Is PBO now too narrow minded?

Seams to be a common theme:-

More PRACTICAL boat owner, at least pretend to be interested in Mobos.

I may too go back to subscribing and not reading it in Smiths!
 
OLLIE45 said:
As a hard up owner of an old,cheap boat (mobo in my case), I would relish the prospect of being able to buy a magazine full of articles giving ideas on how to keep it neat, tidy and running for very little outlay but the vogue in all the magazines at the moment seems to be one of 'buy the latest blah blah, or take it to a 'professional'.
.
Click to expand...


Agreed.

I used to read PBO but have given up on it. I have a 35 year old Mobo used on a river. None of the magazines are really aimed at my sort of boating (budget, DIY owner who uses boat on rivers) but PBO used to feature a few Mobo's and have a lot of useful DIY projects and I used to enjoy it. I am also interested in sailing, but not the point I'd buy a magazine dedicated to sailing.
 
Evadne said:
Didn't PBO buy up and incorporate a motor boat magazine a few years back, Motor Boating Monthly or some such?
Click to expand...

It wasn't Motor Boats Monthly, if practical motor boat projects is what the OP was after, Motor Boats Monthly does that.

dancrane said:
Wouldn't it be good, if in the next six months, PBO features in-depth articles and tests or reviews about galvanism, jury-rigging broken hatches and pumps, correcting weather/lee helm, sculling, compass-balancing, budget desalinators, kedging-off, bringing the shine back to 40 year-old GRP, and readers' answers to all-time favourite designs.
Click to expand...

The bold ones have been covered by Yachting Monthly, within the last few years so maybe PBO have avoided crossing over too much content? I don't know and can't speak for them. Even when the magazines did cover the same topics by accident they were both covered in two different ways reflecting the difference in the readership of the titles.

In the past there has been problems with crossover of content between PBO and YM, but this has been addressed. At YM we are very conscious of not going too in depth with practical/DIY fixes, and treading on PBO's toes in terms of their core content. Many readers buy both, so two magazines the same does no one any favours.

YM does go in heavily on the practical seamanship as the Expert on board and Crash Test Boat series demonstrates.

Finally, someone said the PBO forum was most popular it might be with threads, but on post counts, the Lounge has
800,000 posts and that's non boaty! Then it's YM, then PBO:D
 
Money.

If PBO ran loads of articles about making VHF aerials from old coat hangers and patching inflatables with plastic milk cartons the advertisers would see it as fallow ground.

PBO would have to put up the cover price above the point the make-do-and-mend reader would pay.

There isn't any point in appealing to the bottom-end of the market as it doesn't have a pay-back.

Maybe it can be done as a web site, but getting enough Aradldite and seconhand supermarket trolley suppliers to advertise may be tricky, so the surfer would be subject to the server-fed advertising that we all love so much and probably pop-ups as well.
 
Last edited:
----------------------------
Quote:
It wasn't Motor Boats Monthly, if practical motor boat projects is what the OP was after, Motor Boats Monthly does that.
----------------------------

Seems not anymore!!!
 
PCUK said:
----------------------------
Quote:
It wasn't Motor Boats Monthly, if practical motor boat projects is what the OP was after, Motor Boats Monthly does that.
----------------------------

Seems not anymore!!!
Click to expand...

I don't have the latest issue with me at the moment, but there is usually a 4 page practical project in there from fitting trim tabs/holding tank/bowthruster/tank gauge etc

I'll be surprised if there isn't this month, but you might be right
 
This months MBM covers fuel systems. Good up to a point, but the challenge for them is that there are so many systems out there, the article becomes generic, and therefore can only be used as a prompt, not a substitute for a manual. Same with the engines article last month. This was OK for those who don't know what an engine looks like. As most Mobo'ers don't have the staff to dip the oil and the other basic checks, I guess most of us know what an engine looks like, and that diesel engines don't have spark plugs.
 
The practical content sucks. Coverage of anything based in Northern Ireland (e.g latest marina listing NO NI) sucks. Come to think of it nearly every English based mag does the same. gs
 
snooks said:
In the past there has been problems with crossover of content between PBO and YM, but this has been addressed. At YM we are very conscious of not going too in depth with practical/DIY fixes, and treading on PBO's toes in terms of their core content. Many readers buy both, so two magazines the same does no one any favours.
Click to expand...
Must admit I would be much happier if there was only one mag that occuped the middle ground between YM & PBO, but I doubt YBW Towers see it that way. I only buy one these days (YM) and I do enjoy the more practical articles.
 
snooks said:
...if practical motor boat projects is what the OP was after...
Click to expand...


No, I wasn't looking for practical motor boat projects. I was simply reflectiing on what seems to be an increasing narrow mindedness and wondered whether it might be attributable to misjudgement rather than a deliberate policy decision.

Closing the gap between YM and PBO seems to be economically unwise, as well as being something I personally regret. PBO doesn't need to be dominated by knit-your-own diy projects but it does need to be broad based. Many people I come into contact with are interested in more than one type of boat. I suspect that lots of YBW forum members have owned boats of several different types. Limiting PBO largely or wholly to boats with sails appears to be foolish.


PS - I do have a subscription to YM
 
Last edited:
Coaster said:
I've bought and read PBO many times over the past 25 years or so. One of its strengths was the coverage of all types of boats that the average person might aspire to own - kayaks, windsurfers, RIBs, day fishing boats, cruising and racing sailing boats, motor cruisers, sportsboats and more.

The magazine now seems to be only interested in sailing boats. To quote Sarah Norbury in the Summer 2011 edition "...we're sailors, yet our trickiest and most expensive problems seem to be with our engines...", which I take to mean that if your boat doesn't have sails you shouldn't be reading this publication.

