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01-10-2020, 07:41 AM
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#1
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Guru
City: Jacksonville
Vessel Name: SONAS
Vessel Model: Grand Alaskan 53
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 7,235
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Sad State of PassageMaker
I have been a subscriber for 19 years, but will not be renewing when this one runs out. I don't think I have opened the last four or five, though the missus flicks through them. They have become so thin as to basically be one big ad.
I guess with all of the on-line options including forums like this one their time has passed.
This could not be summed up better than by this morning's FaceBook post from PassageMaker.
"Great Loopers can drop anchor at new state-of-the-art marina in 2021 in the Windy City."
Drop anchor? Really?
I have about 110 back copies on my office shelf that I will recycle. If anyone is passing through JAX and wants them let me know.
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01-10-2020, 07:47 AM
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#2
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Guru
City: Ft Pierce
Vessel Name: Sold
Vessel Model: Was an Albin/PSN 40
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 28,119
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Sure they weren't using the slang of old timers to mean "stop" there?
I would have put in quotes.....
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01-10-2020, 07:55 AM
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#3
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Enigma
City: Slicker?
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 16,540
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Greetings,
Mr. m. IMO Passagemaker died when Bill Pantaloon sold out to Dominion. What was originally a great resource full of articles and items that the "average" boater (I suspect the majority of TF members) would be interested in quite quickly morphed to "bigger, new and improved (dubious) and most expensive" MUST haves or you're a loser publication.
Don't even get me started on the articles written by "experts".
__________________
RTF
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01-10-2020, 07:57 AM
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#4
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Guru
City: Jacksonville
Vessel Name: SONAS
Vessel Model: Grand Alaskan 53
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 7,235
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Quote:
Originally Posted by psneeld
Sure they weren't using the slang of old timers to mean "stop" there?
I would have put in quotes.....
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Of course they were, but in the headline of a mag that has the tagline: "The World's Cruising Authority?"
Regardless, done with putting my money down that drain!
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01-10-2020, 07:59 AM
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#5
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Guru
City: Jacksonville
Vessel Name: SONAS
Vessel Model: Grand Alaskan 53
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 7,235
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RT Firefly
Greetings,
Mr. m. IMO Passagemaker died when Bill Pantaloon sold out to Dominion. What was originally a great resource full of articles and items that the "average" boater (I suspect the majority of TF members) would be interested in quite quickly morphed to "bigger, new and improved (dubious) and most expensive" MUST haves or you're a loser publication.
Don't even get me started on the articles written by "experts".
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The turning point for me is when Steve D'Antonio stopped writing for them. That was the writing on the wall.
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01-10-2020, 08:34 AM
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#6
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Guru
City: Carefree, Arizona
Vessel Name: sunchaser V
Vessel Model: DeFever 48 (sold)
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 10,179
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As with most publications, I read PMM with a grain of salt. Each issue has a few spot good articles or short notes. If at the end of a year I've learned a few more things about boating I'm happy.
An issue or two ago had a cover article on named storm insurance, weather smarts and the obvious reasons to avoid the "Islands" during hurricane season. Anybody else on TF read it?
PMM has a few very experienced nautical writers, I tend to ignore the others. Just like any publication, a few good nuggets of information I find worth the admission price.
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01-10-2020, 08:45 AM
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#7
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Guru
City: Oconto, WI
Vessel Name: Best Alternative
Vessel Model: 36 Albin Aft Cabin
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 3,145
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I have not given up yet but while it used to be an anticipated magazine arrival it now just does not excite me.
Too bad, it used to be great.
I think I will copy this thread when it has run its course and send it to PM, maybe it's not too late..
pete
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01-10-2020, 09:25 AM
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#8
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Guru
City: Jacksonville
Vessel Name: Alzero
Vessel Model: Hatteras 63' CPMY
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 1,548
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I thought Passagemaker was now one of those magazines you got for free, like Showboats International. Do people still actually pay for it? Why, there’s nothing in it you can’t get from the boat builders brochures.
