Testimonials

We bought a lovely Broom Ocean dealing with Joe, and we're delighted with our purchase, having bought the boat remotely based on description and photos. Joe was very helpful helping with the logistics if having the boat brought home to northern Ireland. Everything went smoothly and the boat was perfectly as described, we were delighted. Thankyou

Vaughan at shepperton marina has been a rock in helping and advising me with my recent purchase of our new boat.very patient and supportive throughout the whole process.

I recently purchased a pre owned Linssen 29.9 from Boat Showrooms, Shepperton office. This is an excellent place to examine a vessel, as the layout of the Marina allows easy access for viewing. All my queries , test drive, etc. were quickly and efficiently dealt with by resident Linssen expert, Colin Watts.

Great service and really friendly and helpful staff, can’t do enough for you, would highly recommend Shepperton Marina and all the services they support.

Purchased a river cruise vessel from UK - Joe at Boat Showroom of Harleyford helped us with all paperworks and road transport to Tilbury port for further shipping over to Finland. Fast and reliable work. Thanks!

Joe Clifford at Boat Showrooms has been excellent through the process of selling our boat, we had an offer in days and completed the sale in just over a week. Communication from Joe was great, we were kept informed of where everything was up to throughout the sale and all paperwork was explained and final copies scanned through for our records. I highly recommend Joe to anyone looking to purchase or sell their boat.

I commissioned Boat Showrooms at Harleyford Marina to sell my Sealine S37 in late August 2019. I found the sales team to be very efficient and pro-active in the process with the result that the sale was completed within 2 months. The team kept me informed of progress throughout and were always on hand to deal with matters as they arose.

I bought a boat recently from Boat Showrooms of Harleyford, and they couldn’t have been more helpful.
The aftersales service was great and I would happily recommend them.

Thanks for great service selling my boat - you guys made it easy to find the best buyer and deal with the transaction. Altogether a pain free and seamless process.

Boatshowrooms were a pleasure to deal with during the sale of my boat. Their communication and availability was excellent. My questions were answered quickly and I was kept well informed of all interest and the sale progress. The advertising was first class and really showed my boat at it’s best. I believe a realistic selling price was achieved thanks to the efforts of the team and I would have no hesitation in recommending them or using them again.

It has been a very pleasant and enjoyable experience going through the boat purchase process with Boat Showrooms of Harleyford. Joe was always exceptionally responsive to all requests and prepared to go that little bit further in helping us get comfortable with a significant investment that was hopefully going to meet our dreams. Since we have taken ownership of our Broom 42, there have been no surprises. We have crossed paths with Joe on multiple occasions and been back to Harleyford since, and we feel that we have build a long lasting relationship. 

Kind regards,

Paul & Thandi

I recently had my boat moored at Boatshowrooms , Harleyford and it was a great all round boating experience. The facilities are excellent, with water and electricity to all berths and an easily accessible pump out station, a laundry and WC & showering area. The setting is outstanding, but without the support of Boatshowrooms all that would have counted for nothing. In Joe Clifford they have the most supportive and knowledgeable guy, you could ever wish to meet, where nothing was ever too much trouble for him and he always went that extra (2) miles for you. Mark Pearce (General Manager) was always so accommodating at all times and very pleasant to deal with on all occasions. I would not hesitate in highly recommending Boatshowrooms Harleyford, Marlow for any boating need, whatever it maybe.

Kind regards,

Philip Taylor

We found boat showrooms at Harleyford to be extremely professional and efficient. They helped guide us through our boat purchase and provided fantastic customer service. We would highly recommend Joe and the team at Harleyford. 

Best Wishes, 

Richard

We just wanted to write to convey our sincere thanks for the excellent hospitality and service that you extended to us throughout the purchase and build of our fantastic new Corvette, ‘Soul-Mate’…

We are absolutely thrilled with the boat and the attention to detail with regard to the finish on the boat, both inside and outside is absolutely first class…

Very many thanks for all your help and support throughout the building of this superb boat…

Our visit to the Southampton Boat Show in September 2007 was not with serious intent to purchase a new vessel, however having had a sea trial of the new Grand Banks 59 whilst we were at Southampton , all the benefits over our Hardy 50 were plain to see.

