MBM's Flagship - up for renewal!

Re: MBM\'s Flagship - up for renewal!

Good points from Kim there, regarding available new 36/37ft shaftdrive boats with 30knts capability, and a good price. Princess now start at 42ft, Fairline I believe 40ft, Broom err 35OS maybe Sunseeker errr

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

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<hr width=100% size=1>If it aint broke fix it till it is.
 
Re: Sorry but...

Kim,
Whereas I agree with most of what you have said, I do get the impression that the use of Sealines for so long, for whatever reason, has, in my opinion coloured the water a bit, hence the reactions by a few- not mine by the way.
I certainly understand some of the reasoning for their use, however, I feel a change is due.
I think it would be nice therefor, to try something that departs a bit from the norm. By which I mean, different engine types for example. It does seem there is a hang up on Volvo. Or is it yet again a cost issue?
Different types of drive, eg jet drive perhaps, is just one of other possibilities.
As I have said in other parts of this thread, equiping the boat with various navaids etc, could, if the magazine so wishes, form the basis of user reports. To me, this boat ought to be a testbed, for hull, machinery and equipment. And can provide usefull feedback to readers and industry alike.

So in summing up, I think, within the financial constraints, let's go radical.

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Re: Sorry but...

No need for the cloak and dagger approach its official in his months MBM they show Broom as being a sponsor of the cruising club. o mention of Sealine anywhere.

Also heard it today that they were having a Broom instead so its no real secret.


<hr width=100% size=1>Dom

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

If I had 200k to spend on a boat, it would have to be the Sunseeker Portofino 35...
Okay, not a flybridge, but fast enough to buzz around the fleet, and hopefully lower running costs because of lower depreciation.

Maybe...

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Outdrives

On the hours we do we came to the conclusion shafts were a better bet; some of the engine options would have us lifting for mid-season services which didn't seem such a great idea.

Conversely outdrives would have given us greater fuel economy for a given size...interesting trying to work that out really...saving on diesel versus cost of extra service. Hummm...

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Engine options

We were in the hands of the builder over engines; they had the resale issue and believed Volvos to be the best bet.

As it was we built up a huge store of knowledge on one of the most common engine types for new boats for our readers (40-series diesels) while getting plenty of hands on thanks to the Cruising Club on Yanmars, Cummins, Caterpillar, MerCruiser and so on (and Volvo Penta for that matter).

I must admit there was an element of devil you know about the decision to go with almost identical numbers two and three boats...after all we also needed the boat to be reliable and a known quantity as well as an exploration. I'm told there are changes coming with the next boat and so this is all a bit retrospective. You (or other readers) can solidly blame me for a Sealine theme in this decade just as you could level the same thing at me regarding Pedro in the 1990s.

It is only fair to say that Sealine were very flexible and not without a sense of humour when it came to building big hours on new boats...yes of course they benefited but I have my doubts all builders would have welcomed the rapid depreciation or the rather strange things we sometimes put the boat through. I never forget the time we were testing 12 GPSs around the Solent with a large stainless steel mast bolted to the flybridge and stayed with various wires. All the cables were routed through various removed bits of vent and flybridge. It all looked a far cry from the brochure image, especially downstairs with a 10ft ply testbench secured to various bits of the woodwork.

In terms of testing, well again some of the kit we used was pretty mainstream but that was dead handy when dealing with a lot of inevitable requests and queries. And yes, extra bits did get bolted on. The latest Sealine was more difficult in that respect because the surfaces were without fiddles but both the previous ones had ply workstations fixed in with extra power supplies; all manner of stuff got put on those over the time I was more involved. I guess half the time we never really explained that enough in the mag but we did get an awful lot of background info from running that kind of programme.

Some of you that saw the boat in those days will know it was stuffed full of all manner of kit; I never knew how to travel light!

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Re: MBM\'s Flagship - up for renewal!

I could get hold for them a range of cruisers and performance boats up to about 50' with diesel or petrol engines; yanmar, merc, cummins or volvo engines. Shaft driven or stern drive . 60+mph performance if you want to go that fast in a 40+ footer! (manufacturer makes about 2500 hulls a year) can get them for cost price! they do shaft driven boats of about 35 feet and above and id only want a small commission!!!! -smiley face-





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Re: MBM\'s Flagship - up for renewal!

