Southampton Boat Show

[chipko]

I know a few of us have been or going to the Boatshow so any personal highlights?

Enjoyed our visit as usual and catch up with some of the regular exhibitors. A few less stands again this year, particularly from the British rib manufacturers, and general chandlers where you always saw something you didn’t know you wanted but couldn’t resist! Plenty of hard hull sports boats represented again, which were of interest to us, as we changed from rib to a sports boat early this year.

Picked up some electronic goodies to add over winter to our new boat and another hp dropstitched inflatable body board from Two Bare Feet to add to the pair we already have.

Quite interested to see in the fresh the new Ribcraft R350 which looks pretty snazzy. Bit of a jet ski feel but a mini deep V rib with slide on tubes. Not cheap by any means at £24,000 with a Suzuki 40 but a £500 deposit will secure you a show deal at just under £20,000 with a Spring 2025 delivery….nice but still too pricy for me.

https://ribcraftleisure.com/models/r350/

[Nasher]

I'm looking forward to my visit on Thursday.

[smallribber]

Me and Her indoors went to the Show on Monday and had a lovely time. The Weather was amazing. Here is a little video of our visit to SIBS 2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XHlm1zZh_4

[Steve509926]

As a first time visitor I was pleased that I went to see the things I had planned to see, but overall I was a little underwhelmed by the show. I was expecting more. The number of chandlers and clothing (boating) exhibitors was disappointing, I thought there may have been a few more of the smaller Sib & Rib dealers/manufacturers exhibiting.
I was impressed with Excel & Boatworld, they took there time and showed me things that I was interested in but clearly not going to buy. Unlike Honwave/Honda who as soon as they knew I wasn't interested in a new outboard practically blanked me.
Pleased I went though.

[smallribber]

Originally Posted by Steve509926

As a first time visitor I was pleased that I went to see the things I had planned to see, but overall I was a little underwhelmed by the show. I was expecting more. The number of chandlers and clothing (boating) exhibitors was disappointing, I thought there may have been a few more of the smaller Sib & Rib dealers/manufacturers exhibiting.
I was impressed with Excel & Boatworld, they took there time and showed me things that I was interested in but clearly not going to buy. Unlike Honwave/Honda who as soon as they knew I wasn't interested in a new outboard practically blanked me.
Pleased I went though.

Many of the main manufacturer stands are just Local Dealers who man the stands. They are not Say Honda Staff. Just local dealers who sell Honwaves amongst other things. The Likes of Excel and Boatworld are the actual people from the company with sometimes some helpers thrown in.

The Chandlers etc are indeed getting less. I thing think the Internet and You Tube etc is slowly killing shows and of course the huge fee they have to spend to attend.

We will almost always attend as we do it in conjunction with a boat/Canoe around the Hamble as my other video recently uploaded

I am glad you were pleased you attended. Nice to see things in real life before you buy sometimes. We bought an evaporater cooler for the Motorhome as we have no Aircon in that

[Fenlander]

>>>Unlike Honwave/Honda who as soon as they knew I wasn't interested in a new outboard practically blanked me.

Shame that. Not great salesmanship as many a "not buying today" has been turned round to a package purchased by an engaging salesman.

[Brinormeg]

Originally Posted by Fenlander

>>>Unlike Honwave/Honda who as soon as they knew I wasn't interested in a new outboard practically blanked me.

Shame that. Not great salesmanship as many a "not buying today" has been turned round to a package purchased by an engaging salesman.

Agreed! Almost every car we’ve ever bought was on the “only looking for now or in the early stages of our search” and been gently persuaded otherwise

Sign of a good salesman…..to judge from the off how to play each potential client!

A fine line I suppose from appearing uninterested as in your experience Steve, to being a pushy annoying arse which we’ve probably all walked away from, despite him giving the better deal

[Steve509926]

One exhibitor that explained things and took an interest even though I told him I wasn't in the market for a new outboard (perhaps because the stand was empty) was Selva.
What's the deal with them in the UK, why don't we see them that often? They look good quality (could be superficial), very good price and a 5 year warranty. I don't know enough about outboards to really comment, but are we missing a trick here.

[smallribber]

Originally Posted by Steve509926

One exhibitor that explained things and took an interest even though I told him I wasn't in the market for a new outboard (perhaps because the stand was empty) was Selva.
What's the deal with them in the UK, why don't we see them that often? They look good quality (could be superficial), very good price and a 5 year warranty. I don't know enough about outboards to really comment, but are we missing a trick here.

The are rebadged Yamahas. They generally don't sell well in my opinion cos they look horrible with that garish hood.

Rindy one of the main agents operates from near to me.

[Fenlander]

>>Selva. What's the deal with them in the UK, why don't we see them that often?

I'd like to hear more of them. They make a 15hp 2-stroke that weights just 30kg, that's way under any of the major makes. Bit crude looking under the hood and some say noisy but got to be worth a look you'd think.

They also do a 9.9hp 4-stroke 6kg lighter than any other make, unusually it's a single cylinder.

Unlike their larger models that may be Yamaha related I think these two are Selva's own.

Folks seem to knock them but I've yet to hear direct ownership experience.

[Nasher]

Mostly enjoyed my visit to the show today.

It wasn't a good start taking almost 2hrs to get there from my home 26miles away, but unfortunately that's simply the reality of travelling the A/M27 Corridor now.

Lots of RIBs there including some brands I've not seen before.
Although in reality of course they are actually a load of badge engineered clones.

Drooled over the Sargo 36fly, my dream boat at the moment, realised again how dated the Targa 42 looks now, which was my dream boat, and was rather taken with the Nodrstars, especially the Outboard version.
I love anything with a forward leaning windscreen and Scandy influence.

