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Just got back from a couple of days at the boat show , the missus and me went down early (slinky kate early 
) sunday morning , I got to see a sunrise 
, averaged 70mph on a 350 mile drive 
and arrived there not long after the show opened. It's huge 
, we'd booked tickets for Sunday and Monday so the first day was supposed to be to have a good look round and make sure we knew where everything was ...... ha! it's massive.
I was looking for a new boat , I've been to see Normans 625 and I wanted something along those lines , like Richy though I wasn't sure whether to go for inboard diesel or outboard petrol. I had a list of boats I wanted to see , I found them all except the ocqueteaus , they could be there somewhere
but I couldn't find them 
I looked at everything 20ft -23ft that you can fish from and a whole lot more , the first boat I looked at was a Jeanneau Marlin 6 , Jeanneaus new outboard powered out and out fisher , I really liked it , at 20' 8" or so and a 115 outboard it looked perfect ,proper fishing boat style wheelhouse, big cockpit to fish from , side deck round to the bows for anchoring , live bait wells , rod storage .... it all looked perfect.
Moving on I looked at the Arvors , 215 and 215AS , again lovely boats , perfect for fishing , but this time with diesel inboards. On the way around the marina I spotted a Parker 660 , not on my list , but a boat I'd seen advertised on the internet and talked about on forums , it was a stunning boat , it was BIG , had masses of deck space , twin helm positions and a repeater chartplotter, one in the cabin as usual and another in the cockpit , perfect for driving back up the drift of a wreck without having to go back inside. Sea toilet , berths , comfy helmsmans seat ,135 outboard, I really really liked it. I was really , really tempted (and the wife liked it too)
I looked at the Pirate 21 , the orkney pilothouse 20 , a Mariner 700 walkaround (the roughest finished boat at the show) the quicksilver 640 , which I was also considering with a 115 outboard , and the Beneteau 680.
I was like a kid in a sweet shop with a fiver in his hand
By this time I was thinking some of these boats were maybe better than my first choice of the Marlin 6 , so i went back to have another look at her , she still looked the business , but whilst I was climbing all over her , inside and out, sitting at the helm , finding all the cubby holes and deciding which ones would hold what tackle ....... Mrs A was perusing the Marlins slightly bigger , more cruiser orientated sister , the Merry fisher 645 with it's sleek lines and 4 berths , galley and sun lounging cushions across the stern seats.
Just as I was coming to the conclusion that this Marlin 6 with it's fast , easy to maintain petrol outboard and all it's cockpit space was my perfect boat , along she came and pi$$ed all over my parade
" How is anyone going to get in and out of the cabin when the boat is moving ?" , "How are you going to store fishing rods behind that seat ?" How are you going to get fishing rods in the cabin with the door on the side ?"
"How are you.... " OK! OK! , I said....... she was right of course , it was a poorly thought out design.
She took me over to the Merry fisher 645 ,...... "Look at this one" she says, "You can remove the rear cockpit seats when you are fishing" , "Passengers can walk in and out of the cabin whilst you drive the boat", "Your fishing rods can be carried straight through the cabin doors and put away in the berths" , blah blah blah blah blah!......... She was right of course ...... and what's more.... She liked it
We went away to think about it and had a look at the electronics on show , Garmin , Raymarine , Furuno every brand you can think of out on display and working , it was brilliant trying them all out , I've got Raymarine on my boat at present ... but after an hour or three in that hall , I'm a definite Garmin convert now, I love their touch screen plotters
Anyway , it's a brilliant day (or two) out at the boat show , and I highly reccomend it to anyone interested in boats , specially anyone from up here in the north east where we aren't exactly spoilt for choice in the way of boatyards , so if you get the chance ....... get yourself away
Rqay
p.s. Much like my fishing reports....... a camera was taken
but wasn't used I'm afraid 
I really must employ a photographer to follow me around
) sunday morning , I got to see a sunrise , averaged 70mph on a 350 mile drive and arrived there not long after the show opened. It's huge , we'd booked tickets for Sunday and Monday so the first day was supposed to be to have a good look round and make sure we knew where everything was ...... ha! it's massive.I was looking for a new boat , I've been to see Normans 625 and I wanted something along those lines , like Richy though I wasn't sure whether to go for inboard diesel or outboard petrol. I had a list of boats I wanted to see , I found them all except the ocqueteaus , they could be there somewhere
but I couldn't find them I looked at everything 20ft -23ft that you can fish from and a whole lot more , the first boat I looked at was a Jeanneau Marlin 6 , Jeanneaus new outboard powered out and out fisher , I really liked it , at 20' 8" or so and a 115 outboard it looked perfect ,proper fishing boat style wheelhouse, big cockpit to fish from , side deck round to the bows for anchoring , live bait wells , rod storage .... it all looked perfect.
Moving on I looked at the Arvors , 215 and 215AS , again lovely boats , perfect for fishing , but this time with diesel inboards. On the way around the marina I spotted a Parker 660 , not on my list , but a boat I'd seen advertised on the internet and talked about on forums , it was a stunning boat , it was BIG , had masses of deck space , twin helm positions and a repeater chartplotter, one in the cabin as usual and another in the cockpit , perfect for driving back up the drift of a wreck without having to go back inside. Sea toilet , berths , comfy helmsmans seat ,135 outboard, I really really liked it. I was really , really tempted (and the wife liked it too
)I looked at the Pirate 21 , the orkney pilothouse 20 , a Mariner 700 walkaround (the roughest finished boat at the show
) the quicksilver 640 , which I was also considering with a 115 outboard , and the Beneteau 680.I was like a kid in a sweet shop with a fiver in his hand
By this time I was thinking some of these boats were maybe better than my first choice of the Marlin 6 , so i went back to have another look at her , she still looked the business , but whilst I was climbing all over her , inside and out, sitting at the helm , finding all the cubby holes and deciding which ones would hold what tackle ....... Mrs A was perusing the Marlins slightly bigger , more cruiser orientated sister , the Merry fisher 645 with it's sleek lines and 4 berths , galley and sun lounging cushions across the stern seats.
Just as I was coming to the conclusion that this Marlin 6 with it's fast , easy to maintain petrol outboard and all it's cockpit space was my perfect boat , along she came and pi$$ed all over my parade
" How is anyone going to get in and out of the cabin when the boat is moving ?" , "How are you going to store fishing rods behind that seat ?" How are you going to get fishing rods in the cabin with the door on the side ?"
"How are you.... " OK! OK! , I said....... she was right of course , it was a poorly thought out design.
She took me over to the Merry fisher 645 ,...... "Look at this one" she says, "You can remove the rear cockpit seats when you are fishing" , "Passengers can walk in and out of the cabin whilst you drive the boat", "Your fishing rods can be carried straight through the cabin doors and put away in the berths" , blah blah blah blah blah!......... She was right of course
...... and what's more.... She liked it We went away to think about it and had a look at the electronics on show , Garmin , Raymarine , Furuno every brand you can think of out on display and working , it was brilliant trying them all out , I've got Raymarine on my boat at present ... but after an hour or three in that hall , I'm a definite Garmin convert now, I love their touch screen plotters
Anyway , it's a brilliant day (or two) out at the boat show , and I highly reccomend it to anyone interested in boats , specially anyone from up here in the north east where we aren't exactly spoilt for choice in the way of boatyards , so if you get the chance ....... get yourself away
Rqay
p.s. Much like my fishing reports....... a camera was taken
but wasn't used I'm afraid I really must employ a photographer to follow me around
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