Come back Jake MBM needs ya!

apollo

apollo

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Is it me or has MBM gone rapidly downhill since Jake departed?

The ever present "Survey" of new craft shows no signs of departing. Once a year great, maybe even six months, but its been 3 months running now and its a tad boring if you dont have 200K to spend.

Gone are the articles about people with non-new, under 100K boats and now we have a new series on people's experiences with their new purchases. This month its a steel boat for 300K euros, bargain, I'll take two. In the coming months we can look forward to a Broom 38, Sealine 37 etc etc ( I know there is a sub 50K 20foot fishing boat too but you get the idea!)

I thought that was what MBY was for?

Oh well it will save me even more money as I cancelled MBY in Feb and it looks like MBM will soon follow.

Shame as I have read it every month since it started and will (already do!) miss it.

Now where did I put my "Boat Mart" magazine?


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I thought it was quite good this month with the riidy -v- Gryls review and the Prestige 34 plus the boat show items and next month we have some good articles coming in. I thought it was better than it has been previous months with proper 3 page articles on boats instead of one pagers, also the ten commandments

PBO is also getting better and I am starting to read that aswell maybe Jakes influence but I think the mags are doing well since it is winter we are in and they usually go down hill at this time.

<hr width=100% size=1>Dom

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.soltron.co.uk>the website</A>
 
Henry Ford, once the worlds largest car manufacturer said that you can have his cars in any colour as long as its Black then Buick etc etc started into the market.

They all make the same dictatoral " ram it down your throat" mistake, Take practical boat owner and sailing today, soon there is to arrive on the market a Motor boat monthly equivalent.

Has anyboby checked MBM for its percentage amount of advertising against interesting editoral I bet the advertising has increased to around 90%? no renewal of subscription for me I am afraid, Ill wait!

Rob

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.rejuvanu.com>RejuVanu</A>
 
You're right Apollo. MBM has become almost indistinguishable from MBY. Not that there is anything wrong with MBY, we just don't need two of it. More practical articles and an emphasis on the more affordable end of motor boating is what's needed if they don't want people like me to stop buying it. £200k boats? I wish!

Bill.

<hr width=100% size=1>One of these days I'll have a boat that WORKS
 
Like Depsol I thought that this month was a more interesting read. I do also wish, however, that there was a greater concentration on the up to £100k boat sector. I haven't noticed much change with PBO though ,as yet. Must read last month's again.

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I think PBO is definitely improving.

I used to just flick through it at the newsagents: but I buy it now.

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Yep - I quite liked it this month.
Trailer test should have been more detailed and wider.
I think MBM should be positioned mid way betweeen MBY (Fantasy land for most) and PBO (Head in the bilges all the time). Both in terms of content and boat price/specs.
I like the articles that educate as well. I would like to see ads for products and services rather than just boats for sale. Some of the less radical adventures would be nice - the "thats a good idea" think I'll have a go at that. p.s. I dont put the Priddy / Bear story into that category in case you were thinking.... they must be mad or brave can't decide which - probably both.

How about a Hand held GPS shoot out - /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

<hr width=100% size=1>Adrian - <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.arweb.co.uk/argallery/kelisha>More Pics of Kelisha</A> /forums/images/icons/smile.gif
 
As I have voiced here before I find it silly when MBM and MB & Y test identical boats during the same month or as has also happened in subsequent editions.

Thats my moan done

Nick

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://arweb.co.uk/argallery/Nick2>http://arweb.co.uk/argallery/Nick2</A>
 
The trailer test.
It said the trailer was reversed until the tyres were just wet but no water should get to the axles.
Now look at the photo - the whole wheel is underwater! Have I misread something?
The article could have been more informative and detailed, perhaps including launching/recovering tips and photos, but was a good idea.

I think the mag has a good mix except for an overemphasis on the very expensive and that buyers guide - that should stay in car magazines. If it sells magazines then why not do a 1/3 of the market in more detail each month - at least then things will have changed between publications.

If Jake can get some more motorboat articles into the excellent but sail biased PBO then he'll have been a good sacrifice.

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Pedantics

Pedantics I know but as I was sorting the database over the weekend and saw your reference to £200k boats regarding buyers list thought I would run a check, for my own interest as much as anything else.

Four-fifths of the listings sit under the £200k mark. Just under three fifths sit under the £100k mark. That's a stronger bias on boats under £100k than I would have expected; certainly from my time as editor on MBM which, by the time we reached my last year in 2000 was posing some real challenges to find interesting budget buys of any description. Helped no doubt by the influx of smaller American, French and Eastern European boats of late.

Subject covered in a recent thread but I am told that these buyers' guide pages are additional to the normal pagination and therefore shouldn't be upsetting the balance by being there. As for the rest of your comments well I am sure the new editor, Hugo will be reading this thread.

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Totally agree, although, you could say this months is a bit of an improvement. Take a look at the photos of the production team - they all look so young! Do they really reflect the 'true' motorboater. At my marina 'Mr. Average Boater' is at least 50+ and many often in the mid/later 70s.

