Monday, February 7, 2011

Boat Name Gear at the Boat Shows

Had a great time and, more importantly, some success, at the Hartford Boat Show last weekend.  Fortunately, Connecticut's wintriest winter ever took a break from the snow for long enough to allow boating enthusiasts from across southern New England to attend the show.

Of all the Nautical Sites properties, I have been exhibiting as Boat Name Gear at the shows to offer personalized products to boaters. I did the 2011 Hartford show for the 2nd year in a row in order to get the web store's brand out to local boating families, and we were very well received. The show organizers claim 11,000 people came through the door and that Sunday saw bigger crowds than usual. Everybody I know was home shoveling snow off their roof in preparation of the next big storm. That may have kept the crowds at bay on Saturday... it's hard to know for sure.

I was pleased to have met several existing Boat Name Gear customers and I even saw a few folks that I remembered from the 2010 show. A few people also came by the booth after seeing my offer on the Daily Boater to "mention 'FirstBoat' and get a free hat or t-shirt".
Me in front of my booth. Photo by Randy Kessler of Barnum Financial Group
Obviously the boats were not as big in Hartford as they were at the New York Boat Show (review, pics) a couple of weeks ago, but there were some nice Sea Rays on display from Bassett Marine, as well as a large assortment of cruisers, cuddy cabins, bow riders and deck boats, fishing boats and the like from marinas and dealers who were mostly from CT, with a few from RI and Mass.

Here are a few more photos from the show, and there are dozens more on the FirstBoat page on Facebook.

The largest (and smallest) watercraft at the show.
There was sort of a boat show within the boat show.
Rock and Roll... Book a fishing trip at rockandrollcharters.com
Some fish boats and an affordable Larson bowrider from LouisMarine.com
One more of my booth - with some people around it this time.
I have a LOT more photos from the show - mostly taken Sunday morning before the doors opened - on the FirstBoat page on Facebook. You don't have to log-in or have a Facebook account to check them out, but if you do, please click "Like" on the page.

Next up for Boat Name Gear in February and March: The Northeast Fishing (and hunting) Expo in Hartford, and the big New England Boat Show in Boston. Hope to see you there!