Southwest International In Water Boatshow - Houston

[ErBrown]

Howdy Folks,

My wife and I would like to get to a decent boat show and take a look at as many different cruising sailboats as possible. We're not really in the market for a cruising boat yet, but just want to find something close to start getting a feel for what we like.

I've done some searching and see varying responses to the valy of this particular show, but since most of those threads are several years old. I thought it might be worth asking for recent info since the 2014 show is this March and is only about a 3 hour drive for us. Is this show still really focused on fishing or will we be able to look at a variety of cruising boats, new/used doesn't matter much to us at the moment. I know we could technically track down a broker and look at a bunch of used boats while we're there, but since we wouldn't be looking to buy a big boat for at least 2-3 years, we don't want to waste anyone's time. That being said we'd love to start getting an in person feel for what we like/dislike.

I know the Annapolis show is the holy grail but at this point the expense of flying up there to check it out just isn't worth it to us.

Anyway, you're thoughts and recommendations would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
EB

[meggiesan]

I will caveat this response that we currently have a Contender and are looking for a catamaran. My husband and I attended the Houston show last year. I have not looked at the line up for this year. We also went to the Annapolis Sailboat show in the fall.

Last year there were very few boats and most of them were power. Lots of the boats were used and being sold through brokers - very few manufacturers with new boats. There were few vendors we were interested in. We did not get a chance to go for any of the seminars. I guess it really depends what you are looking to accomplish.

I will say if you can do it, the Annapolis show is by far the best one we've been too. We went for three days, looked at the boats, talked to the manufacturers and sat through several of the seminars.

[ErBrown]

Thanks for the response.

For us new boats are fine since all we're looking for is a first hand look at a variety of styles and builders to start getting a feel for what we want. Do you happen to remember if the used boats where open to anyone an the show to walk through (open house style) or did you have to schedule appointments with a broker?

I'm thinking Annapolis will be on our agenda down the road, before we get serious about our shopping. For now we're just looking for an easy way to look at a variety of boats close to home.

Thanks again