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Boat Trader’s section dedicated to offshore fishermen, every month<br />
FISHING<br />
BOATS<br />
Fishing<br />
Boat News<br />
<strong>Nov</strong>ember<br />
Written by: Colin Etherington<br />
Southampton Boat Show has come and<br />
gone and as always a lot of people that<br />
attended were looking to buy an offshore<br />
fishing craft. The pontoons were very busy<br />
at times and I met several people who were<br />
looking at buying a dedicated fishing boat.<br />
It was interesting talking to them about<br />
what they thought were the most important<br />
aspects of a fishing boat. I agree that safety<br />
should come first, and then the majority of<br />
you mentioned the af<strong>for</strong>dability to run the<br />
boat. I think a lot depends on where you live<br />
geographically and how often you will be<br />
getting afloat as to the direction you take.<br />
It’s obviously far more expensive to keep<br />
your boat in a well maintained marina as<br />
opposed to having it moored in a tidal river,<br />
which has limitations to when you can use<br />
it. However, you can keep it on a trailer at<br />
home and avoid any mooring fees. You<br />
could decide to join a club that has a fleet<br />
of boats purposely <strong>for</strong> the use of fishing.<br />
Whilst at the Southampton Boat Show, I met<br />
up with Trafalgar Boat Club and they have<br />
two boats within their fleet; a Finnmaster<br />
Pilot 7 and a Beneteau Barracuda 7, which<br />
are available <strong>for</strong> use by their members.<br />
They are based on the Solent and with<br />
some great inshore ground fishing on their<br />
doorstep, it’s certainly worth investigating<br />
further, especially if you are a regular<br />
charter boat user.<br />
More and more boats are coming onto the<br />
market at different priced entry levels, so<br />
no matter what budget you have, there are<br />
boats that should suit your pocket. The cost<br />
of owning and running a boat is down to<br />
you. More and more anglers are realising it<br />
can be af<strong>for</strong>dable. It’s working out whether<br />
you are going to get value <strong>for</strong> money in<br />
ownership or, realistically, should you stick<br />
with chartered boat trips? My advice is to sit<br />
down and do the maths, it may surprise you!<br />
22
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