Recycled PBO, won't buy another copy!

Highndry said:
do you think IPC would fund this forum if we weren't buying their magazines?
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I rather suspect this forum is funding IPC.

Ideal categorised audience for advertisers, masses of pageviews, enviable google ranking. You and I don't see ads because we're logged in, but we're generating masses of valuable content that draws in unregistered users who see the page surrounded by ads. By comparison the hosting costs shouldn't be too fierce, though they might be chewing through a lot of bandwidth I guess.

There are people who make a standalone business out of running a forum (without charging their members) so I don't see why IPC shouldn't be turning a modest profit on this one.

Pete
 
Thanks for all the comments, both positive and negative – we do read the forums and try to take on board any criticism of the magazine.

Jcorstophine, we're glad you were looking forward to following the progress on the PBO Project Boat, and we're sorry to hear that you were disappointed to find the 'one year on' review.

As of yesterday the boat is now residing inside an industrial unit, so we will be able to press on with some major projects – like painting the hull and deck – over the next few weeks and months, whatever the weather throws at us. We can promise some real progress on the project boat in the next year.

The next issue (on sale early Jan) has a four-page feature showing how we rebuilt the boat's windows.

I feel we must reply to Frayed Knot's assertion that there is 'a very obvious bias towards their better advertisers in their "independent" gear tests'. I must STRONGLY deny that manufacturers pay to have products included in our tests, or that advertisers receive better treatment in gear tests. The gear tests in PBO have always been, and will continue to be unbiased and independent.

Wishing you fair winds and the best of luck in your winter refits,

Ben
PBO Features Editor
 
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Well said Ben.
re-progress on Hantu Biru: as the refurb is being done and reported in real time, you are illustrating very well that it takes twice as long as you originally thought. As most forumites are only too aware!
FOUR PAGES on windows - that'll fill out the mag nicely.
GM
 
R0bert said:
I've said this before, PBO with Tesco Clubcard points - good value!
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I did not know this!

After a few years absence due to having a similar view as to OP I've come back into the fold and now subscribed again. Apparently with the Tesco subs I also get access to the iPad version too.

We'll see whats changed... the project boat intrigues me.
 
ghostlymoron said:
FOUR PAGES on windows
GM
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I just had to undo 30 years of bodge jobs on the forward hatch on the Pegasus which was leaking badly causing ceiling and deck to separate and had a less than useless totally insecure latch. I wont go into detail but suffice to say it involved sourcing obsolete parts, repairing water damage to the deck area around the hatch, removing old badly done epoxy repair patchups, replacing the waterproof seals, cutting and heat shaping new perspex window insert, waterproof sealing the perspex to the metal window frame. The article will be too late for me (again !) but lets hope it covers at least these aspects so that others can have a little less aggravation for similar jobs.
 
Jcorstorphine said:
Why should I pay £4.20 out of my pension to read scribblings which I have already bought and paid for.
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And therein lies the problem..... The younger generation have always believed that the current fad is the very latest and newest idea, as did we no doubt. So mags can actually repeat old ideas to a new audience to good effect. Console yourself that when they get to our age they'll also notice they're mostly being re-sold the past........
 
ghostlymoron said:
Well said Ben.
re-progress on Hantu Biru: as the refurb is being done and reported in real time, you are illustrating very well that it takes twice as long as you originally thought. As most forumites are only too aware!
FOUR PAGES on windows - that'll fill out the mag nicely.
GM
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Very good point about the time it takes to refurbish a boat, I built a Motor Sailor from a new bare hull and superstructure in the mid 70s which that took about 18 month to complete including fitting keels, bulkheads, rebuilding an engine and making the masts from bare extrusions.

My present boat, (same size and type but different layout) took 10 years to refurbish!

Difference being that in the 70s,

(a) I started the first project when I was 30

(b) I was working for a research organisation with well equipped workshops for home jobs and had lots of spare energy.

(c) We had no children at that time.

When I started work on the present boat, I had a different set of circumstances which included,

(a) I started the refurbishment project when I was 55

(b) Working for a US company where the working day/week was as long as it needed to be which included a lot of driving in the UK and Europe so not much spare time or energy

(c) Children’s cars to repair/maintain.

(d) Unlike starting from a new hull etc, when refurbishing an old boat, there is so much work to do in sorting out previous owners bodges especially as in my case, the present boat was a mixture of professional and amateur build, the professional part being very good, the amateur being awful e.g. steel wood screws driven up into the handrails!!!!!!!

For anyone contemplating a refurbishment project there are some lessons to be learned from others and IMHO as a reader of PBO for 45 years, I would like to see articles about owners refurbishing boats such a Centaur or complete engine rebuilds.

PS, after my annoyance about the PBO project article I did find there were some quite good articles this month.
 
Lets face it, as modern as I like to think I am, falling asleep with a hot laptop's whirring incandescent glow or letting a £500+ gizmo drop from my fingers with its inevitable heartstopping crash as I doze off simply doesnt appeal. However, curling up while reading a page or two about some horror that someone else has had to endure; whether that be a journey, officous red tape or a minor repair job that escalated into a full blown restoration project is much more likely to send me off to dreamland with a smile. To that end I will probably always prefer a paper based read just prior to the last plink from the light on the bedside table. It had just better be worth the cover price.
 
I think its okish for the £4.20 you pay. what else can you get for 4 quid a month?or £1 a week, ok so some of the items get rehashed time and time again, and it does seem to be half full of adverts and boat sales, but imo i think its good value.
 
I've a lot of sympathy with the journos in the PBO offices. They are writing about an activity that isnt wildly complicated and more to the point doesnt change much from year to year. For example, electronics apart what major has happened to cruising boat since the centaur was in its first flush of youth decades ago? It really has to be one hell of a struggle to find new things to write about. And if you do find a magazine full of new things what about the newcomers to sailing who want articles about fitting out and laying up?

Its been suggested that boat refurb would be an area. But its been done before and most of us dont want to do it and buy new / newish instead. Engine rebuilds - I've rebuilt numerous engines in my life and its pretty noddy stuff except possibly in the area of things like injector pumps. But how many sailors would want to do that?

I reckon the answer is simple. Go along to WHS every month, have a look through the 4 mags and decide which one has any interesting comment. Then either buy it or browse for an hour whilst SWMBO goes to Tesco.

P.S. Maybe there should be a section on politics in PBO magazine. After all, the Lounge has more posts than YM forum and almost as many as PBO forum.
 
I too was disappointed at the project boat rehash.

Thanks for pre-warning me, I shall not attempt to install my new window until I have read the next copy.
 
wotayottie said:
Engine rebuilds - I've rebuilt numerous engines in my life and its pretty noddy stuff except possibly in the area of things like injector pumps. But how many sailors would want to do that?
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I'd be interested. I'm quite happy mucking about with the systems that surround engines (fuel, water, exhaust, etc) but the inside of the big lump is a bit intimidating.

It might be noddy in that it's fairly obvious that you undo this nut to get that part off, but what the beginner lacks is any idea of what is normal or ok and what is abnormal or a potential problem. Experienced people tend to assume that's obvious, but a carefully-written article with good photos could be invaluable to someone who's never seen a piston or a tappet (what even is a tappet?) in person before.

Of course, the full version would then be too big for the three or four picture-heavy pages permitted for a magazine article :rolleyes:

Pete
 
Its a bit of a generation thing Pete. I grew up when 17 year olds had old bangers and had to repair them at the roadside never mind decoke after 30k miles etc. My son hasnt a clue of whats inside an engine, assumes that they go on for ever, has no interest and would simply replace rather than refurb. More people are like him than are like me these days.
 
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