May we thank you for your advice on specification detailing and your continual guidance during the build process for we have a vessel that has given us full satisfaction over the three months of living on her this year. Also your advice regarding the disposal of our Hardy 50 was spot on, in what can only have been a very difficult time for the boating industry during 2008.

Finally it has been refreshing to deal with a person that has no hesitation in taking or returning telephone calls or emails rest assured our next purchase will from Boat Showrooms. Many thanks for your attention

We have known and dealt with Colin Watts of Boat Showrooms for over 25 years. During that time we have bought three boats from him, sold one and are in the process of selling a second. As Colin would no doubt agree, we are the most demanding of customers. Our requirements on the new boats we have bought have been very detailed with many non-standard requests.

During all our transactions we have been treated with the utmost care and courtesy, with nothing being too much trouble. Above all, we have been looked after in many ways over the years, not just during the nice bits whilst buying a boat, but in the darker days when sometimes not everything goes to plan.

We are passionate boating people, but would not consider buying or selling a boat without close consultation with Colin.

Colin Watts’ help & assistance during the sale of my sister’s Grand Banks 36 was simply excellent – over & above the call of duty. He kept the potential buyers happy & progressed the sale forward in spite of some sloppy foot-dragging from the boatyard where the yacht was kept. He finalised all the details of the survey etc totally painlessly & took care of everything down to the final exchange in a thoroughly professional manner.

Colin originally sold the boat new to my late brother-in-law and if I were a boating person, I would look no further than Colin Watts & his team at Boat Showrooms of Hamble to buy or sell a yacht

After years of searching I found a very nice boat on the Boat Showrooms’ website; a Grand Banks 36 Sedan with low engine hours. They are hard to come by.

I needed assistance with almost everything in connection with transfer of funds, inspecting, decommissioning, sea trial, insurance and transport. It was all handled very professionally by my contact, Colin Watts at Boat Showrooms of Hamble. All e-mails were dealt with in a timely manner, I was also very satisfied with the positive and humorous tone in all our conversations.

If I had tried to do all the work from my base in Norway, I would probably have given up half way through. The choice of boats in the UK is far more we see in Norway and I have therefore recommended many of my friends to look to the UK when they cannot find the right boat in Norway. In particular I have taken the liberty of mentioning Boat Showrooms of Hamble, due to the professional and pleasant way they  handling things for me

After many years of sailing, we decided to try the concept of powerboat instead and a Grand Banks 36 was rated highest on our wish list. There are not many of these for sale in Scandinavia so we looked around in Europe for more than a year. Finally we found one at Boat Showrooms of Hamble but she was sold before we had the time to see her. However, Colin Watts remembered our interest and kept us informed when he had the next one for sale. The next boat was exactly what we had been looking for and the deal was closed rather quickly during the fall 2011.

Since we are in Sweden and the boat was for sale in UK, there were a lot of issues to solve – interpretation of the contract, understanding the procedure of buying a boat in UK, handling the survey and sea trial not speaking of a lot of practical problems as we decided to have the boat  ashore in UK during the winter 2011/12. During all these steps, Colin Watts has guided and provided us with support as well as answered emails and telephone calls in a timely manner. His engagement in the deal and the practical issues has been far beyond what could be expected from a broker

We wish to thank you sincerely for your kind and very helpful assistance when we visited the UK to view the Grand Banks Aleutian 64 that Boat Showrooms of Hamble had for sale. Your professionalism, support, good humor and ability to liaise in a respectful manner with both seller and buyer made a positive outcome for us all. Your suggestions and assistance right the way through the negotiations to the eventual purchase and your help in the delivery of the boat to the docks for onward shipment to New Zealand was outstanding and incredibly appreciated. We would have no hesitation in recommending Boat Showrooms of Hamble to anybody here in New Zealand. We look forward to being able to share some good Kiwi hospitality with you here in New Zealand should you get the opportunity to come and visit our shores.

My wife and I instructed Colin Watts to sell our Grand Banks 42 Motor Yacht. The market was at a low point and remained in the doldrums for some time.  Despite Boat Showrooms best efforts, there was no movement.  It must have been an extremely depressing time for Colin but he always remained professional, courteous and highly pragmatic. Most importantly, he was proactive, whereas other agents we instructed were at best reactive, mostly inactive.  Finally, Colin found us a Southampton based buyer who was absolutely delighted with his acquisition. We cannot fault the excellent service and professional advice we have received from Boat Showrooms and commend Colin Watts in particular to present and future sellers. They will have difficulty finding a more honest, helpful and discrete Broker.

