Southampton Boat Show '14

[rockford22]

Will be there Monday to have a good look around, last year we went on a preview day when the weather was so terrible that about all of 10 people were inside. We even had a free sailing lesson as a result of the boat trip guys being so bored of waiting for punters that they offered to take us out for an extended trip. After years of power boating, the sailing lesson was a bit of an eye opener!

[Petrus1983]

I hope to get there this year. I would suggest though that if you're worried about the entrance fee then probably boating isn't for you anyway (although acknowledge saving money at any time is fun)

[donutsina911]

Going next weekend for a potter round.....chartplotter, new main and headlining all on the wishlist this year if deals can be done

[RSD 25]

I shall be there for the very first time on Friday with one or two of my best mates.

What shall we expect & will we (car nuts mostly or in my case, mainly!) enjoy it?

[Chrisgr31]

Popped along today, its a huge show and some very impressive boats there. Was slightly surprised about some of the prices. Actually found one could get a nice, decent sized sailing yacht for a little over £100,000 which seemed remarkably reasonable. I mean I dont have £100k just hanging around to spend but its not totally out the question in due course. Also seemed relatively cheap compared to the cost of some of the smaller boats.

Mind you there were plenty that cost a lot more!

[Huntsman]

The excellent local Perkins and Caterpillar dealer Golden Arrow Marine ran a little competition, 2 tickets and a bottle of fizz, I'm taking dad this afternoon.

[AngryPartsBloke]

It was what i expected and confrimed to me that we had made the right decision to not have a stand this time around, quite a few people were missing this year. I was on some stands for up to an hour (having my fill of free Tea and buscuits) and quite often i was the only person the whole time.

[Fishtigua]

I'm not going to be able to make it this year, the MD has to go for a meeting this time and take the Allard over for crash repairs.

Shame, I wanted to meet with loads of my suppliers and catch up on the industry gossip, the Guinness tent very good for that type of thing.

[Chrisgr31]

AngryPartsBloke said:

It was what i expected and confrimed to me that we had made the right decision to not have a stand this time around, quite a few people were missing this year. I was on some stands for up to an hour (having my fill of free Tea and buscuits) and quite often i was the only person the whole time.

The impression I got from what I overheard yesterday was that the stands were doing quite well at the show, however there does seem to be a conflict between being a show for sales and a show for the public. However not sure what the solution is to that conundrum, as you need the non-boat buying public to make the show pay.

[Bbunter]

I really dread 'boat show time'. It's a total cringe fest. The roads have been re designed to make it less traumatic this year, but the cringe is just as bad. Still, it's nearly over, thank (insert name of suitable sky fairy).

[zed4]

Boat show done! I had a really good show, much better than last year. Got a good few boats sold and the general feeling was that people were there to buy boats, it was like a completely different show to last year in terms of customer quality. Very happy with how it went, although I'm really looking forward to a day off on Saturday at long last!!

[LFB531]

I was a boat show newbie but really enjoyed it. Went across from Hythe having driven down from Bath which worked well.

Tried not to be a tyre kicker although suspect my planned upgrade will be s/h rather than new, found all the display reps really helpful and knew their product, some good contacts made.

Overall, a good day out and although a Saturday, didn't feel it was as stupidly crowded as I'd expected.

[bluesatin]

Always interested to know what happens to the lovely stands built for the show, Carpets decking etc. Where does it all go?

[zed4]

bluesatin said:

Always interested to know what happens to the lovely stands built for the show, Carpets decking etc. Where does it all go?

Into our warehouse.

[Chrisgr31]

bluesatin said:

Always interested to know what happens to the lovely stands built for the show, Carpets decking etc. Where does it all go?

I wait to be corrected but it does also depend on who the occupier of the stand is etc. Some of them will have been purpose built for that event and be scrapped afterwords but many of the parts of the stand will be recycled, others will be used at a number of events and therefore stored for the next event.