Auckland Boat Show 2007

Sunday 11th March 2007, Frenchie and Sam went to the Auckland Boat Show to see what all the fuss was about.

We turned up at 10.00am when the gates opened and paid our $14.00 admission fee. We started off in the product tents where we admired the fine winches and blocks at the Fosters Harken stand. We also quite enjoyed the $11,000 Composite Toilet. It was 7.5Kg including pumps and piping compared with a 30Kg standard head. The guys at the stand said they had sold 7 units already and only had 5 in stock! When it’s time to upgrade the head, we know where to head.

The guys at the Fosters stand were great. They gave us some bags and bunch of promo material. We’ll head down there soon to get on of their teak flag poles.

We saw some electric outboards, which would be a great alternative to our heavy petrol one. They draw 50 amps though so we figure you’d need an engine just to power one. In the engine tent we met with the CAT 1001BHP Turbo Diesel Marine Engine. It was quite immense, but still nothing compared to the Bugatti Veyron W16. There were also some 350BHP Honda outboards, which were bigger than Frenchie and I combined.

Down in the actual viaduct, we boarded a $1.5 million Cauntach. It was a power boat, not the Lambo, but still. We also had a nosey around some 40′ and 50′ yachts and a 40′ crusing cat with four double bedrooms, four heads, four showers and a big solar rig. Nice.

Telecom then gave us some floating keyrings and MIT gave Frenchie another one. Our loot came out to; 3 keyrings, 4 pens, a sticker and a bunch of fun leaflets. Not bad.

We also saw some cool synthetic teak deck material, which might be a good material for the false floor down below.

Looks hard, but easy. All in all the Boat Show was well worth $14.00 and we got some awesome ideas to crank out onto the boat.