Hugo - Vanquish-vs-Pred 68

I enjoyed the Aston vs boat article very much. Sure, its just a bit of fun, but crikey lighten up, whats wrong with that? What do you guys want to read, What Camcorder?

However I do totally agree about the boat tests, nothing more than glorified brochures.

And there is never ever sensible comparisons with alternatives. You'll have a test of a Fairline (say) and in the alternatives you'll feature a Sealine, but you won't say "but bear in mind the 'wood' in the Sealine is formica" (or whatever that fake stuff is called) for example because, heavens, that might put someone off.

It is genuinely bizarre the way that boat tests never ever criticise boats or offer objective comparisons.

Imagine a road test of a new BMW 3 Series where it was concluded that it was jolly good, and the alternatives were the Jaguar X Type, which is jolly good, or the Audi A4, and thats jolly good too.

I rarely bother with the boat tests because they're largely laughable I'm afraid, might as well just read a brochure.

The last objective sounding boat test I read was of a big Sealine sportscruser, forget which one but think it was a 41. There were many aspects of the boat that were really panned. Now ever since there has never been any similar critcism. So either Sealine totally upped their game after reading the stinging criticism, or words were had somewhere down the line that it wasn't to happen again. Wonder which...
 
[ QUOTE ]
The last objective sounding boat test I read was of a big Sealine sportscruser, forget which one but think it was a 41. There were many aspects of the boat that were really panned. Now ever since there has never been any similar critcism. So either Sealine totally upped their game after reading the stinging criticism, or words were had somewhere down the line that it wasn't to happen again. Wonder which...


[/ QUOTE ]Well, they had to go back and re-design it with shafts (S42). Can't imagine they'd have bothered if everyone said what a fab boat the S41 was.
 
So if MBY road tested cars!

......On the day of our test the M25 was grid-locked so we had to make do with the usual light undulations of Marble arch. Weaving behind the photographers Land Cruiser didn't expose any vices with the Austin Allegros handling.....

Did enjoy Aston vs Sunseeker though.

Personally do enjoy the different articles; in particular I remember one about forging large propellers, one about large industrial propulsion systems and TCM’s experience of specifying a Leopard. Also like the reader reviews after they’ve lived with a boat for a few years.

On a negative note both mags featured the same drivel for a piece of plastic designed to remove excess water from your body after a shower. No doubt it features in other IPC mags this month, probably including What Camcorder.


Actually since I have Septembers MBY in front of me we have...
6 pages on fish finders.
2 pages on fishing rods.
...Has the Sunseeker fishing boat that MBY run anything to do with this?

...oh yeah, just found that bit as well, 4 pages of a fishing trip in the Sunseeker.

<Soapbox>
Fishing may well be the number one sport in Britain but that would be for people without any better hobbies, i.e. boating. Lets keep the boat mag for boats and leave me fish free. Boaters with fishing interests can go and buy a fishing mag.
</Soapbox>

Oh, an article on a Jet-pillow, you know the thing you blow up and put round your neck on a plane. Why?
 
The S41's biggest problem was that there weren't any engines available at the time with enough ooomph to power it properly. (Merc 300's and KAD44's). Now you can have D6-350's on outdrives, or TAMD75's using V-Drives, all of which work much better. And yes, the quality must have improved since that first hull off the line, or loads of people would be complaining...

dv.
 
I liked it. Boat mags tend to become repetative, there is only so much you can say about the best knots, berthing, boat show or whatever. Nice to try something different. At least Hugo drove the car while awake which is more than Clarkson did.
 
Well this has sparked a bit of debate. All I would say is that magazines need a bit of variety to keep them interesting. It's not the kind of thing we intend to run every issue but once in a while it's worth trying something different. Given the wide variety of readers we are trying to appeal to, it's almost inevitable that not every single story is going to be of interest to every single reader. That said it sounds like more comparison tests would go down well with most of you. I'll see what we can do.
And for the record we actually did the exercise several weeks before Top Gear screened their boat vs car story. In fact the first I heard of it was when I rang Clarkson to see if he wanted to drive the car for us. Turns out he'd just finished filming his story. At least he has now seen the light and is planning to buy a RIB for his new place on the Isle of Man.
 
FWIW, I actually enjoyed the article. Million pound boat verses £100k pound car!! The type of toys millionares enjoy. To me MB&Y is for people who have a bit more to spend on the boats, i.e, £500k upwards.
Also the Outboard article was good. However i feel the article would've be better suited for MBM. Tenders for bigger boats, will tend to have outboards of more than say 20hp!
Where as Boats 20-40ft will usually use smaller tenders and outboards, about the size you tested.

As i say, AMHO, Well done Hugo and Team, keep up the good work.

Cheers

Alistair.
 
Hugo,

what would be interesting is a group test of current jet ribs(tender sized):

Avon, Zodiac, Williams, Nautica, Novamarine.... there are more

Lots f discussion on here always about them, so lets see some comparisons.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Hugo,
what would be interesting is a group test of current jet ribs(tender sized):
Avon, Zodiac, Williams, Nautica, Novamarine.... there are more
Lots f discussion on here always about them, so lets see some comparisons.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, Very good idea! Plus if they got a couple of readers experienced with that type to test them! I.e. derf, tcm, Magnum, jfm etc etc.....

Not me, as i'd only be good to give them all a thrashing till something broke, which might not be a bad idea actually!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
As long as they actually reach a conclusion and say "x is better than y because..." rather than, as another poster said, just say that they are all "jolly good"...that's no help to anyone.

I know they have to keep the advertisers happy, but it's not as if the advertisers have a whole raft of other UK mags to advertise in, is it!? The car magazine market is much more competitive (albeit with much higher circulations) but even the more specialist mags are prepared to say when a car is rubbish.

Ben

ps I have to say that I thought the aston vs predator article was OK, certainly more interesting than the detailed description of the F'line Targa 47 that was masquerading as a boat test.
 
Extra content

There is a business model for profitable magazine publishing, much of which revolves around trying to get the perfect balance between income from cover sales and advertising (reckoned to be 50/50 in my neck of the woods, but can vary). Whatever the perfect balance may be, you can only afford more editorial if you can consistently sell more advertising. (The pagination may - indeed will - vary from month to month but it's the average that matters). So, the current, presumably profitable, basis for MBY, dictates the number of pages of editorial content. Not sure if you are arguing for quality or quantity?

I quite enjoyed the article, though it's all been done before. My old man arranged a race between a Jaguar and a Bertram in the West Country in the 1960's. The Jag won (there were, ahem, "minor mechanical problems" with the boat. Plus ca change). It was done as a PR stunt - which illustrates the dangers of putting your faith in a pair of Mercruisers............ /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Re: Extra content

I believe that MBY makes MUCH more money from advertising than sales. I believe it's in the top ten earners for IPC. This explains why there isn't enough content, the boat reviews are nothing more than extended brochures and we have the utterly pointless buyers guide each month.

But I continue buying it, for now, because there is no UK-based competition. I have to say though that if MBY continues to to emulate MBM much more my subscription will not be renewed.
 
Tenders

Agreed.

Bear in mind that MBM did a test recently on jet rib vs outboard rib and something else(ca'nt recall, jet ski?). Good test but not wide enough to be of any value.

To test all availble jet rib types would be great esp if followed by out board tender ribs and then airdeck types too. A final could then pitch up the top three in each sector against each other.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top