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01-10-2020, 09:38 AM
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#9
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Guru
City: Jacksonville Beach, FL
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 1,248
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Woodland Hills
I thought Passagemaker was now one of those magazines you got for free, like Showboats International. Do people still actually pay for it? Why, there’s nothing in it you can’t get from the boat builders brochures.
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Ditto. Even at its best, PM seemed to alternate between serious boating journalism, "lifestyle" pieces and just plain boat ol' porn. Like most slick mags, the advertisers essentially pay for it. Subscribers are how the sales reps justify the ad rates.
__________________
"Less judgment than wit is more sail than ballast. Yet it must be confessed that wit give an edge to sense, and recommends it extremely." ~ William Penn
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01-10-2020, 09:50 AM
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#10
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Guru
City: San Diego
Vessel Name: Circuit Breaker
Vessel Model: 2021..22' Duffy Cuddy cabin
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 6,691
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Quote:
Originally Posted by menzies
The turning point for me is when Steve D'Antonio stopped writing for them. That was the writing on the wall.
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For me it was the endless articles on "fuel polishing" by Parletore. When he ran out of ammo for dirty fuel processing he turned to "water polishing."
__________________
Done with diesel power boats! Have fallen in love with all electric!
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01-10-2020, 09:55 AM
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#11
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Moderator Emeritus
City: Au Gres, MI
Vessel Name: Black Dog
Vessel Model: Formula 41PC
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 21,129
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I used to read every issue cover to cover several times. Now a quick read and that is it. I used to refer back to old issues to research how to do something. Now that never happens. When Bill Partalore sold it was the end of a really good magazine. I won’t be renewing it again either. I keep hoping that there will be a good article, but no there has not been anything of interest for a long time, maybe because I am not a multi millionaire...
__________________
Boat Nut:
If you are one there is no explanation necessary.
If you aren’t one, there is no explanation possible.
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01-10-2020, 10:13 AM
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#12
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Guru
City: Bellingham WA
Vessel Name: Hatt Trick
Vessel Model: 45' Hatteras Convertible
Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 1,971
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Codger2
For me it was the endless articles on "fuel polishing" by Parletore. When he ran out of ammo for dirty fuel processing he turned to "water polishing."
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Paralatore also hammered on engines' main electrical switches being outside the engine room, over and over. PM is thin on content these days, mostly ads, and I haven't subscribed in maybe 5 years.
__________________
Ken on Hatt Trick
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01-10-2020, 10:17 AM
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#13
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Guru
City: gulf coast
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 3,440
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"Drop anchor" to me indicates a writer trying to sound like they know what they are talking about.
Dropping anchor in a marina would probably be frowned upon, even in Chicago.
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01-10-2020, 11:33 AM
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#14
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Guru
City: Jacksonville
Vessel Name: Alzero
Vessel Model: Hatteras 63' CPMY
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 1,548
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The original PM was an expression of one man’s vision and as such reflected his personal concerns and issues to a great extent. At least it was not an obvious scam to get free boat stuff like that Bitchy Bob guy and his rag! Now that was a real waste of paper.......
Also “drop the anchor” is an improvement on “drop the hook”, so it could have been worse.
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01-10-2020, 12:22 PM
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#15
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Guru
City: Vermont
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 10,076
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To me, most commercial publications have lost all their credibility. And that goes for printed pubs like PM, and also electronic pubs like Panbo. And I think it all comes back to the distance, or lack of distance, between editorial and advertising.
The pubs have all drifted to become fluff pieces, happy thoughts, and "is this the next great XYZ?" Their mission is not to teach, but to promote an industry, plain and simple. I just can't take any of it seriously, or believe it's actually objective work.
It takes some sifting through trash, sometimes a lot of sifting, but I find the most useful publications, whether written or video, are amateur user blogs, videos, and of course forums. I think that's the only place where you can learn what's really good and what's junk, what works and what doesn't, and what's useful vs not. It's the only place where there are people who genuinely want to help and teach others, rather than push some agenda.
__________________
MVTanglewood.com
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01-10-2020, 01:09 PM
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#16
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Guru
City: Fort Lauderdale. Florida, USA
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 21,449
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I find the role of a publisher is to ask those things people would like to know that may not be readily available.