We wanted to thank you for all the hard work you and the team at Shepperton put in to sell our Linssen Yacht “Baloo”. It took a while but when the right buyer came along you were so supportive and professional. We could not have had the boat in better hands. It was an important decision whether to sell the boat in Holland or in the UK, on the Thames, but with your help we felt we made the right choice. We will send a copy of this letter to Linssen Yachts, hoping that other people will be happy to know of our gratitude for all that you did for us. With many thanks & best wishes

Thank you so much for all the recent help you’ve given us with the sale of our boat.

It’s been a difficult time for us, but has been made easier with your help, Colin Watts you are simply the best!  Thanks again for all your words of wisdom, not forgetting the cups of tea over the years, from when we purchased our first boat 34 years ago, a Linssen 32, right through to the sale of our last boat, a Broom 42. The world needs more people like you.

Yours sincerely, Mr & Mrs Lee Allen

Dear Colin,

I wanted to say thankyou for selling my Grand Banks 36  -  Rio Bamba. Your negotiating skills and communication between all parties were exemplary and I would have no hesitation in recommending your services a to any one buying or selling . Thankyou.

Dear Vaughan,

We just wanted to say ‘Thank you’ for all your help with the sale of ‘Blue Tiger’ and the purchase of ‘Xantia’.

We particularly appreciated your liaison with contractors to remedy a few issues with the boat prior to delivery.

We found you to be exceptionally professional and ‘hands-on’ with both transactions which made the whole process much smoother and easier.

With many thanks,

Sandra & William

Joe, at Harleyford Marina, helped us to find our first boat. It was and still is a big investment for us and we wanted to be able to work with someone we felt we could trust. Joe was a great broker between us and the seller. He was very transparent and direct and this was much appreciated. Had we not found the right boat for us when we did, we would have waited until we one came through Harleyford's books.

We recently decided to sell our Broom 35. As we live 300 miles away in Newcastle we left the sale in the hands of Joe Clifford of Boat Showrooms Harleyford. He had been recommended to us by friends that had both sold their boats through Joe. Our boat was sold within 2 weeks and Joe handled every aspect of the sale (Viewings, river trial, survey and completion) perfectly and in a very timely manner. We do recommend Joe Clifford and the Boat Showrooms Harleyford team to anyone as the service we received could not have been better and was really first class.

Thanks again Joe, Ken and Joan

Our review of potential new boats to purchase included Linssen and UK manufactured boats. Based on our criteria including design, layout and practicality of use; quality of build; reputation, history and financial stability of the company; available build dates and UK representatives, we felt Linssen was our first choice.

The local UK representative (Colin Watts) provided ample time to discuss the specification, build and delivery plans. Our questions were answered fully and documented providing confidence that our requirements were understood and delivered. This included some bespoke work.

Covid restrictions prevented an early trip to the manufacturing site before we signed the contract. However we did visit later before the start of the build. The UK representative, Linssen family and colleagues were welcoming and informative, showing us around the whole factory and build process. A build slot and delivery date were provided upfront and those dates were kept.

Throughout the build we were provided with photographs; we were copied into all relevant correspondence between the factory and UK Representative; and queries were answered quickly and helpfully.

In May 2022 we travelled to the factory for the handover of our finished boat. We spent 4 nights onboard, and were given a full guide of the features of the boat, a test drive and half a day boat handling tuition. Everyone was helpful and a delight to know. We had a few minor snags which were accepted without question and resolved before the boat was transported to us a week later. The final payments (including UK VAT) and shipping arrangements were easily dealt with by the UK representative, Linssen NL, shipping agents and the transport company.

The boat arrived safely at Shepperton, our home mooring, with the marina staff helping us to prepare the boat. We are delighted with our new boat. A couple of minor issues arose that have been eagerly addressed but have not spoilt the enjoyment of our first season on our Linssen 35 SL AC. We have met a number of Linssen owners on the Thames during our summer trips and are now part of the Linssen family.

Elaine and Michael