There is just over a week to go until the inaugural PBO Ask the Experts Live event at Beaulieu Boatjumble.
Held in the idyllic setting of the New Forest country estate in Hampshire, the annual Beaulieu Boatjumble regularly attracts around 9,000 visitors from across the United Kingdom and Europe.
Now in its 38th year, the boat jumble is an unmissable event for all sailors, with hundreds of stands offering boating bargains, new trailerable boats, dinghies, equipment and craft. Gates open from 10am.
Ask the Experts Live
New for this year is Practical Boat Owner magazine’s free Ask the Experts Live attraction, with non-stop practical presentations, demonstrations and the chance to quiz marine industry experts on a range of topics.
PBO has teamed up with Beaulieu and the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) Active Marina team to bring to life the free advice service offered through the magazine with a specialist marquee area, next to the Boatjumble visitor entrance.
Don’t miss Ocean Safety’s liferaft demonstration at 11.30am, plus talks from Met Office forecaster Penny Tranter, Golden Arrow Marine engineers, surveys expert Nick Vass, World Cruising Club director Jeremy Wyatt with advice on how to prepare your boat for long-distance cruising Silky Marine representatives with guidance on polishing and restoring faded glassfibre, Navionics with information on crowd-sourced charting, demonstrations by International Paint and sealant- specialists Sika.
There will also be a talk on using tablets for navigation by the visitmyharbour.com team, tips on basic glassfibre skills by Wessex Resins team, an RNLI lifejacket clinic, a RYA cruising clinic and a knot wall with four knots to test your skills.
The PBO team will be showcasing the Project Boat, Hantu Biru, for a third year – the Snapdragon 23 bought as a wreck on eBay and restored over two-and-a-half years.
RYA yachting development officer Guy Malpas said: “We are delighted to be involved with this project which builds on the success of PBO magazine’s ‘Ask the Expert’ pages and the Active Marina Experience with the first ever ‘Ask the Experts Live’ attraction at Beaulieu Boatjumble.
“There are fantastic workshops lined up with everything from lifejacket servicing to radar tips and engine maintenance to fibreglass skills. Visitors can also test their knot tying skills in the RYA knot wall challenge.”
Beaulieu Boatjumble 2015 Map
Boatmall
On your way from the main Beaulieu entrance to the Boatjumble field gates, you will pass through the Boatmall. Open from 9am, here you will find the latest products from manufacturers displaying trailerable yachts, dinghies, motorboats, accessories, clothing and services.
Display area
This area is dedicated to demonstrations and interactive activities for children and adults. Calshot Activities Centre will again provide a climbing wall and the Maritime Archaeology Trust will bring their Maritime bus alongside the return of the popular surf simulator, and much more to be announced. In addition, the Beaulieu Camera Group will have a marine photography exhibition.
Boatmart
If you are looking for a used boat, the Boatmart area, located next to the Boatmall, is a unique opportunity to browse around a wide range of used craft for sale, from classics to nearly new and those in need of restoration. Open from 9am.
Trunk traders
The enlarged Trunk Traders area gives amateur boat jumblers the opportunity to clear out their lockers and garages of boating bits or parts and setting up shop from their car boots.
Flare disposal
New for 2015, the Marine Police Unit have teamed up with Ramora UK to provide a flare disposal service at the Boatjumble. Bring your old and unwanted flares to the Ramora disposal point on the day to have them safely disposed of by the experienced explosive ordnance disposal team.
Other attractions
Boatjumble tickets include admission to the National Motor Museum, Palace House, Beaulieu Abbey, and World of Top Gear.
Ask the Experts Live talks schedule:
Register online to secure your place at the free event. You’re also welcome to just turn up on the day.
9.30am: Be your own surveyor
Independent surveyor Nick Vass will talk about problems that arise during surveys of used boats.
Nick, an established marine surveyor who operates along the south coast, bought his first yacht, a Hurley 20 back in 1985 and has since owned a Hurley 24/70 and a Fletcher sportsboat. He bought his current yacht, a Poncin Harmony 34 new in 2008 and cruises with his wife and two children around the south west, Brittany and Normandy. For a while Nick helped build Hurley 22 yachts and was a founding member of the Hurley Owners Association.
Nick said: ‘I’m really looking forward to next Sunday and meeting lots of PBO readers. Practical Boat Owner is a fantastic publication that I have been reading since I bought my own sailing cruising back in 1985.
‘PBO helped me greatly understand my own boat through well written and topical articles and reviews and is still a great read to me now. I’m very honoured to be able to contribute in this way and hope that I can pass on some of my knowledge to other boat owners.
‘I’ll be describing how to survey a boat yourself before buying it. What things to look for to weed out the wheat from the chaff and what aspects of your boat are important to check each year before launch.
‘I will also be showing photographs of defects often found on yachts and boats during surveys and discussing topical issues such as keel bolts, seacocks, modern developments on sending a distress signal and disposal of distress flares.
‘Innovations such as LED flares, EPIRBS and PLB’s will be talked about.’
10am: Sail greener
Royal Yachting Association Green Blue development officer Kate Fortnam advises on environmental best practice for boating.
RYA Green Blue development officer Kate Fortnam
10.30am: Essential sealant tips and tricksSika’s technical services expert Gareth Ross demonstrates how to use sealants for bonding and waterproofing on board.