There is already a good magazine covering the mid-range of sailing boats. It's called Yachting Monthly. Am I alone in regretting the move of PBO to becoming YM-lite?
Click to expand...

I've noticed this over the recent issues and do not intend renewing my subscription for that reason.

I also noticed one of the replies to your thread:

Maybe there should be
Practical Yacht owner and.....
Practical Motorboat owner.

Articles on stinkpots were a waste of ink to me.
__________________
......Yorkshireman in exile

I wonder what drives the Yorkshireman in exile's prop that is shown on his avatar? Can't possibly be a motor!

I also hope he never gets into trouble and has reason to call out one of the big blue and orange motor boats or, stinkpots, as he consider them.

Maybe, like the News of the World, you really can judge a publication by its readers!
 
Tough times

I think PBO is ( was) a product of its time- In Founding Editor Denny Dessouters era 'we' were all building plywood boats, fitting out plastic fantastics, messing with concrete, steel.

There was a make and mend culture, which to some extent production line cad driven assembly boatbuilding and the advent of affordable, larger, off the shelf boats has driven out.

The fact that we now have a newer generation of career minded,inexperienced sailors coming up who-and I GENERALISE of course- can't fix anything, don't want to fix anything, don't want to get their hands dirty, have to ask questions like how do I park/reef/anchor my new 45 footer? says quite a lot.

I guess that in lean economic times, PBO might be-or is actively- interested in wooing such types aboard, not least because servicing their own anodes and engines will help in supporting the stretched lifestyle/financial planning/domestic finances dept.
Tough times for magazines.
At least i reckon that the existence of the forums gives editorial insite into some of what 'some' people might want, some of the time !
 
It MAY not be the editorial team's fault...

I don't believe the critics want to be critical...it's mainly when changes are made and shortcomings result.

I remember in the 'eighties, how the December edition of almost all the boating journals was laughably thin. Not only in comparison with the LBS January mag that followed.

Whenever a mag had a dull tale or article from a contributor who one associated with amusing, involving copy, it was disappointing. That's nothing new. But I've been looking through some editions from the last five years, none of which I would snatch up as vital relief, if suddenly required to attend a dull party or kiddies' school play.

I actually believe that the main culprit now, is not the work of the editorial team, nor the themes that articles are based upon. We still get plenty of thorough, relevant tests...fog horns, storm jibs, boarding ladders, anti-fouling...very much in line with our practical preferences. No; for me, the heart-sinking feeling comes, whenever I see that the primary boat-test is of a mass-produced Average White Boat. SNORRRE...

I recall a test of the Victoria 34, back in about '91 or '92. That magazine just fell apart, finally, from enthusiastic re-reading. Just the same with dozens of Yachting Monthlies and Practical Boat Owners, then and before.

I suspect there may be a correlation, between the lightening displacement of tested boats, and the increasing dissatisfaction of traditional readers. :(
 
I think it is!

Current title:

Practical Boat Owner -(Britian's Best Selling Sailing Magazine)

So I picked out a couple of randon older copies from 2007 and 2009 - Title then:

Practical Boat Owner -(Britian's Best Selling Yachting Magazine Sail and Power)

The articles included: Making your own GRP mouldings, Fitting a bow thruster and Doing up an old motorboat.

So it would appear that the editorial team have deliberately changed the format, content and even the sub-title.

I originally subscribed to PBO because it seemed to be aimed at practical people running older boats on a budget.

It now seems to have become Yachting Monthly Lite!

I've never subscribed to Motor Boats Monthly because it mostly about new boats (most of which I couldn't afford and don't even like).

So editorial team - ether change it back or I won't be renewing my subscription!
 
I find it quite surprising that PBO has deliberately isolated itself from one section of the market, when that section has a key theme in common with sailing boats: engines.

The only difference with motor boats is that the engines are slightly (or much) larger - but the fundamentals, and the problems and maintenance relevant to PBO readers are just the same, so why ignore them?

A quick analysis of the top 40 of the current range of topics on the PBO forum:-

6 are about engines - common to most of both
Only 1 or maybe 2 are sailing specific
All the others are about all the common boat problems: electrics, charging, batteries, nav lights, cleaning, nav gear, props, varnishing.

Is the assumption that moboers don't look after their own boats but get an "expert" in to do it for them? Get real.
The market is steadily increasing as more new boats are sold and the number of older boats still around swells.

Bonkers thinking by PBO if you ask me:mad:
 
Yep!

There are probably more old boats around now than in PBO's heyday. Why? Because GRP boats don't rot and become beyond econimic repair like wood boats can.

And your'e right, practically everything between the bottom of the sails and the top of the keel is the same.

When IPC media owns YM and MBM, why make PBO a YM Lite?

If they had any sense, they would keep all of the new boat reviews and cruising articles in which ever of YM or MBM is appropriate and put all of the practical maintenance, restoration and basic practical seamanship articles in PBO.

They could do even better than that, they could put a list of all "practical" articles which are contained in PBO in the corresponding monthly editions of both YM and MBM as well a list of new boat reviews and cruising articles etc in PBO.

That way everyone would get the magazine they want and when they read the list of contents of the sister magazines; may well go out and buy a copy of one of those as well.

To me, this is typical of modern (mis)management and why we no longer have, for example, a motor industry buy hey, why should I tell them how to do it for free?
 
Bang On!

You've captured it exactly. I don't understand why they can't figure out what you've just said, given that most of the clues are in the titles of the mags already.

Journo brains obviously!:D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top