I just wanted to add something about starting out as a new forum

[Latitude 26]

As I said in the news section, every forum starts out somewhere and even though it may look as if we have very little traffic and no posts, this is the beginning of something.  I have members on my other forum that have been there for over 7 years, we ended up being part of a family and that is where I hope we end up here.  So what can you do to help?  Sign up, make some posts, no matter how stupid they sound, getting people posting is the key, you guys make the posts, I'll get the traffic here!

Thanks and welcome aboard!

[GordMay]

Getting the traffic here is only part of the challenge in establishing and nurturing a new forum.
People need a reason to visit this forum, and (more importantly) to read & contribute, on an ongoing basis.
As Lat’ 26 suggests, a  forum needs interesting and relevant content to thrive.
Given the number of existing forums, intending to serve the same cruising/liveaboard/boating market (interest group), it can’t hurt to somehow differentiate this forum from the others.

[Latitude 26]

Agreed gord, you make some great points.  As I said before I have some pretty extensive experience establishing forums, it does take time and as you said you have to set yourself apart.  In the past I have accomplished this by getting knowledgeable staff members onboard to help out new members and most importantly to do some write ups, share some knowledge and get some discussions going.

I have been advertising the site so really the next step is to get people posting.  Making posts that are relevant and interesting will be the key, we want people to post elsewhere on the internet "Hey have you seen such and such's write up one valve adjustment over at cruiserschat"  things like that will drive traffic and add value to the community.