London International Boat Show

[bru]

Been waiting in vain for someone to mention it. Hasn't happened so guess it's down to me!

It's the last weekend of the London International Boat Show at Excel in Londons' Docklands this weekend.

We're going tomorrow and I'm very interested to see what the new all singing all dancing interactive format we're apparently going to enjoy will actually be like.

Hopefully, there'll still be some boats to drool over and some chandlers to window shop in!

[FrankZ]

And here I am coming into London on Sunday morning and having to get up to Nottingham. If you would have posted about this sooner maybe I could have scheduled it in.

[bru]

Drat!

Sorry 'bout that Frankz

Schedule another trip to the UK early September for the Southampton Boat Show, that's the biggie these days

[bru]

Interesting day out

Wasn't impressed with the so called new format. A coupla naff scultures, a foggy tent and some dirty sand with an anchor being dragged along in it an interactive experienced do not make!

Never the less, we achieved what we wanted in getting eyes on with a lot of kit we're considering and giving she who must be obeyed a chance to get aboard some boats.

The wife really liked the Legend (Hunter to you American folks) 33. Superficially, at least, I have to admit that it's a well thought out boat. Best cockpit layout of any boat around its size at the show by far and ditto below decks. My niggling doubts about the toughness of the build were confirmed when I grabbed the usefully placed hand rail that runs along the bottom edge of the coach roof in the cabin and without exerting much force at all the GRP of the coachroof visibly flexed, Hmm!

My feeling at the time was that its a boat I'd certainly consider if I wanted a budget weekender / week to two week coastal cruiser but that despite its RCD Cat. A rating for ocean use I would not be keen on sailing it across the pond. That reaction was confirmed when I got home and dug out the Yachting Monthly review from a while back which said exactly that!

So now I've got to persuade the admiral to be that she can have max comfort but forget about a sojourn to the Carribbean or she can enjoy no limits sailing but there's a "price" to be paid

[GordMay]

Bru:
Pardon my ignorance of British idiom; but what is a “naff sculture”?

[Dunkers]

Gord, "Naff" means bad, as in "I've had a really naff day". I can also be used, as the Princess Royal famously said to some paparazzi years ago "Naff off!"

What Bru says about the newer boats is very true. I went to Southampton in September and the only boats that we really liked and felt to be seaworthy were the US built Islander range - beautiful but ooooooooooh so expensive. Still, its good to dream and maybe one day the right lottery numbers will be pulled out!

[bru]

It should have read "naff sculpture"!

Naff: cheesy, tacky, crappy, in poor taste.

The case in point was giant size sculptures of ropework which had been bigged up before the event as being something special. Laugh? I could have cried!

Yeah those Islanders were nice. In fact, they were NICE! Dream on

Me and SWMBO have just spent ages talking over what we learnt yesterday and ended up right back where we started - buying an older boat with enough accomodation and a solid reputation for seaworthiness and go anywhere capability rather than being sucked in by superficial comfort and space which comes at the cost of build quality and durability

That's not to say that I would never contemplate buying a Legend. We reckoned that if we were planning on sticking to short trips of up to a week or two in coastal waters spending most nights in marinas we'd have one like a shot. Hell of a lot of bang for the bucks if you don't need heavy weather capability, liveaboard storage volume and high intensity use durability.

Can't fault the Legends at all for the way they're thought out, it's just that you can't (it seems to me) get that much space into a 33' boat without compromising the seakeeping abilities to a fair extent and you can't do it at that price without sacrificing finish quality and solidity.