Photos From Sydney Boat Show

Last weekend I took a trip to the boat show in Sydney, and boy was there a lot to look at.   Of course the usual display of boats that cost more than houses, and given the state of the housing market here some of them probably represent better value.

This time I thought I’d focus on the unusual – starting off with my favourite of the entire show – the Jet Powered Kayak!

 Jet Powered Kayak

Starting at the business end, we have an “Overseas designed, Chinese Manufactured” 17.5hp Jet propulsion unit.  This will apparently scoot this two seater Kayak around Sydney Harbour at over 20kts – yes, that’s right Sydney Harbour because you register it as a boat according to the nice ladies on the stand.

At the front we have joystick steering and trigger-finger throttle control. This thing looks like it could be awesome fun, until we get to the last and final picture…

At 13 Grand for the show special for a Kayak with a 17.5hp Motor in it (especially a Chinese one) you have to wonder how much value this actually could be when you can get a brand-name Jetski for around the same price.

The Semi-Submersible Submarine

This caught my eye also – at first because I hadn’t a clue what it was, and then because I thought it was cool and it went into the “Want one” basket.    Unfortunately this thing is $90,000 in US Dollars which means I won’t have one any time soon.

Still – I asked the young Korean bloke how many people it could hold…  he told me 11- but then added in a whisper  “but Australians are very fat”.   Maybe you’d get 6 people on here in comfort which gives us a 2:1 Exchange rate between Aussie and Korea.

Boat Paint

The most interesting thing for me at the show was boat paint.  You see, there comes a time in a mans life when he considers buying an older boat (because the new ones cost half a million dollars) and making it look like a new one.   Kinda like when kids buy a $800 car and then put $3000 worth of mag wheels on it, and a stereo that would shake it apart.

Having recently taken a few looks at some of these older boats, and comparing them unfavourably with my smaller (but shinier) newer one the idea of painting one up to look like new crossed my mind.   I have to say – this paint does look really good, and gets excellent looking results.

Nice Big Cats

There were some lovely big cats there which were an absolute treat to view.  Only a couple of million bucks and one could be mine.   I was sorely tempted – but in the master stateroom this window about 2 inches from the water level put me off.   For those of you who don’t speak French the red sticker roughly translated said “This window is a really bad idea”

Something for the ladies?

This lovely inflatable is available in Pink.  I have no idea why this amuses me -maybe trying to appeal to the female demographic?

Solution looking for a problem

One one of the many boats I looked over (I think this was on one of the Rivieras) I saw the boat actually had it’s own camera-based security system.   Come on guys the boat isn’t quite that big !

Talking of Solutions looking for a problem, we see “Sea Legs” again at the show.   They ruin a perfectly good inflatable by making it impossible to beach because of the huge great wheels they put on it.    Reminds me of that video of the hang-glider inflatable which even though dangerous, illegal, a nightmare to licence – looks insanely fun.