Seeing as Plonker Blair is reducing the Royal Navy and Coast Guard to something akin to dad's army they might fancy a mine sweeper or battleship on the cheap then they might have enough speed and weaponry to down some of those PWC that are causing everyone so much trouble..... what do ya think.

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Excusatio non petita, accusatio manifesta...

In the first part of your reply, you list the reasons for your choice. Quite understandable, overall.

But after that, you take up a somewhat defensive position, trying to explain that your magazine is a truly independent one.
Now, to my knowledge, there is no such thing as a magazine who can survive without the advertising revenues.
Which means that the magazine itself, and the jobs of those working for it, depend on the advertisers.
Besides, whatever (direct or indirect) sales force a magazine might have, it is purely addressed to sell advertising space, not to sell copies of the magazine to the readers.
Therefore, the advertisers - not the readers - are the real customers of any magazine (*).
Bearing that in mind, should we really expect an absolutely fair evaluation when a magazine compares the products X and Y, if X is produced by the major advertiser and Y is made by a company which never bought any space?
That's unrealistic, to say the least.

OK, there is a partial exception to my statement (*) above: the reputation of a magazine is built by its readers, not by its advertisers. Better reputation means higher market share, which in turn means higher advertising revenues.
That is why a magazine must be appealing from the readers' viewpoint, in the first place.
And MBM does a great job in this respect. One of the best in this segment, IMHO.

But I'd hardly believe that neither yours, nor any other magazine, is always impartial and unbiased.

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Re: Sorry but...

Dom,
I am not so sure. My source was NOT a Broom man, just coincidence we met on the Broom stand. And from what I gathered they had just started looking. Also I don't think they were over impressed with the Brooms, mainly from a MBM use point of view.
We will no doubt find out soon.

<hr width=100% size=1><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by stuartw on 16/01/2004 00:31 (server time).</FONT></P>
 
Re: Sorry but...

I think you will find that they will be having a Broom in the fleet and not one for sweeping up with.

Coming over this year. If so give me a shout.

<hr width=100% size=1>Dom

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

Kim protesteth too much. If MBM wants to be a serious, impartial reviewer of boats it is hard to see how it can get away with having a so-called flagship. He can deny it as much as he likes, but whenever I read a review involving a Sealine I have it at the back of my mind that MBM will have given the boat the benefit of the doubt, will have been just a little bit kinder about it than they might have been to another manufacturer. Incidentally, did Sealine offer you any discount that they might not have offered to a member of the public for using their boats as flagships?

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Impartial and unbiased

Understand your comments and conclusions but the testers don't work that way; they don't see the ad schedules and none of the editorial team see the ads before they publish.

Yes, of course there can be stronger dialogue between a magazine and a volume advertiser simply due to the fact that a line of communication opens up. But I wish a had a pound for every time I had a strange look from an ad manager when they saw an issue plan featuring boats not regularly advertised. And before you say it, the issue plan didn't subsequently get changed.

What does of course occur is that impartial and unbiased can fall foul of the subjective opinions that govern us all; undoubtedly we all have our favourites, only natural. If you detect themes running through publications I would venture to suggest it can be as much due to the subjective opinions of staff involved as anything else. That is all a part of the flavour of the magazine and you make your buying decisions accordingly.

Choice of boats can also be very much governed by who makes them available. If you know a particular dealer is likely to let you drive 300 miles and then tell you the test cannot happen that day, you develop this strange allergic reaction to attempting same again (although, sooner or later we usually seek treatment and have another go). If a builder (or equipment supplier for that matter) goes out of its way to make life easy it tends to get coverage, however disciplined we try to be about it.

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Interesting that...

...you are not the only one to have heard something from that stand, which is a bit fascinating as it is the case that contracts have yet to be signed with any new provider. It seems someone is perhaps a bit premature.

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No, no

It was nobody belonging to the stand who I met, but somebody a little closer to home. And they said they were just looking around. Which I actually believe- I think

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Re: Impartial and unbiased

Means nothing. We pay what represents a healthy chunk of marketing budget for the lease and as far as I was concerned that left us free to say what we liked. The contract with Sealine had no clauses about publicity, real or implied.

Search the posts on this forum alone and you'll see I have made some very honest observations of the F36 and F37, good and bad.

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