I have been to the Southampton Boat Show more times than I can remember over the years, and watched its fortunes wax and wane. I’m pleased that this year it seems to have picked up its vibrancy, although I was sorry there were so few of the small and interesting stalls that used to be in the chandlery tent. There were plenty of boats to look at, and most of them are in the water unlike in earlier years. As a Premier berth holder I took up their offer of a coffee on their stand where I discovered they also had magnificent view over the marina display! There are plenty of reviews circulating in the media so I’m just going to highlight three exhibits that caught my eye and may be of interest to boat anglers.

Tope Hunter Boats

This was new to me, and an interesting alternative to the cuddy clones that dominate the small angling boat choices. The Tope Hunter is 18 feet long and almost open, reminding me of the Shetland Sheltie concept. Built by Steve Paice locally in Sussex, this promises to be a very handy layout for anglers with a good turn of speed from a relatively small engine. Steve formerly built Raider boats so he has a good understanding of the requirements for this market. A cuddy version is on the drawing board which I think will be very popular. Unfortunately the show boat was almost hidden by access steps so I have borrowed a picture from the website. Standard boat ex engine is £18,000.00 including VAT.

SHOXS Seats

The next stand to catch my eye was Allsalt Maritime which featured some very impressive high-tech boat seats and suspension pedestals. These are available for military, commercial and recreational use and it’s always a good sign of design and durability if the professionals also buy the product. Models are available for RIBs, helm and crew seats of varying configurations. You can also buy suspension pedestals for existing seats and I’m quite tempted by the low profile pedestal mount for my KAB helm seat.

Happy Hull

Finally, on the water I came across something different. I have often wondered why nobody manufactured a floating bag that you could wrap around your hull in a marina berth to prevent weed growth. Well, these guys now have and it’s a fraction of the cost and a lot more convenient than those giant Lego blocks you have to drive a boat onto. The current Happy Hull models are best suited to outboard power where the leg can be fully lifted from the water but I was assured that a model suitable for outdrives is under development. I use a lot more fuel as the season progresses and the hull gets more fouled, and this system effectively prevents that from happening. Customers include the RNLI and I think there is a lot of potential for this product.

Obviously there were hundreds more stands and many interesting products to see. As a boat angler, I thought these three were worth a mention but that doesn’t mean there weren’t others of interest too. The SBS is still a good day out, perhaps not every year but certainly worth a catch-up on product innovations from time to time.

Neville Merritt
September 2022