70th edition of Auckland Boat Show underway as sector faces fuel challenges

Source: Radio New Zealand

The 70th edition of the Hutchwilco boat show got underway on Thursday, with no shortage of attendees. But like many industries, the marine sector is facing challenges from the sky rocketing price of fuel.

Helen Kay was general manager of Xpo Exhibitions, who run the show, she said the rising cost of fuel has impacted the industry in what was already a tough economic situation. She said in the lead up to the show manufacturers and retailers were looking at what deals they could offer to overcome the situation.

Auckland Marine centre’s AIan Coutts also acknowledged times were tough for consumers, but said the fuel crisis was driving an increase in sales in more fuel efficient engines, particularly as people look to upgrade from 2 stroke engines to 4 strokes.

“Even though the fuel costs are high, the people that are running those older engines have worked out that they need to upgrade them” he said.

Boaties were also looking at alternatives to petrol and diesel. Adam Wrightson was director of Evocean, his company sells electric boat motors. He said he’d noticed an increase in inquiries, but notes many of those had already been in contact before the fuel crisis hit “I think maybe the fuel thing spurred them on to finally do something”.

Wrightson also said there was more interest from the ‘bigger boat market”.

The cost of fuel wasn’t the only thing that’s changed over the years at the boat show, the demographics were also different. Helen Kay said there was a 10 percent increase in the amount of women last year.

Isabell Zitzelberger, founder of Wildchix, was determined to make sure those female visitors don’t miss out on the chance to learn about boating, fishing and hunting.

Before starting Wildchix, Zitzelberger worked in boats sales. “I was selling boats mainly to the guys and every time I was like, where’s your wife?” she said.

When First Up caught up with Zitzelberger, she was getting ready to present a seminar aimed at improving women’s knowledge of boat safety.

She believed this was important so women could either act as a back up on the water, or take the helm themselves.

Another feature of this year’s show was the arrival of Seneca big game reels.

They were the brainchild of kiwi Sam Connor, who spent 8 years working at Rocket lab “I was managing a team of manufacturing engineers building the processes that build the rocket, essentially” he said.

Connor used his aerospace background to design a product he said was much lighter than traditional big game reels.

Normally big game reels were constructed with an aluminium frame. Connor’s frames were made of carbon fibre, while other components were titanium.

Connor said the lighter weight helped reduce angler fatigue when they’re fighting large fish.

The Seneca reels were priced at $3000 each, although Connor said 40 percent of the small batch of reels produced for the boat show pre-sold before the event started.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand