West Marine Superstore & AC Boat Show
I got to the marina early to try and get some work done before we headed down to the boat show. Apparently this soda blasting company had other plans for me. I have never seen a blasting company setup such a large tent and then not contain the dust and debris that was blasted off the boat. They were inconvenienced by me working on my own boat since I would not let them use MY swim platform as a workbench or portions of MY boat to tape down the tent for the boat they were working on. Then while I was in the boat they moved my ladder and I then had no way to get down from the boat. At this point I was pretty mad and by the way they were setting up I figured it was best to leave and not be present while they were working.
When we returned from the show the mess was appalling. I am going to have a talk with the marina owners over it. Despite my boat being completely covered there is a coating of bicarbonate and bottom paint on everything. Not to mention the piles of it all over the yard. I can’t imagine how these guys stay in business the way they work.
After leaving the marina we headed over to checkout the new West Marine Superstore on the way to the Parkway. The new store is huge! It is well stocked, at least now if you are working on the boat and need a part, unless it is an engine part they should have it in stock. I hate patronizing the big box stores but on a Sunday afternoon there are not too many places to get parts these days. The bridge like electronics display is pretty impressive, they also have a sound proof audio booth for testing out stereos, speakers and amps, a huge fishing section with tackle from back bay to offshore, a much bigger selection of wire, connectors, fuses and circuit breakers that will come in handy and pretty much every other department has been super-sized.
We had heard that on Friday the boat show was very light in attendance and everyone we know that went was able to park in the convention center lot…big mistake. It was closed and we hit tons of traffic getting to it and away from it. So we made our way over to Bally’s to realize my is too tall to park there so around the block through the traffic and back to the Clarridge. It was like driving through mid-town Manhattan at rush hour.
As rumored there were none of the bigger boats due to restrictions on the bridge, wires and the marina that was used in the past being closed. With the limitation of being trailered in the largest that I saw was the 36 Bertram and the Cabo (not sure if it was the 35 or 36).
We did look at several of the outboard powered pilothouse style and express boats. The new Parker is a beast, the cockpit is enormous but trying to fight a fish that takes you around the transom would be impossible with those huge 350’s on the back. I don’t think you would be able to swing a line around them with a 7′ rod. The rocket launcher on the roof of the pilothouse I think Shaq would have a hard time reaching, standing on the gunwale would give you access to end two or three but after that you would need a ladder or have to stand on the livewell to reach them.
The Everglades was impressive as well. The windows on the bridge are huge.
The most impressive as far as interior space as well as layout was the 34 Whaler. The cockpit was not the size of the Parker but large enough four to five anglers. The Verado’s are much more compact than the Yamaha 350’s so fishing around them is quite a bit easier but still not my cup of tea. The bridge was roomy but down below is where they have the competition beat. The wasn’t another boat in the 34-36′ range that had the interior space of the Whaler. The stairs leading down could be a bit tricking in snotty conditions. My biggest concern with this rig would be the attitude at which she runs loaded. If she tends to run bow high like a Henriques then visibility will probably be an issue. But if that were fine and her handling good, this would be at the top of my list for a mid thirties outboard powered fishing boat.
The accessories section was not bad, a few vendors/manufacturers that I would have liked to have visited were not there. I renewed my Sea\\Tow membership with Capt. Sean, got a warm welcome and gift bag from Michelle and was able to meet Capt. Kermit form Sea\\Tow Manasquan…hopefully the boat shows are the only times I run into Capt. Kermit.
There was a booth for ShamWow but Vince was no where to be found. I am not sure if this was actually the real product or not. It seemed like a knock-off to me.
I was hoping to maybe find a great deal on a auto Garmin GPS unit, I remember seeing them last year but did not find a single one.
There was a booth that had some very interesting LED lights. There were spreader lights, drop lights and some were hard-wired and others were rechargeable. They referred you to the Consumer’s Marine booth for purchase but I did not feel like fighting the crowd around the booth. I am gong to get one of the spreader lights and give it a shot though, it seemed pretty bright at the show.
The guy with the soft-side coolers with the ice under halogen lamps was of course there. I might just have to get a small one to try them out. A couple of years ago they were next to us in the JCAA booth and it really is amazing how well they retain ice.
PlasTeak was helpful. I am considering replacing my carpets with a synthetic decking. I did not realize how expensive that product is though. For them to make the mats would be upward of a $1,000 for a very small area. I think I am going to have to measure better and do the math and see if it really does come out to that much and also compare the cost to the DIY materials they offer.
SeaSuckers were there. I got to talk to John about the issues with mine and he is going to replace them under warranty, I just need to ship him out the suction cups and the vacuum pumps. Will have to get on that later today.
All-in-all it was a pretty good show. I would have liked to drool over some larger boats that I can’t afford but I think they managed to pack in a good amount despite the issues they had of getting the larger boats in.