Motor Boat Reviews

[gcwhite]

Many of us have expressed views that the boat tests in various magazines tend to be sympathetic to the manufacturer and perhaps we can empathise with that after all "he who pays the piper..."

However I think that if you read these reports carefully you can see hints of criticism between the lines. At the risk of upsetting PhilF, who made some very valid comments in response to my earlier post on this subject, in the recent T60 test the reviewer was unable to comment on the boats rough sea performance because he was violently seasick. Can we assume from this that the T60 was rather unsure of its sea legs in these conditions despite the claims in the earlier advertising that it would be comfortable in "even the roughest seas".

/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[Benny1]

Hello EyNo,

Have to agree with yo to an extent.
I remember getting a questionaire from, I think, MBM about 10 or more yrs ago asking for comments.

In the general comments section I wrote then that they never seemed to give a critical report - the most damning praise you got was that it was sort of OK, but nothing was ever bad.

What really makes me laugh is when they describe a fault on a boat, but it is always because "this is the prototype/first boat and fairline/princess/s'seeker/sealine (delete as applicable) assure us that this is being addressed on all future boats". Very amusing. THis line even crops up if they are testing boat no.20 and the model has been out for a while.

I can see the argument about there only being a few main advertisers and not wanting to pee them off too much, but for heaven's sake there are only really 2 main motorbaoting mags in the Uk and they are under the same ownership, so don't the mags have a pretty strong hand too?

After all, car mags regularly write poor reports if the car is bad and they are largely owned by different publishers, yet they all seem to retain their advertising....

 

[Gludy]

A good system is to be more openly critical and allow the manufacturer a right of response.

 

[ari]

The difference with car magazines I'd guess is that they sell in such quantities that they don't rely so heavily on advertisers to keep them in business.

Plus, if they pee off Sealine (for example!) then Sealine might decide not to lend them any boats. Less likely with cars where the manufacturers are more PR reliant.

The only bad boat test I ever saw was on a Sealine S41 (I think it was, big open Sealine anyway). It slated the quality and construction in many areas. Very next boat test and back to not a hint of serious criticism.

Now either Sealine really really raised their game or subsiquent boat tests were, how do I say this nicely, more "generous"?

My favourite boat test ever (and I wish I'd kept it for posterity cos it really made me laugh) was of some foreign big cruiser. The test said "when we trialled the boat the sea conditions were flat calm, but the distributor tells us that the boat is excellent in a rough sea". You don't say??? Classic!

I view boat tests as glorified advertising brochures. Useful for seeing a description of the layout and some nice photos, but little more.

 

[Wiggo]

Not defending the T60, as I have only seen it briefly in the flesh, but if you suspend your somewhat selective memory for a mo and go and re-read the review, the journo in question spent the first part of the crossing down below making notes in some fairly lumpy conditions. Seasickness is a fairly inevitable consequence of spending time head down, below decks, concentrating on a task, as everyone knows.

Now, no doubt he was doing so to catch up on his work from the previous day, which he failed to complete after being lured into the fleshpots of St Helier by the Sealine brolly dollies. We can all sympathise, I am sure, with the hard life these people must lead...

 

[gcwhite]

Actually it is interesting to note the high proportion of boat tests that are carried out in calm conditions. I wish my cruises had so much 'luck' with the weather.

 

[Gludy]

Yes... that is the case , its is usually calm conditions ... yet i can never go boating in any sort of contious run of calm conditions so how the the dates get selected?
Is there some great weather forecasting system the mags are not letting on about?

Has there ever been a test of the standard makes in say a f8?
Or even a f7 come to that.

 

[rickp]

What would be the point of that? How many people deliberately set out in a f8 (wiggo and Brendan excepted of course, 'cos we know they're nutters). I think thats going from one extreme to the other.

Or maybe you're suggesting it as a technique for bumping off reviewers? Send them out in a 21' sports boat in an f8....

Rick

 

[Gludy]

I agree that few ever set out in a f8 or f7 but it would be nice to know how a boat handles in rough weather say a f7 because one day you may well be caight out in one. In the Bristol channel you will be caught out in one.

I do not know how the reviewers manage to get good phots on nice sunny days with calm seas .... the calmest I have ever seen the sea - a mirror was when I decided to get into boating ..... it ha never been that calm since!

 

[rickp]

Maybe you should have contracted a motorboat reviewer to come out with you on your squaddie everytime -then you'd have had nice 'butty making' weather... Prolly cheaper than the trader too /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Rick

 

[Gludy]

What a great idea!!! Ask for a reviwer to come out with you and bang - a great sunny calm day ... why did I not think of this before I orderd the new boat - its so much cheaper!!

I do think that every reviewer should do the bacon butty test and record the max wind that you can manage it in ... so a boat that has a BB6 means that you can make them in a f6. Then there could also be a second rating called the BBO rating so a boat with a BB6 may have a BB9, which means you can make and eat them in a 6 but they come back out in a 9. The reviewers just do not have any imagination like that do they?

I bet none of Kim's mags ever even mention making bacon butties and hence are really out of contact with the grass roots of boating.

 

[jfm]

Gludy the only recent heavy weather boat test I can recall is one of your favourites, the Nordhavn in MBY last year.

I like your suggestion of a protocol under which reviewers can be as candid as they like but the manufacturer has a right of reply. My worry though is that the reviewers, despite naval architect etc qualifications, actually dont see the things buyers care about. They dont spend much time loafing in the med on med boats, they seem just not to notice fablon tables on £1m boat, they dont seem to understand the significance of the crew spaces, etc.

 

[ari]

There was that classic boat test of the (original) Princess 45 many years ago. They went on a delivery trip from Plymouth to Southampton in a F7 gusting F9!

They followed it out of Plymouth with another boat (guess another Princess) and took some some great photos, some of just the top of the arch showing over the waves!

The review was a complete rave from start to finish about the sea keeping capabilities of the boat.

Princess actually had a copy of it on the back of the "all models" leaflet at the time.

 

[gcwhite]

Actually there is little point in testing a boat in smooth or slight conditions we all know how it will perform in these circumstances. When I did a sea trial last May of a boat I was interested in I deliberately chose choppy conditions and the manufacturer had no issues with this.

 

[Renegade_Master]

I think one of the mags did a test on an Aquador 32 in lumpy conditions recently

 

[powerskipper]

Hay Guys I know for a fact that the T 60 handles well in a rough sea.

 

[ari]

[ QUOTE ]
I think one of the mags did a test on an Aquador 32 in lumpy conditions recently

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes they did, you're absolutely right, I remember that. And Aquadors are good sea boats apparently.

And I seem to recall a Nelson or similar able sea boat being tested in bad conditions, and a Windy, and they're good sea boats, and the Princess as mentioned above.

I think you could be on to something here, maybe if they're concerned about a boats seakeeping and don't want to upset the advertiser, I mean manufacturer, they trot out the standard "we found sea conditions were flat calm when we went out, but we crossed the wake of the photography boat a few times and it seemed to have no major vices" instead.