london boat show

[GED]

To anyone who has been this year to the London boat show....what did you think of the show, got any pics to show us, any bargains to be had. Ive heard
so far it hasnt been good for visitors or exhibitors....

[Biggles]

I was gonna go but its in London. Transport system sucks and driving not welcome to Londoners. Blame the Mayor.

[bogib]

Planning to arrive at Heathrow at noon Saturday spending the afternoon at Excel then flying back home Sunday morning.

Planning to spend more time at Dusseldorf boatshow in two weeks time.

Bogi

[Oogs]

Not been to London since the demise of Earls Court.
Will be going to this instead.... just register & blag stuff!

http://www.bbex.co.uk:80/

[Tim M]

Went today. Was a bit disapointed; Southampton was better by far. I went with the intention of ordering some jockey seats but no-one was interested in doing deals (in fact I was really annoyed with Ribcraft who didn't really make any effort to help me or take me seriously.) Probably a good show if your into saily boats as theres a whole hall full of them. Not really my cup of tea. Only thing that seemed cheap was inflatables - was tempted to buy a little 2.4 for only £299! On the plus side the food and drink is much better value than southampton, and much nicer too. (Hog roast was £7 at southampton. By comparison a smoked salmon platter was £7.95 at london). The show didn't seem very busy at all and there were a lot of traders who looked quite board and depressed. I did enjoy going round the type 23 destroyer (although they thought I looked dodgy for some reason and seashed me in case I was a terrorist.) Bought a new top, a neck warmer and a bouy but don't think I really saved much money. Don't think I'll be going back to this one next year given the amount of time spent in the car getting there and back. Oh yes, and make sure you take lots of cash with you. The bars wont take cards, and the cash machines charge you £2.49 to use.

[Nos4r2]

I thought about going as I've got a bit of free time at the moment but then saw this:-

http://www.worldseafishing.com/forum...ad.php?t=50987

I'm not paying to be treated like crap. I can get that at home

[bogib]

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

I thought about going as I've got a bit of free time at the moment but then saw this:-

http://www.worldseafishing.com/forum...ad.php?t=50987

I'm not paying to be treated like crap. I can get that at home

Funny reading and surely a lot of truth to it.....
How typical for my colleages at Barrus (dealers representatives) far to busy of themselves and so categorized.

Bogi

[Nos4r2]

I wonder if they realise quite how much money they lose out on with their snottiness?

[Jizm]

I go to SBS every year and always get treated well. I did get treated extra special when some of the salesmen found out I had a redundancy cheque in my pocket tho!

I wanted a WR426 motorcrosser a couple of years ago and decided that money talks so went down my local Yam dealer and spoke to the owner/manager: I said I was intersted in the WR and he said 'isn't everyone'. I asked if he had one and he said no, I would need to place a deposit and they would get one in. He was pretty arrogant and up his own arse so I carried on being polite and asked about facts, figures, accessories etc. He continued to be rude and acted as if I was wasting his time. He quoted the price, a shade under ~£5000 for the basic bike and asked me what I thought. I said that sounded good, He said 'gonna buy one then are we?' I put my hand in my jacket pocket and pulled out a large roll of £20 notes (about £3000, but he didn't know that) and said 'yes. I think I will, but not from you , you stupid F***** P**** etc etc etc etc.' I told him what I thought in no uncertain terms and even his staff were cringing in disbelief at what he had just done.
I bought one from another shop in the end but rode it down to the original dealer and asked the manager if they could get me a very expensive exhaust for my new bike. He said 'yes, certainly sir, etc etc.' I said 'that's nice, if you could order one in and shove it up your arse that would be great!' Never been back since, and heard other people have had similar run ins with him. Don't these people want to earn a living?

[BogMonster]

Originally Posted by Jizm

I wanted a WR426 motorcrosser a couple of years ago and decided that money talks so went down my local Yam dealer and spoke to the owner/manager: I said I was intersted in the WR and he said 'isn't everyone'. I asked if he had one and he said no, I would need to place a deposit and they would get one in. He was pretty arrogant and up his own arse so I carried on being polite and asked about facts, figures, accessories etc. He continued to be rude and acted as if I was wasting his time. He quoted the price, a shade under ~£5000 for the basic bike and asked me what I thought. I said that sounded good, He said 'gonna buy one then are we?' I put my hand in my jacket pocket and pulled out a large roll of £20 notes (about £3000, but he didn't know that) and said 'yes. I think I will, but not from you , you stupid F***** P**** etc etc etc etc.' I told him what I thought in no uncertain terms and even his staff were cringing in disbelief at what he had just done.
I bought one from another shop in the end but rode it down to the original dealer and asked the manager if they could get me a very expensive exhaust for my new bike. He said 'yes, certainly sir, etc etc.' I said 'that's nice, if you could order one in and shove it up your arse that would be great!' Never been back since, and heard other people have had similar run ins with him. Don't these people want to earn a living?

