London Boat Show

[Smudge]

Well, we didn't go intending to buy a boat... we already have one! It was just that the last time we went we were in the process of having the Fairie fitted out and looking for ideas, and we did, plus we found out a lot more info that has been invaluable. This time we knew we'd be looking from a different viewpoint, as liveaboards, and were interested in finding out about the additional things you think of as time goes on. Plus, we don't have a (decent) chandelry anywhere near us, and there are always little bits and bobs that you need, aren't there? We did find out what we needed to know about wind gennies tho, so not totally wasted.

 

We'd love to go to Crick, but it's at our busiest time of year at work so we'll have to see what happens.

 

Oh well!

[DHutch]

Right well, we're just going now, should be good.

- Eather than or it was going to the design musium to see jcb's diesal max....

 

 

Daniel

[NB Willawaw]

Yes I'm going tomorrow, but only because I was given free tickets.

 

I like the Excel show because it is dockside and so, a bit more realistic than Earls Court

with its fake pond.

 

P.S I'm going to the 2008 not the 2007 one..

 

Edited January 12, 2008 by NB Willawaw

[Sam]

Yes I'm going tomorrow, but only because I was given free tickets.

 

I like the Excel show because it is dockside and so, a bit more realistic than Earls Court

with its fake pond.

 

P.S I'm going to the 2008 not the 2007 one..

 

 

I went when it first started at Excel.. I won tickets from WaterScrape

 

Very interesting to go and look at the things on display. Made many plans for buying a rib that day

 

I heard that they have gotten rid of the indoor water sports arena thing??

 

Sam

[DHutch]

Well that was a experince!!

- Absolutly mind boggling to tell you the truth, and we only saw maybe nearly non of it. Didnt get till nearly three and left at siz.

- But yeah, just maddness, shear madness. The walk round hms exeter was very good too, well recomend that, and just wow!

 

 

Daniel

[Tomska]

Noticed it's the London Boat Show this weekend. Looks a bit powerboat-oriented.

 

Anyone been? Any good?

[fender]

Noticed it's the London Boat Show this weekend. Looks a bit powerboat-oriented.

 

Anyone been? Any good?

 

Its ok if you like big boats. I've seen in most of these over the last few years so dont bother now going on them. I went last night and there was very little in the way of inland waterways. There's the IWA with a smaller stand than usual. I throughly recommend the Ireland Waterways stand - plenty of freebies including navigation books. There's a competition for holidays. The Irish waterways look so much more tempting and well kept than ours.

 

Take a look in the one of the navigation handbooks for the Ireland waterways licences and mooring fees and you will realise we pay so much for what amounts to pure crap waterway standards in the UK. I say I cant blame the crew of N/B Ernest (Tuesday Night Club) for deciding to move over there.

 

The Excel Centre was very quiet - expect the huge thunderstorm and torrential rain in the early evening yesterday had something to do with attendance being so low

Edited January 18, 2008 by fender

[GUMPY]

Its ok if you like big boats. I've seen in most of these over the last few years so dont bother now going on them. I went last night and there was very little in the way of inland waterways. There's the IWA with a smaller stand than usual. I throughly recommend the Ireland Waterways stand - plenty of freebies including navigation books. There's a competition for holidays. The Irish waterways look so much more tempting and well kept than ours.

 

Take a look in the one of the navigation handbooks for the Ireland waterways licences and mooring fees and you will realise we pay so much for what amounts to pure crap waterway standards in the UK. I say I cant blame the crew of N/B Ernest (Tuesday Night Club) for deciding to move over there.

 

The Excel Centre was very quiet - expect the huge thunderstorm and torrential rain in the early evening yesterday had something to do with attendance being so low

 

Did you get outside?

The inland stuff is all floating in the dock about 8-10 boats IIRC.

 

Julian

[fender]

Did you get outside?

The inland stuff is all floating in the dock about 8-10 boats IIRC.

 

Julian

 

No I didnt go outside this time it was pouring with rain, and the lightning it was amazing, I thought the Excel centre was going to be trashed! I wanted to have a look also at the boats from the SPCC that had travelled up the Thames but gave it a miss

[honey ryder]

I went on wednesday,

 

got a decent bargain on a wind gennie/solar panel combo and visited lots of smaller boats ( yachts not motor)

briefly walked around the motorboat section inside but was only interested in the smaller stands.

 

theres a few bargains to be had if you are wanting something specific.

 

i didnt go outside, mainly because i ran out of time looking around boats inside. I was there from the moment it opened to the pretty much the end of the day.

I think if you havent been to a show for a while its always worth going, but if you went to southampton then you might want to wait a while.

 

theres always the inland show coming up at the NEC if you want to look at more canal specific stuff.

The excel show is a bit coastal and river oriented.

[Tomska]

Thanks all. Never been to a boat show, so may as well give it a look. I have loads on my shopping list with a fitout looming and am always looking for ideas.

[blackrose]

I had a good time and despite the show not being orientated towards the inland boater, there are still plenty of equipment suppliers. I spent some time at the Isuzu stand who confirmed that if the correct API CC grade of oil is used there's no need to run the engine in gear when moored for charging. The Merlin Powerstore stand was good as usual - plenty of good info there. These shows are the best opportunity to talk to these people about the equipment on your boat - or equipment you're thinking of buying. If you do decide to buy something at the show it's really worth haggling hard - as well as "show prices" the atmosphere seems to lend itself to a good deal, and I've heard that if you go on the final weekend you might even get a better deal as they're eager to make sales before the show closes.

Edited January 18, 2008 by blackrose

[ChrisG]

If you want to get free tickets for the NEC show (February), there's a free draw on the UK Boating TV show.