It's reporting.
If you write about a boat, then you must get in depth beyond that on the builder's web site. That can be hard. It's likely impossible if you haven't actually been on the boat.
If you write about a place, then disclose something everyone in the world doesn't already know.
I read an article in a local Fort Lauderdale magazine about a young equestrian a few days ago. I'm not even interested in equestrian competition. However, her story was so interesting and I got an appreciation for equestrians I'd never had before. Reading about her relationship with her horse and how she built it was something I never had appreciated before.
That's what I want from any publication. I'd love to read an article periodically that was an interview and history of one of the greats in the industry. Not a publicity release but a real in-depth story.
I'd love to read the history of a boat builder disclosing things the general public doesn't know. Instead of just saying Joe Smith stepped into the company in 1957 talk to someone who knew him then about that move.
There's a local magazine that is about 70% advertising. Now, there are many readers who love it just for the ads. However, it has articles sprinkled throughout. For some readers, it might have reviews of all the local spas. I'm sure the reporter enjoyed checking them all out. That is the type article that would take at least 40 hours to put together and have to be done over a few weeks. Now I was interested in an article about Dorian and the Bahamas and what had been done and some of what was needed. I hadn't read a good update recently. It was well done and showed the research.
The problem is that publications are not generally willing to pay writers or reporters and not paying free lancers enough to encourage it.
I would think to put together a good boating magazine you would need to have well researched, knowledgeable articles on several topics each month. For instance, boat of the month, cruising location of the month, marina, boat and engine maintenance. Really at least 4 or 5 different people writing in depth about different topics every month. Now, that won't come cheap so better sell a lot of advertising, because people are not going to pay for publications today.
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01-10-2020, 02:40 PM
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#17
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Guru
City: Aventura FL
Vessel Name: Kinja
Vessel Model: American Tug 34 #116 2008
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 10,595
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I had a subscription to Passage Maker I think for the first 2 years.
I let it expire because discovered, I just didn't have the time to read them carefully because I was doing a major refit on my N46.
I am sad because, according to all the comments, the quality has really gone down hill.
This is not the first time I watched of a good publication go down hill and one got so bad it disappeared.
I agree, if I want information/knowledge about a specific product, I go to YouTube or do a general search on the subject. There are a lot of good videos not posted on YouTube, found in a general search.
Now I am sad, I will stop my search for PM on the news stands or maybe I will find and buy one more copy just to confirm the comments made here.
__________________
Two days out the hospital after a week in the hospital because of a significant heart attack.
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01-10-2020, 07:16 PM
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#18
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Veteran Member
City: A2
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 74
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Boat builders do not want critical articles written about their product, they will pull the advertising card and the publisher loses revenue. It is not like the car industry where you need a transportation vehicle, no one really needs a pleasure boat but thankfully many want one. You can have more meaningful critiques in car magazines because they are selling millions of cars a year, while a few bad reviews, warranted or not, will put a an end to that business venture.
The mind set of marine magazine publishers needs to change and they need to dig deep and find the compelling stories that we can now read on blogs and keep the readers interest.
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01-10-2020, 07:32 PM
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#19
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Guru
City: Seattle
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 3,305
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Passagemaker magazine and every edition of Beebe’s book after the first edition
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01-10-2020, 07:44 PM
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#20
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Guru
City: Saint Petersburg
Vessel Name: Weebles
Vessel Model: 1970 Willard 36 Trawler
Join Date: Mar 2019
Posts: 7,166
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Recent Interview/Conversation with Bill Parletore below. He talks tangentially about the evolution and target market that got him into the magazine business.
Personally, I lost interest in PMM when boats throwing wakes started gracing their cover. For anyone with a hobby and a magazine (eg motorcycle) , the cycle is clear: money comes from adverters. Don't bite the hand that feeds you.
https://youtu.be/ChoaEvP1ju4
__________________
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Cruising our 1970 Willard 36 trawler from California to Florida
Join our Instagram page @MVWeebles to follow along
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