Usually when I go I just put up with the price of the refreshments, and take the high price of what's actually normally reasonable quality food as part of the experience.
This year however I wandered down to the main food area @12.30hrs and was surprised to see that although there was people eating and drinking in the middle not one of the food trucks had a queue, and most had the vendor just leaning out waiting for customers.
Then I saw the prices and realised why.
Food there has always been expensive, but as I walked around the different vans I just could not believe what I was seeing.
I'm sorry, I refuse to pay £15 for a Burger and £6 for a portion of Chips, and it looks like I wasn't alone in that view.
How about £18 for a small box of noodles?
I went to one of the coffee stands out of the main area, had an expensive coffee and decided to stay hungry until I could stop at Costa on my way out of Southampton.

[smallribber]

Originally Posted by Nasher

Mostly enjoyed my visit to the show today.

It wasn't a good start taking almost 2hrs to get there from my home 26miles away, but unfortunately that's simply the reality of travelling the A/M27 Corridor now.

Lots of RIBs there including some brands I've not seen before.
Although in reality of course they are actually a load of badge engineered clones.

Drooled over the Sargo 36fly, my dream boat at the moment, realised again how dated the Targa 42 looks now, which was my dream boat, and was rather taken with the Nodrstars, especially the Outboard version.
I love anything with a forward leaning windscreen and Scandy influence.

Usually when I go I just put up with the price of the refreshments, and take the high price of what's actually normally reasonable quality food as part of the experience.
This year however I wandered down to the main food area @12.30hrs and was surprised to see that although there was people eating and drinking in the middle not one of the food trucks had a queue, and most had the vendor just leaning out waiting for customers.
Then I saw the prices and realised why.
Food there has always been expensive, but as I walked around the different vans I just could not believe what I was seeing.
I'm sorry, I refuse to pay £15 for a Burger and £6 for a portion of Chips, and it looks like I wasn't alone in that view.
How about £18 for a small box of noodles?
I went to one of the coffee stands out of the main area, had an expensive coffee and decided to stay hungry until I could stop at Costa on my way out of Southampton.

We took a Tesco meal deal for £2.60 each. That includes a posh chilled coffee

[smallribber]

Originally Posted by Fenlander

>>Selva. What's the deal with them in the UK, why don't we see them that often?

I'd like to hear more of them. They make a 15hp 2-stroke that weights just 30kg, that's way under any of the major makes. Bit crude looking under the hood and some say noisy but got to be worth a look you'd think.

They also do a 9.9hp 4-stroke 6kg lighter than any other make, unusually it's a single cylinder.

Unlike their larger models that may be Yamaha related I think these two are Selva's own.

Folks seem to knock them but I've yet to hear direct ownership experience.

They seem to go well

https://fb.watch/uIosXBnXj6/

[Steve509926]

Originally Posted by smallribber

They generally don't sell well in my opinion cos they look horrible with that garish hood.

Taste is always a personal thing, on the right boat I think they look good.

Originally Posted by Fenlander

They also do a 9.9hp 4-stroke 6kg lighter than any other make, unusually it's a single cylinder

The guy on the stand probably shouldn't have said this, but he did "wouldn't be my choice on a small sib, not the smoothest of runners. I'd choose the 2 cylinder if it was my choice"

Originally Posted by Nasher

It wasn't a good start taking almost 2hrs to get there from my home 26miles away, but unfortunately that's simply the reality of travelling the A/M27 Corridor now.

The train in from the New Forest was very pleasant

[Nasher]

Originally Posted by smallribber

We took a Tesco meal deal for £2.60 each. That includes a posh chilled coffee

Yep, every year it's my plan to do something similar, but then I think I'll treat myself as it's part of the day out and the food regardless of it's cost is usually very good quality with lots of choice.

This year I just couldn't bring myself to pay that amount for a small box of noodles or similar from a van.

I expect the traders are just covering a stupid pitch rent from the organisers, so it's no wonder they charge so much.

[Nasher]

Originally Posted by Steve509926

The train in from the New Forest was very pleasant

I have done the train thing in the past, and the show used to run a free shuttle bus from Southampton central to the show entrance, not sure if they do that any more.

The thing is by the time I've driven to Havant, Petersfield, Fareham etc, parked the car, and then waited for a train, choosing the train would guarantee a 2hr trip each way for me rather than there be the possibility it could be quicker.
Note I didn't moan about the trip home in the middle of the afternoon which took @50mins.

[Steve509926]

I felt the same about food cost Nasher, but Diane gets very Joan "hangry" Collins without food. Ended up paying an extortionate amount of money for burger & chips, although a pint of beer and half a cider wasn't too badly priced.
The overall cost was negated by free entry though.

[beamishken]

We went last year & were disappointed with the size of the show & lack of stalls selling accessories, it used to be you never came away from a boat show without buying a must have item you never knew you needed, sadly we struggled to find a couple of items we actually wanted.
Talking to a couple of guys working at the show this week & their opinion was its smaller & worse than last year. Considering london closed & Southampton was the only show left you'd expect it to have grown not shrunk but it seems to be on a downward trend. I think it's days may be numbered in the not too distant future.

[smallribber]

The London Show has in effect been replaced by the NEC Show early in the year so at least 2 shows a year in the UK. The NEC show is called Boatlife

[Pikey Dave]

I think the internet has changed the shape of many types of consumer show. It’s now become a showcase for manufacturers rather than retailers. You go, browse the products on the manufacturer’s stand, touch, play & then come home & find the cheapest deals online. No retailer can compete with that considering the costs of having a stand at the show.