PBO getting very then...

[Andrew_Trayfoot]

PBO seems to be getting thinner and thinner...

Same level of content, just very few adverts.

Given the size of their 'Display Advertising' department (8 people), presumably shared with other magazines, I wonder if there is a problem.

 

[rob2]

Yeah, hardly anyone bothering to sell boats as they have fallen to half their value a decade ago. When you say same content, does that mean you also spotted the rehash of the winch rebuild? After several years you expect subject matter to get covered from a new viewpoint and current conditions but some have nothing new to offer and are by the same contributor.

Rob.

 

[ghostlymoron]

There comes a time in a boater's life when you've read how to do everything. There's not much new you can say but new readers are joining the carousel all the time, so the articles are relevant to them. My subscription has just run out so I'm thinking of giving YM a go.

 

[xeitosaphil]

I recently treated myself to a PBO and was really surprised at its lack of pages so thought I would go and buy a YM in an effort to get a little more reading. I can honestly say that it been a while since buying these mags and if you put them both together, they would only just make the thickness of an old PBO or YM. If your a newbe to the boating fraternity, you still would want a fair amount of content for your pennies surely. They could always fill up a decent amount of pages with even re -run articles, not that they don't already but just include more of them.
I find that even picking up an old mag now, I can still find something I have missed or forgotten to read at the time, but now you can read cover to cover in twenty mins.

 

[vyv_cox]

It seems to me that criticisms of the magazines are somehow the reverse of people's recollections of their childhood summers always being sunny. I don't deny that there is some repetition of content, it's inevitable. But I doubt very much that PBO has previously printed the superb series of articles by Dave Berry on building electronic equipment. Or on anodising aluminium fittings. How many articles have there been on the complete building of a Wharram catamaran? (March 2015) The Mike Coates article on rebuilding a winch is considerably more far-reaching than those on servicing winches, one of which was written by me. Surely everybody learned something from the Hantu Biru rebuild series? And speaking from my own point of view, I learned a lot from the recent epoxy series and used some of the information in it almost straight away, to laminate a new keel stem.

 

[macd]

PBO seems to be getting thinner and thinner...I wonder if there is a problem.

Yes, there's a problem: times are hard for many industries, and print publishing more than most. Blame the recession. Blame the thing you're reading this on.

Most consumer magazines are run on a more-or-less defined ad/ed ratio: fewer ad pages = fewer editorial pages. Somebody has to pay for the print and paper, and the cover price doesn't do it alone.
As for 'recycling' of articles (or, rather, of subjects): Vyv has it right. Besides, what would be your advice to a newbie to boating?: 'Nah, don't buy that, mate, you need the June 1998 edition.' They'd thank you for that.

 

[bobgoode]

It seems to me that criticisms of the magazines are somehow the reverse of people's recollections of their childhood summers always being sunny. I don't deny that there is some repetition of content, it's inevitable. But I doubt very much that PBO has previously printed the superb series of articles by Dave Berry on building electronic equipment. Or on anodising aluminium fittings. How many articles have there been on the complete building of a Wharram catamaran? (March 2015) The Mike Coates article on rebuilding a winch is considerably more far-reaching than those on servicing winches, one of which was written by me. Surely everybody learned something from the Hantu Biru rebuild series? And speaking from my own point of view, I learned a lot from the recent epoxy series and used some of the information in it almost straight away, to laminate a new keel stem.

A VERY (and I really do mean VERY) nice review of a Wharram Tiki appeared in Feb '92. A typical mag then was 130 to 180 pages (peaking around 240 pages) with loads of boats for sale and chandlers competing for our custom.

 

[rob2]

I accept that subject matter gets repeated, but useful though the article on full refurbishing of winches is it surely can't be two years since the same author and winches were rebuilt and an article written? Maybe I'm just getting so old that I haven't registered the passing of time. For me the last article that really grabbed me was the making of a pair of spoon blade oars - I'm a sucker for a nice piece of wood and the curves set it off so well and they're even useful too!

One thing that such articles bring home to me is how you can get a limited depth of information so easily through the internet, but real practiced skills and facilities available to the general public reduce year by year. I used to be able to walk around the corner and talk to the man who would sort the loss of compression in my engine - saved me pounds as he measured the bores, glaze busted them and supplied new piston rings. That was less than a third of the cost I was expecting for a rebore and new pistons. Likewise in the article about the oars (and on various websites) it is suggested that you can buy a bollow plane. Well, not through the internet you can't and just imagine the expression you'd induce in B&Q asking for one. I'm planning to carve my own plane, but the local blacksmith who could have made a custom design blade retired when he reached 90yo.

Rob.

P.S. My doctor just prescribed me anti-depressants - I asked for pain killers. Maybe she was right...

P.P.S. I'm sure PBO would be delighted for you to ask them for reprints of old articles, its not a cheap option.

 

[xeitosaphil]

I accept that subject matter gets repeated, but useful though the article on full refurbishing of winches is it surely can't be two years since the same author and winches were rebuilt and an article written? Maybe I'm just getting so old that I haven't registered the passing of time. For me the last article that really grabbed me was the making of a pair of spoon blade oars - I'm a sucker for a nice piece of wood and the curves set it off so well and they're even useful too!

One thing that such articles bring home to me is how you can get a limited depth of information so easily through the internet, but real practiced skills and facilities available to the general public reduce year by year. I used to be able to walk around the corner and talk to the man who would sort the loss of compression in my engine - saved me pounds as he measured the bores, glaze busted them and supplied new piston rings. That was less than a third of the cost I was expecting for a rebore and new pistons. Likewise in the article about the oars (and on various websites) it is suggested that you can buy a bollow plane. Well, not through the internet you can't and just imagine the expression you'd induce in B&Q asking for one. I'm planning to carve my own plane, but the local blacksmith who could have made a custom design blade retired when he reached 90yo.

Rob.

P.S. My doctor just prescribed me anti-depressants - I asked for pain killers. Maybe she was right...

P.P.S. I'm sure PBO would be delighted for you to ask them for reprints of old articles, its not a cheap option.

That take me back a bit Rob, I made a bollow plane for exactly the same reason, to make a pair of Spoon Blade Paddles when I was a part time long shore fisherman. We used to get ours made from a lovely old Boat Builder in Looe, called Arthur Collins. He made a couple of pairs for us about 8 foot long out of Sitka Spruce with mahogany strip inserts in the spoons. Talk about a “ Proper Job “

Unfortunately he died around 86 years old and his skill when with him. He had several tales to tell and showed us pictures of the boats he built, launching them over the quay wall with chains attached to stop them hitting the opposite side of the river. They don’t do that anymore!!

Anyway enough reminiscing, what I was going to say was, I used a piece of red beech for the plane body and being in a joiners shop used a piece of Silver Streak Cutting Steel, supplied from a friend in the machine shop and profiled to the shape of the plane sole, for the plane Iron. Plane soaked in Linseed oil for about 3 weeks dried and polished.
Never got around to making those spoons in the end ! “ Maybe one day “.

I’ve always wanted to build a Clinker Built Whaler as well after reading a John Leather book on “ Clinker Boat Building “ .

I think I need another lifetime to fit it all in?

 

[tarik]

I totally agree with you, I have been subscribing to PBO for years, but this month when I got the March issue I remarked to SWMBO that it was so thin I thought that something had been left out.

The articles are very interesting but I think there should be more of them. When I compared it with a 2000 edition it is a shadow of its former glory.

David