Whitelighter
Well-Known Member
...your sure of a big suprise. Or not, actually. On the whole I had a bloody good day today, and saw everything I wanted to. As a rule we were welcomed onto the stands and were shown the round the boats by pleasant, friendly staff who took the time to chat (except Fairline, but I'll come to that later) - one even said 'oh yes, Jez Banks. I've been reading about your exploits on YBW' /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
Didn't bother with Sunnyseeker cos my Rolex isn't bling enough (absent actually, more tast than that) and I don't like their boats anyhoo. Princess was nice, with friendly staff but no V45, which was a bit dissappointing. V42 getting very long in the tooth, despite the salesman going on about 'improvements'. Sealine were mobbed, and certainly seemed to be doing some business with ques for most boats, including the S29 (though only a few minutes). Suprise of the show was the Jeanneau line up, they had just about everything there includeing the new Prestige 50 HT. What a boat! Cracking good value and well specced, though too big for me we were persuaded by a very affable chap to have a look at the 42 flybridge. Very suprised by this, not least because I actual quite liked it - SWMBO and SWMBOM really liked it and we left with options list!!! (bit scarey with my history /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif) Favourite boat of the show however was the Galeon 390. My god these have come on in leaps and bounds in the last few years. Feels like a very solid and proper boat, looks very modern and has a lovely interior and a super flybridge. Options list was perhaps a bit too long (Corian work tops a £700 option????) but having spoken to a couple of German dealers (in passing, while getting bits for the Bavaria), Penton Hook the UK suppliers are putting a fairly hefty mark up on the base boat. But as they say, everything is a negotiation - £211k base compared to Allert marine in Germany at £175k, same engines (D4 225 for those interested). My spec came in at £254,650.00, which included D6's and a pop up telly. They did offer £100k for the Bav though, so maybe next year. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
But the real dissapointment of the show was Fairline. It started off quite promisingly as we got there early after reports of big ques. Asked to see the Phantom 48 (new) and 40 (vaguely realistic), plus SWMBO fancied a look round the T38 as she has been going on about it since London. Was accompanied round the the P48, and it's very nice, though the full width owners cabin is a bit small, though the extra room has gone into massive heads. P40 was a quick comparison as we were shooed of it. I was non plussed about looking at the T38 cos quite frankly I don't want one, but you have to indulge the other half occasionally. So SWMBO and SWMBOM went to have a gander. Came back 4 minutes later and stormed off the stand. Been told by the lady showing me around that she couldn't go on because 'these people will actually buy one' and soon after by a fairline suited bloke 'come back when you can afford one'. Now, I was not going to buy a new boat today, and I may not have the budget for a few years to buy a new Fairline but I like to think that I have at least 2 decades of boat ownership left in me, and I will certainly be going bigger in the next few years. I can only assume that Fairline have a full and bulging order book and therefor are not interested in not f'cking off potential future business. SWMBO says (and for the record I agree) that regardless, for future boats Fairline is not an option.
Anyway, in summary, if you go to SIBS the boats you wont want to miss, IMHO, are:
Galeon 390 Fly
Botnia Targa 42 (really liked this, which again was a suprise)
Elan Power 42 HT
Jeanneau 50 HT
Don't bother with Fairline, they don't want your business anyway.
Didn't bother with Sunnyseeker cos my Rolex isn't bling enough (absent actually, more tast than that) and I don't like their boats anyhoo. Princess was nice, with friendly staff but no V45, which was a bit dissappointing. V42 getting very long in the tooth, despite the salesman going on about 'improvements'. Sealine were mobbed, and certainly seemed to be doing some business with ques for most boats, including the S29 (though only a few minutes). Suprise of the show was the Jeanneau line up, they had just about everything there includeing the new Prestige 50 HT. What a boat! Cracking good value and well specced, though too big for me we were persuaded by a very affable chap to have a look at the 42 flybridge. Very suprised by this, not least because I actual quite liked it - SWMBO and SWMBOM really liked it and we left with options list!!! (bit scarey with my history /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif) Favourite boat of the show however was the Galeon 390. My god these have come on in leaps and bounds in the last few years. Feels like a very solid and proper boat, looks very modern and has a lovely interior and a super flybridge. Options list was perhaps a bit too long (Corian work tops a £700 option????) but having spoken to a couple of German dealers (in passing, while getting bits for the Bavaria), Penton Hook the UK suppliers are putting a fairly hefty mark up on the base boat. But as they say, everything is a negotiation - £211k base compared to Allert marine in Germany at £175k, same engines (D4 225 for those interested). My spec came in at £254,650.00, which included D6's and a pop up telly. They did offer £100k for the Bav though, so maybe next year. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
But the real dissapointment of the show was Fairline. It started off quite promisingly as we got there early after reports of big ques. Asked to see the Phantom 48 (new) and 40 (vaguely realistic), plus SWMBO fancied a look round the T38 as she has been going on about it since London. Was accompanied round the the P48, and it's very nice, though the full width owners cabin is a bit small, though the extra room has gone into massive heads. P40 was a quick comparison as we were shooed of it. I was non plussed about looking at the T38 cos quite frankly I don't want one, but you have to indulge the other half occasionally. So SWMBO and SWMBOM went to have a gander. Came back 4 minutes later and stormed off the stand. Been told by the lady showing me around that she couldn't go on because 'these people will actually buy one' and soon after by a fairline suited bloke 'come back when you can afford one'. Now, I was not going to buy a new boat today, and I may not have the budget for a few years to buy a new Fairline but I like to think that I have at least 2 decades of boat ownership left in me, and I will certainly be going bigger in the next few years. I can only assume that Fairline have a full and bulging order book and therefor are not interested in not f'cking off potential future business. SWMBO says (and for the record I agree) that regardless, for future boats Fairline is not an option.
Anyway, in summary, if you go to SIBS the boats you wont want to miss, IMHO, are:
Galeon 390 Fly
Botnia Targa 42 (really liked this, which again was a suprise)
Elan Power 42 HT
Jeanneau 50 HT
Don't bother with Fairline, they don't want your business anyway.
