked your car close to Excel, you can take stuff back to your car rather than cart it around

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[Planty]

Thanks Mike, usefull feedback.
Paul

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[paulineb]

Im so looking forward to the Boat Show on Saturday. Mr B will be roving around alone while I spend the day in the bath at the hotel. Oil, music, a book, some magazines, champagne ...... bliss.

I really miss having a bath. Its the only thing which stops living onboard being perfection. But Im working on a solution /forums/images/icons/tongue.gif

<hr width=100% size=1>Pxx

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.paulinebeddoes.co.uk/php-cgi/gallery2>Perils of Pauline in Pics</A>

 

[sailbadthesinner]

there is an old tin bath at my grandfather's cottage you could have
you could hoist it onto the flybridge and mr b could run up and down with a kettle til it was full (the bath not the kettle)
would this do??


<hr width=100% size=1><font color=red>if guinness is good for you. i must be very very good</font color=red>

 

[ccscott49]

Lots of boats with baths, Pauline, no problem atall. Tell Mr: B to give me a ring, I`ll be there aswell, I`ll PM you with it, but I`m sure you`ve got it from last time, remember last time? How could I ever forget bliss!! However I digress!

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[DogsBody]

Deleted User,

Can you confirm the on site parking is £8 for a full day? Everyting I've read would indicate that its limited to a 4 hours maximum which is not a lot of good.

Thanks,

DogsBody.

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[Deleted User YDKXO]

We parked in the East car park about 3 mins walk from the entrance and we were there from 10.00 to 18.00 and we paid £8.00. Worth checking before you go in, though

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[Trevethan]

Catherine and I will be there Saturday too... Care to meet for a beer?

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[DogsBody]

Thanks, will give the a call I think just to be sure.

DogsBody.

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[Kevin]

Im going over the weekend and my hope is that they now they have a bigger arena for the show that there are more different types of boat on display rather than just letting Princess, fairline, sealine etc etc take along more boats. variety is the key!

Kevin

 

[terryw]

Parking is £2 per hour with a maximum charge of 4 hours. You can stay as long as you like.
Remember to take your parking ticket with you as the pay machines are inside.

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[Deleted User YDKXO]

Not sure you'll see a hugely greater variety of boats than Earls Court. To be honest, I was a bit dissapointed with that. The Big Four all have bigger stands with seemingly most of their range on show and Birchwood are making a bit of an effort again but I dont think there's any boats you wont have seen before and certainly the Southampton Show still has more boats exhibited. Worth going to the on water area to drool over the Traders and Ferrettis though

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[wakeup]

"Worth going to the on water area to drool over the Traders"

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHHAHA............ you have got to be kidding, biggest load of taiwanese #### i've ever seen....


<hr width=100% size=1>.....can't be arsed.....<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by wakeup on 09/01/2004 14:15 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[jfm]

Re: Boat Show Tips -car parking 4 hours

Dogs, a lot of these info sites give a well-meaning but perhaps incorrect description of the parking. They say £2/hour, max 4 hours. That sounds like you have to move the car within 4 hours, but that's not what they really mean. You can leave the car all day, what they mean is that even if you park the car for say 10 hours the maximum charge is only £8.

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[Deleted User YDKXO]

Actually, I agree with you. They're great marina boats for loafing about in but I would'nt buy one for going to sea in. Plus, they dont seem to be very cheap anymore

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[DogsBody]

Re: Max time in car park

Thanks jfm & terryw, that makes much more sense, guess I was just reading it wrong. Thought it seemed odd that you couldn't stay at the place all day though!

DogsBody.

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[Renegade_Master]

Did you not visit us Mike?

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.suncoastmarine.co.uk>Sun Coast Sea School & Charter</A>

 

[Kevin]

thats abit of a shame i wondered if they were to do that.

Knowing that there are hundreds of exhibitors on waiting lists to exhibit at these shows im surprised that they allow the usual suspects to just take up more room. I know commercially it means the show is happy as they want to keep their regular exhibitors happy and for the manufacturers more range they have on show the better for business but for the visitors its a bit monotonous, once youve seen one uk built cruiser with blue hull graphics youve seen them all in my view.

Still looking forward to it should be worth a trip.

Im not even going to bother answering the post that calls traders #### doesnt warrant an answer in my opinion!

kevin

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[Deleted User YDKXO]

I may be wrong but I think there's only 20% more space overall than Earls Court + the water, of course. I spoke to a guy on the Beneteau stand and he was complaining that they could'nt get all the space they wanted. It's a Brit show, its organised by the British Marine Federation so you got to expect them to favour Brit manufacturers. In fact, its not in their interest to let Johnny Foreigner in anyway
If you want a proper Boat Show, it's really worth taking a trip to Dussdeldorf in a couple of weeks

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[Kevin]

There are a number of smaller UK based manufacturers /distributors who would kill for a bit of room along side the bigger ones.

The Fort lauderdale show also isnt bad for a trip out.

kevin