Sika technical services expert Gareth Ross
11am: How to read the skies
Met Office weather forecaster Penny Tranter explains how to prepare for and respond to weather impacts.
Penny Tranter
Penny said: ‘We’re really looking forward to meeting visitors at our stand at the Beaulieu Boat Jumble and showing them all the different places where they can access Met Office marine weather forecasts to help them stay safe on the water.
‘I will also be giving a presentation about marine weather systems and how to understand forecasts and weather charts. Come along and ask me any weather related questions you might have.’
11.30am: Liferaft servicing
Ocean Safety reveal the importance of safety equipment servicing, complete with liferaft inflation.
Ocean Safety’s Steve Bockett
Steve Bockett, training manager at Ocean Safety, said: ‘We are delighted to be invited onto the PBO Ask the Experts panel at this year’s Beaulieu Boat Jumble.
‘We will be highlighting reasons why it is important to keep safety equipment well maintained and serviced by properly trained and manufacturer approved specialists. We will also be conducting a live liferaft inflation.
‘As a leading marine safety specialist, events like this are important to Ocean Safety as they allow us to talk to owners and offer help and guidance where it is needed.
‘We will be on hand during the day to help with any safety and servicing questions that people may have.’
12pm: Crowd-sourced charts
Navionics explain charts with crowd- sourced elements and compatibility with PCs, iPads and plotters.
Lance Godefroy, general manager for Navionics UK, said: ‘PBO have come up with a great idea with the first Ask The Experts Live event at Beaulieu.
‘I’m delighted to be invited to take part and have the possibility to inform boaters about the significant opportunities that crowdsourcing offers to the future of electronic charts.’
12.30pm: Engine advice
Golden Arrow Marine share top tips on keeping inboard and outboard engines running smoothly.
Martin Bizzell, Engineering Director for Salterns Marina Ltd said: ‘Golden Arrow Marine are really looking forward to being part of the PBO Experts Live event at Beaulieu this year.
‘Dave Hill, our Volvo Penta business manager, will be providing inboard engine advise and Sam Cobb, senior engineer from our Poole branch, will be passing on his expert knowledge on outboard maintenance, plus I am sure chipping in on inboard engines as well.
‘Both Dave and Sam have many years experience on all types of engines large and small, they look forward to passing this on and answering hopefully many questions from a participating audience.’
1pm: Long-distance cruising
World Cruising Club director Jeremy Wyatt advises on preparing your cruiser for extended voyaging.
World Cruising Club Director Jeremy Wyatt
Jeremy said: ‘World Cruising Club organise the annual ARC – the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, the longest established and best known transocean sailing event in the world.
‘This year sees the 30th edition of the ARC, and I will be pulling out some top-tips and sharing ideas for preparing your bluewater cruiser.
‘Using feedback from ARC sailors and the shared knowledge from their combined experience of 17,400,000 nautical miles of tradewind ARC sailing, I will cover key areas of boat and equipment set up for tropical cruising and bluewater ocean sailing, with the emphasis on turning a weekend coastal cruising boat into a transocean boat.’
1.30pm: Glassfibre skillsWest Epoxy (Wessex Resins) give hands-on demonstrations of using epoxy and glassfibre to refit boats.
2pm: Navigation by tablet
Visitmyharbour.com’s Steve Bryant and the team’s harbour research man Don Thomson talk about using tablets for boat navigation.
Don Thomson and Steve Bryant
Steve said: ‘Don and I are looking forward to explaining and demonstrating how a tablet computer can be used as a stand alone chartplotter on a small boat.
‘On the day we will have ready to use “turn key” Android tablets for sale, with app and charts. On our stand we will also demo new Windows 8.1 budget tablets, running more powerful Windows software. And have that software for sale.’
2.30pm: Painting made easyExperts from International Paint show you how to roll-on and tip-off to get a mirror shine on paint!
3pm: Restoring faded gelcoatSilky Marine provide hands-on demonstrations showing how to make your gelcoat shine again.
Silky Marine marketing manager Fowzie Smith-Tahir said: ‘The team at Silky Marine will be on hand on the day to support the great folks at PBO as we have a very special guest this year. In addition to doing hands-on demonstrations showing how to make your gelcoat shine again, we’ll be launching our very first approved valeter scheme for the PBO Ask the Experts.’ event.’
3.30pm: Corrosion explored
PBO expert Colin Brown looks at corrosion problems on board.
4pm: Essential radar skillsIndependent expert Alan Watson shares his radar knowledge.
Alan Watson
Other attractions
Lifejacket clinicRNLI Sea Safety Events supervisor Mike Hannam will show how to service your inflatable lifejacket.
Cruising clinic
RYA cruising manager Stuart Carruthers answers cruising queries and describes the RYA SafeTrx App.
Knot practice
The RYA Active Marina team’s knot wall has knots to challenge both adults and children.
PBO subscription offerCall in at the PBO stand (next to the main Boatjumble gate) to buy a subscription to Practical Boat Owner magazine, Britain’s biggest-selling boating magazine. Our £16.99 offer (based on a six-monthly Direct Debit) will include a free pack of PBO ‘Free Anchorage’ playing cards (while stocks last).