Whats happened to PBO???

[clyst]

Just been looking through PBO of late 60s/early70s WHAT A DIFFERENCE just as I remember them. Each copy filled with items for the PRACTICAL boater . How to make this and how to repair that . Really useful for Mr average to enjoy his hobby as cheaply as possible and look after his boat himself.
Give me the old format and features any day, just wish someone would publish a mag solely for those who dont want to buy boats for 100k and then be kept in a marina doing nothing and to be maintained by boat yards .
Am I alone in this line of thought?? to me modifying and fiddling with the boat is all part of it. What your thoughts /comments .

Happy new year to you all (all down hill to the new sailing season )

Terry

 

[bigmart]

I suspect the answer lies in the over regulated, sanitised, cotton wool society we now seem to be headed for.

Other posts within these forums have also expressed your concerns.

Have you compared a Haynes car workshop manual from the 70's with an equivalent today. An Ambulance chasing lawyer would sue anyone who gave you the information on how to blow your nose if they thought they'd get away with it. I bet the legal advisers to the editorial staff of our favourite magazines are used to a much greater extent than they were a couple of decades ago.

We, as readers, have for many years accepted product reviews which gave no positive result or recommendation for fear of offending a financially rewarding advertiser. Only, in recent years, when a competing magazine offered, reviews which went some way towards telling which items were any good, have we been offered a weak version of similar result.

Remember that it is money that makes the world go round. An advertiser pulling his support or a Law suit from someone claiming compensation for injuries gained from following the instructions in a practical article, hold much greater sway with a publisher than the loss of a few disgruntled readers.

You will find other threads in these forums warning about the over-regulation of sailing as a whole. For me & I suspect many other boaters, lack of regulation & a feeling of self reliance is a major part of the lure of the sea. It is a freedom worth fighting for.

What a shame that our legal system cannot seive out ludicrous compensation claims & send the Leeches that live off them back to the gutter.

What a shame that our magazines don't have the editorial independence to be able to tell us the whole truth about the products we use.

To use an quote from one of my favourite TV programs (Monty Python) perhaps the best response you could hope for from th PBO editorial office is " I admit it but society is to blame"


Martin

 

[celandine]

I agree, and another difference between PBO of today, and those of the 70's is that in those days women pictured on the front cover actually had LEGS - the mental straight-jacket of PC consciousness taking its toll yet again no doubt.

Mick

 

[petery]

I suppose this forum is the answer to getting unbiased product assessment and practical advice on DIY & sailing skills.

All we need is a simple and easy way of creating and posting high quality images along with out text ... and we're there. Some posters manage to do it regularly.

A 'text only' post on the way you install single-line reefing does not fill the bill ... but with a diagram....

 

[hlb]

There you go then............
>
>
>
>
>

<font color=blue> Haydn

 

[clyst]

Well bugger me !! how do you DO that as a complete computer nerd please explain!!

Regards Terry

 

[bigmart]

Here Here

Thats pretty impresive.

How do you do that?

There again who is it that gets sued for trapping their fingers in the contraption shown? The poster or YBW.com

Where do we go from here.

Martin

 

[bigmart]

I am torn by your post.

Whilst I am attracted to the idea of a PBO with a cover like FHM, the constant strive for realism in sailing would suggest that an 18 stone of balding, pot bellied Adonis, in a pair of 3 size too small shorts, such as myself may prove more enticing to the general readership.

What do you think?

Martin

 

[hlb]

Afraid I cheated. Just for speed. But theres not much of a proplem in you doing a sketch. Then posting it to a web site, then put the URL like this.

http://home.earthlink.net/~sparkg/v10/dboard1.jpg

Then put [image] before the http thingy, then[/image] after it.

Right click on the drawing then on Properties and you will see what I mean. I'm a dummy with confusers!!

<font color=blue> Haydn

 

[clyst]

I didn't mean the sketch I ment moving the donkey's bloody ears!! ------------- seriously though couldn't just a disclaimer be printed somewhere? or is that too simple?
regards

Terry

 

[hlb]

Ah. You need to read the Panto forum. "Pussy In Boats" Harry is a magic donkey ......../forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

<font color=blue> Haydn

 

[Johnjo]

Well I had my crack at PBO, in a earlier post, one thing they are
to be congradulated on is this web site,I have read various comments
about it being over censured, but have yet to see it occur when it
was not needed imho,

mike

 

[clyst]

Yea I appreciate your comments about censorship and fully agree with them Mike but I just want to buy a mag that is going to be of use to me . I'v no wish to read test reports on mega expensive boats or where the best buys for 800squids of oilies are I just want a mag for chaps who sail with the basics but have the ability to improve their craft themselves just like the old days ! It aint going to happen though but it would be nice!

Regards

Terry

 

[Johnjo]

My sentiments exactly.
made my feeling clear on a earlier thread
regards mike

 

[alanporter]

On my side of the Pond we have a magazine called "DIY Boatowner - the Marine Maintenance Magazine". It only comes out four times a year but it builds up to a virtual textbook on how to do anything and everything on the boats owned by poverty-stricken sods like us. Check out www.diy-boat.com

Alan Porter

 

[Cornishman]

I am wondering why all this has been posted here, YM Scuttlebutt? Whenever I login the first page I see is for PBO Reader to Reader posts which imho would be a more appropriate place for your comments. How many YM readers can afford more than one monthly mag?

Happy New Year, Everybody.

 

[Parashandy]

Never mind PBO. After taking YM for 28 years I stopped after reading the ediorial of the May 1999 issue. Hardly in the spirit of Maurice Griffiths and totally against all that I believed YM stood for.

The good news is, that I returned to buying YM a couple of months ago. I like what I read and think that the future now looks much brighter. I know I was not alone in taking offence at "that editorial".

Clyst is absolutely right about PBO catering much more for the £100k brigade than those of us with somewhat smaller craft that tend to get used more. I was amazed to read of an AGEING Westerley Discus (page 5 of the PBO Jan isue) which I feel proves the point made by Clyst and must serve to alienate more readers than it wins.

Time will tell.

 

[Parashandy]

Never mind PBO. After taking YM for 28 years I stopped after reading the ediorial of the May 1999 issue. Hardly in the spirit of Maurice Griffiths and totally against all that I believed YM stood for.

The good news is, that I returned to buying YM a couple of months ago. I like what I read and think that the future now looks much brighter. I know I was not alone in taking offence at "that editorial".

Clyst is absolutely right about PBO catering much more for the £100k brigade than those of us with somewhat smaller craft that tend to get used more. I was amazed to read of an AGEING Westerley Discus (page 5 of the PBO Jan isue) which I feel proves the point made by Clyst and must serve to alienate more readers than it wins.

Time will tell.

 

[rickpayne]

Put us out of our misery. What was "that editorial" that was offensive. I don't like to miss anything.

 

[clyst]

My dear Cornishman ! If you look under the headings of the forum you will see why this thread is more applicable to scuttlebutt. Cheers ol' boy !