Well deserved IMHO

[Stephen-RIB]

Originally Posted by GED

To anyone who has been this year to the London boat show....what did you think of the show, got any pics to show us, any bargains to be had. Ive heard
so far it hasnt been good for visitors or exhibitors....

I travelled up on Monday by public transport, 2 hours door to door which I thought was very good.

Lots to look at and loads of RIBS, I wish I had more time to look around really but I had business to do. They have made some improvements in the layout and there are more attractions, I particularly like the engine maintenance demonstrations.

Much better than Earls Court for many reasons.

[John Kennett]

Originally Posted by Biggles

I was gonna go but its in London. Transport system sucks and driving not welcome to Londoners. Blame the Mayor.

My preferred route to Excel is to take the train into central London then use the Thames Clipper boat show service. It's probably not the quickest or cheapest way of doing it, but it's very convenient and a bit of fun.

John

[John Kennett]

Originally Posted by Tim M

I went with the intention of ordering some jockey seats but no-one was interested in doing deals

What sort of deal were you expecting? I think that on the whole "boat show specials" are a bit of a myth these days - if they ever really existed!

How was your smoked salmon platter?

John

[Jimbo]

Originally Posted by John Kennett

What sort of deal were you expecting? I think that on the whole "boat show specials" are a bit of a myth these days - if they ever really existed!

We're doing 10% off at Victory Yacht Charters and Haslar Sea School, and we're not even at the boat show...

Originally Posted by John Kennett

How was your smoked salmon platter?

[Tim M]

What sort of deal were you expecting? I think that on the whole "boat show specials" are a bit of a myth these days - if they ever really existed!

I disagree. Traders are Southampton were happy to do reductions on already reduced prices. As an example I managed to get a further £20 off a crewsaver lifejacket that was already on offer. If they wern't willing to do any reductions that's fair enough, but if I express interest in someones product I expect to be treated like a customer, not just some student who's after a free pen (thats another thing there was a distinct lack of free pens).

How was your smoked salmon platter?

Didn't have one but it did looked nice

[GED]

still havent seen any photos yet!

[wavecrosschris]

Went Sunday. Have Never been to Excel before. Car parking is a joke. You suddenly arrive at the place in what seems the middle of nowhere, where you join a short que of cars (on a sunday). As you open your window to the attendant selling the parking tickets, he asks you 'HOW LONG?' ...Erm, I'm not sure mate?! I'm going to a show where I will spend a couple of hours walking a couple of hours talking and a while getting lost?!, how longs a piece of string? - '...OK IT'S £5, £10 £15' ....errrr?

So as it turns out you might as well pay a fiver and in reality you stay as long as you like - nobody checks tickets there and if you outstay your pay on your ticket you just even it up on the way out If somebody is manning the barrier - which they weren't on sunday evening.

The show itself, although lacks the character of Earls Court, is much better layed out and there is so much more space you don't find people get in your way as much. Unless you are on the Sunseeker stand. The amount of people on there was also a joke at any given time - even up to 6.30pm when all the others had emptied, Sunseeker was still crawling!

RIB wise, I didn't see anything other than a 5m Valiant which I thought was good value - I spent 7hours there and didn't see any mouldings or accessories for RIBs - Not like the Southampton, where there are quite a few stands selling the sort of stuff you might like to stick in a RIB.

The engine/outboard companies where all there - although I was dissapointed to find Yamaha didn't carry any accessories or parts - go to the Volvo stand opposite and they carry loads. However I was after a water seperating fuel filter and met the guy on the Yam stand who supplied my boat who gave me a great deal on one after the show.

The best value powerboat was, in my view the new princess V45. It's SO much better value than the Sunseeker Superhawk 43 although the superhawk is totally stunning in Silver and black the princess offers the same sort of thing with double the space and cabins and a sliding roof to go with it. Unfortunatley Princess had sold the first 5 (4 of which are still in build) so I couldn't come away with it on the back of the car.

Overall I enjoyed it, met all the people I usually do and came away less stressed than I remember being after Earls. I think this show has really turned into the East Coast boatshow in a way - Most of the exhibitors and chandlerys are from that area of the counrty and from what I heard from most people alot of the south coast lot that once attended the London boatshow don't bother so much. Personally I think if you are going to look specifically at RIBs and accessories, wait and make the effort to go to RIBEX or the Southampton Int. You will find a lot more there that interests.

6.5/10

[nik]

I was considering going up on sunday to see if I could get a deal on a drysuit.
But it seems I could be wasting my time.

[wavecrosschris]

Originally Posted by nik

I was considering going up on sunday to see if I could get a deal on a drysuit.
But it seems I could be wasting my time.

No I wouldn't bother if thats the only item you need, I went looking for a couple of auto lifejackets, but I got the ones I want £10 cheaper from a shop on ebay than at the show and they arrived the next day!

[Tim M]

Dito on the carparking thing; we wasted £9 on parking when we could have got away for £3.