Boat Show Brings In Over 2,000 Attendees
Sailboats, powerboats - even oysters displayed
April 27, 2004
More photos from the boat show…
Father-Son
sailmaking team Wally® and Ben Chapin showed their wares.
In authentic Oriental fashion, their dog Lily assisted. |
Kindly Ross Pease of the Inland Waterway Provision Company
was in the booth inside the show, while mean Jay Winston
sold kayaks from the shows entrance near the dinghy dock.
|
LuAnn Parins and Mark Weinheimer compare sailing notes
with Bob Moore (center).
|
Several
local realtors took advantage of the all the visitors
to town, with booths alongside the boat vendors. Carol
Wright (pointing the the computer) said many prospective
boat buyers were interested in property too… |
Jim
Saunders and Stanley Feigenbaum. Stanley is the US distributor
for Beta marine diesel engines and generators, based just
a few miles out of Oriental in Arapahoe. |
We’d heard about a product called Flexiteek that was synthetic teak deck substitute. Being cynical, we had to figure it couldn’t really look like teak. We are still staring at the little sample they gave us….‘cause dang it it does look like teak. The sheets of material are glued down to a deck.
A
couple from Benson, NC is the US distributor for a New
Zealand product – Flexiteek. |
Sailcraft’s Alan Arnfast showed he could play to two different
crowds. He brought a HUGE Volvo diesel AND a Harken roller
furler…
|
Lots
of folks had to check out this little tug. |
Beverly
and Bill Schwartz showed example of their boat canvas
work… |
Saturday
night was beach music time….dancin’ on the train station
deck. Oriental Harbor’s own Steve Williams is the drummer
for "Night Cruise." |
So – will there be another boat show next year? Show manager Chris Daniels said many vendors were asking to book their booth again for 2005. "we had between 2,000 and 2,500 people come through during the weekend. Boats were sold….vendors were happy".
Oriental Harbor President George Dobson says they would like to do the show again – but it is too soon to announce that it will definitely happen. "At this time next year most or all of the slips we used will be occupied by their new owners. We can’t unilaterally make a decision that we would have another boat show, without first discussing it with the slip owners."
George
Dobson and Chris Daniels of Oriental Harbor Marina |
Posted Tuesday April 27, 2004 by Keith N. Smith
