Beware of addictive boat shows

Every boater will tell you--they're always shopping for, but seldom buying, that next boat

Date published: 2/18/2007

By Rob Hedelt

MY FAMILY gets a little nervous this time of year when I say anything about taking in a boat show.

With good reason. Not so long ago, I ventured out to Spotsylvania Mall to get a big chocolate-chip cookie.

And came back three hours later with an 18-foot powerboat from the mini-show in the mall's concourse.

Since then, my family doubts I can be trusted around any display of the sleek, snazzy powerboats I would love to collect the way Elvis did Cadillacs.

In the past few weeks, I've made them nervous twice, taking in a boat show at the conference center here and another at the state fairgrounds in Richmond.

While people who don't get excited over boats probably won't understand this fascination, most boat owners know the desire to always be choosing their next one.

Even if, as I do, they already have one in perfectly good working order.

The fascination is very much like the one many folks have with cars.

Sure, they're happy with their GMC or Subaru.

But the second next year's models come out, they can't wait to take a look, reveling in every new design, option and radical paint job.

That's how it is with me and boats.

Walking through the cavernous halls where they hold these boat shows, I spot each new twist and trend.

Like yellows and blacks? They're hot color schemes these days, along with bronze and antique blue, especially on high-end Chris Craft runabouts recalling those classic boats of an earlier era.

Other things causing excitement: more ecologically friendly outboards, stainless steel everything, bathrooms on smaller and smaller boats and sterns that feature swim platforms and walk-through entrances.

Storage under every seat, entertainment centers, built-in coolers, GPS units and even built-in air pumps, to help you blow up rafts and tubes, are other neat features.

Also drawing interest is a relatively new class of craft called deck boats, which combine the wide-open deck layout of a pontoon boat with the smooth-running, V-shaped hull of a runabout.

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Date published: 2/18/2007