Gulf Coast - Mobile Boat Show, did anybody go?

I'm not going to be able to go this year.:( Just wondered, with the economy and such, how was the turnout and was there anything new to see?

To be honest, I knew nothing about it. They must not be promoting it that much this year................

Turn out was fair today, not many larger fishing boats but not a bad boat show had a 33 contender, 34 pursuit a 33 grady I believe a couple jupiters, I was dissapointed in the other vendors though not many reel guys, I was lookin forward to seeing the everol guys

drove down with some friends from school yesterday for the show. I was disappointed. Not very many boats. The Virginia Beach show at home is better, and that surprises me. Contender had a 33ST, 27T, and 33T there, and Jupiter had their 39. The 26 Classic was the only Regulator. I was most impressed with the Cape Horn 31T. It was gorgeous, not a bad price either.

Good thing Mobile has a couple good bars, otherwise the trip down would have been kinda worthless.

I went Saturday and was not suprised with the economy being the ay it was. I was suprised that there were so "few" fishing tackle / supply vendors there. In looking at the boats, I would have to say that the "Blackwood" was the best overall looking boat there. It was a beast and for a $125K it could have been bought...

Needless to say, the only money I spend was on a bottle of water.....

Come on SUMMER !!!!!

turnout was about what i expected, Shearwater came from Jacksonville which i thought was nice, it gave me a chance to talk to a dealer about some warranty work. They will also be at the 1st annual orange beach in water boat show this weekend at the Wharf.

yeah, that Blackwood was pretty good looking. I asked the salesman how they've sold recently at shows and he said they were pretty happy with how it's done. I'm not sure it's a very practical boat, but she certainly looks good.

How long do you think the TV on the blackwood will last. im sure the internals wont last too long. To me, that is just moronic.

How long do you think the TV on the blackwood will last. im sure the internals wont last too long. To me, that is just moronic.

haha, yeah. What a horribly dumb place to put a tv, on a boat!

You think the TV is bad, you didn't see the hot-tub in the 180mph cat in miami.

Cape Horn seems to be trying to please the fairer side of the purchasing decision with nicer finished boats than in the past. The new smaller 25' Jupiter was nice as well. The Blackwell 27 looked like something taken a step further than the Everglades in the glitz and gadget department.

Best in the show was the 14' wooden boat "Tenderly" built by Fred Rettig, put there just for us to look at. It was his first boat project, incredibly detailed and immaculately hand crafted from a dozen or so different woods with inlays everywhere including the stringers. No fasteners are visible in the construction except for the brass screws on the oarlock bases. It is a combination rowboat, sailboat tender, that has to be seen to fully appreciate it. It took 3 years to build, lots of clearcoat over the wood to pull out the detail and depth of the woods. The fittings were hand made of solid brass from heavy blocks of stock rough cut by laser and hand formed from there. The boat wasn't for sale, but of course, no price for it as a boat could be justified, it is a work of art, albeit an operational one. It was very generous for him to buy space to display it without any expectation of a return other than the satisfaction of hearing the comments from admirers.

Best in the show was the 14' wooden boat "Tenderly" built by Fred Rettig, put there just for us to look at. It was his first boat project, incredibly detailed and immaculately hand crafted from a dozen or so different woods with inlays everywhere including the stringers. No fasteners are visible in the construction except for the brass screws on the oarlock bases. It is a combination rowboat, sailboat tender, that has to be seen to fully appreciate it. It took 3 years to build, lots of clearcoat over the wood to pull out the detail and depth of the woods. The fittings were hand made of solid brass from heavy blocks of stock rough cut by laser and hand formed from there. The boat wasn't for sale, but of course, no price for it as a boat could be justified, it is a work of art, albeit an operational one. It was very generous for him to buy space to display it without any expectation of a return other than the satisfaction of hearing the comments from admirers.

Yeah, she was gorgeous. :o

show kind of sucked..