I do hope the production team are not representative of the young, idiotic, power mad, power boaters that we are seeing more and more this last couple of years. Those that buy boats as they think they are the 'In Thing' to have as a fashion accessory. I do hope they will continue to give a fair, unbiased approach to motor boating and not just one for a younger aspect.

Rose

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Rose,

Some of the team involved with MBM (Mark Turley for example) probably won't give me two thank yous for pointing this out but are old enough and have been working on the title for long enough to have seen the last time similar fears were expressed, namely when the 'yuppie' generation bought into motorboating in the late 1980s and fled from it in a scattering of Filofaxes and braces around 1990-91 when hard times happened.

Some of the faces you are looking at on the intro page are newer but I'm sure they will be acutely aware of the need to understand and address target audience of whatever age. The way the boating market has changed and evolved over the past two decades it is less likely to find so many journalists owning the same types of boats as many of their readers as, by definition, if they had that spending power they might not be stuck in a mag office at all. Fortunately enthusiasm for subject and affinity with readers do not carry a price tag but they are prerequisites for anyone working on specialist consumer magazines of whatever ilk.

Also (and I know I am taking your words too much at face value) I think it is unfortunate to assume all younger generation irresponsible and not committed and all older generation committed and responsible. While understanding your caution about an element that can conform to your type, I have seen plenty of 50-plus peeps do some remarkably silly and, in some cases, back-to-youth irresponsible things.

If there is a younger generation entering boating then I for one feel relieved about that, for the simple reason that this pasttime will otherwise die out in a few years time. I remember well that one magazine in a company I worked for a few years back got itself stuck in a real hole; it was immensely successful at looking after its core audience but was losing copy sales, largely because the subscription reminders were coming back with notes attached, cancelling due to poor eyesight, infirmity or because the person was no longer alive. Redesigns addressing younger audience didn't go far enough to do that, but also managed to alienate existing readers. The title in question (not a boating one) eventually went the way of its loyal flesh.

So of course there's a balance to be struck. While I cannot talk for the MBM team or its ed directly I can assure you that everyone here is acutely aware of that need for balance.

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Thanks for all your instructive comments, all of which I am pleased to hear. For the record I am equally keen to see plenty of sub £100,000 boats in the magazine (given that mine is worth £7k tops) and am taking steps to ensure that happens.

I have recently signed up several owners of smaller boats for the owner's reports series (Aquador 23, Sealine S23 and a Bayliner 2855 amongst others) and am keen to here from other owners of cheaper boats who fancy writing up their boat buying experiences. We also plan to launch a series of affordable second hand boat reports in the near future.

As for new boat reports, we will continue to run tests on both big and small boats. In October's edition for example we tested 10 new boats costing less than £35,000, while in November's we reported on 21 new boats at Southampton costing less than £100,000. Next month we've got a story on three first time buyers looking for boats between £20,000 and £80,000 and a full boat test of a new £30,000 diesel sports cuddy/cruiser. Hope that helps.

As Kim says the Buying Guide is there for new readers and first time boat owners who really appreciate knowing what is available at any given price. They are all additional pages (21 in total) which do not impinge on the rest of the magazine. Go ahead and count them. . .

Keep the comments coming

Hugo Andreae (Ed)


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I still like it (IMHO). I have no objection to reading about boats that I will never be able to afford - mines a £20k-er by the way. C'mon lottery - deal me up more than £70!!

I find it informative and useful and I keep them all for reference, tucked under my bed - which annoys SWMBO.

<hr width=100% size=1>Madoc Yacht Club
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.madocyachtclub.co.uk>http://www.madocyachtclub.co.uk</A>
 
Hugo - Great to see you posting. I'm a great fan of the magazine team, Boat Builders and suppliers, and Marinas adding their views to the forum.

My boat is under the £15k category, as well. So I'm sure a lot of people would be interested in a "USED" boat section listing typical prices for "second hand" boats - bit like a Parkers guide ...... Now if you take the data from the 100 best features then you'd nearly have it. Dont need much text and certainly no pictures.
How often have we heard "£150k for an xyz" that alot /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

I wonder how many boats are bought and sold each year?? and how many are New v Old?? What is the average length of time a boat is owned?? What is the average .................
Bet someone has done a marketing study on it.

<hr width=100% size=1>Adrian - <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.arweb.co.uk/argallery/kelisha>More Pics of Kelisha</A> /forums/images/icons/smile.gif
 
Just a quick query re. the Buyer's Guide - where do you get the information from ?
For example SB Offshore boats have shafts, not sterndrives as stated in the guide. I actually like the idea of the Buyer's Guide but perhaps it would save you some cost and also suit readers if it was only included every 2 or 3 months.

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Sub £100k boats

I have a 3 year old Jeanneau Leader 805 (diesel) that you could run a second hand article on and am thinking of moving up to a Prestige 34 or Elan 35 in its place.

<hr width=100% size=1>Dom

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.soltron.co.uk>the website</A>
 
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