Want to make your next Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show experience a special kind of mind-numbing misery? Go with limited time and without a plan. At least for this reporter, ambling aimlessly on crowded docks next to sweaty strangers is worse than no fun. It wastes time, the one thing in this life you never seem to have enough, the one thing you cannot get back.

A little heavy in reference to boat-show-viewing strategy, I know. But there you go.

The good news? I’m here to save you some time with my own must-see list for the upcoming Fort Lauderdale affair. That doesn’t mean the boats that follow are the only ones I’ll visit. It does mean they top my list and will not miss.

Here goes:

• Cigarette Racing Team—Courtesy of new dealer Cigarette South Florida and the manufacturer itself, Cigarette Racing Team will have yet another drool-worthy display that includes 41 Nighthawk, 42 Auroris, a 52 Thunder center consoles and a 42X sportboat. You could easily spend an hour checking it all out and leave feeling as if you just arrived.

• CP Performance—Once again joining with Hardin Marine is displaying their ware at their awesome display trailer. Great products like Steering Wheels, Hatch Actuators, Exhaust Kits and more will be on display. If you are looking for new toys to go with your boat, make sure you stop by and check out CP Performance.

All the best stuff will be on display at the Hardin Marine / CP Performance trailer.

• Deep Impact Custom Boats—A total bad-ass I’ve watched being built for the better art of this year, 449 hull No. 1 is equipped with five Mercury Racing 500R outboard engines. But it can handle up to six of them. As for the 499 that will be on display, while it is hull No. 3 for the South Florida builder it is a “first” in that it is powered by six 425-hp V-10 outboards.

• Hardin Marine—Pairing up with CP Performance, the Hardin show trailer will be on full display again at this year’s boat show. Showing off new items such as their new Gen III trim indicators that debuted at the IBEX show earlier this month. If you looking for the newest and coolest items for your boat, they’ll be found here.

• MTI—Just as the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in Central Missouri was getting rolling this year, MTI pulled the sheet of its stunning new MTI-V 422, a second-gen version of its popular MTI-V 42, at Performance Boat Center in Osage Beach. The Wentzville, Mo., company will have one in Fort Lauderdale and you do not want to miss it. And while you’re there, you can check out an MTI V-50 center console and 440X catamaran.

The new MTI- V 422 center will be displayed in Fort Lauderdale show later this month. Photo by Jeff Helmkamp/Helmkamp Photos.

• Mystic—All eyes, at least of the Mystic Powerboats kind and perhaps a few thousand others, will be on the latest M5200 center console displayed at the show. That’s because South Florida Mystic dealer Chris Richards of Angle of Attack Marine tasked the Opa-Locka, Fla., to step out of its conservative styling comfort-zone and get wild .The radical 52-footer that resulted is sure to be a dock-blocker in Fort Lauderdale.

• Nor-Tech—While Nor-Tech doesn’t have anything new to show in Fort Lauderdale, it will have 39-, 40- and 45-foot center consoles, as well as, an outboard engine-powered 40-foot at its docks. All that hardware, plus the company’s annual open-day VIP party after the show shuts down, make a fly-by (at least) essential.

• Performance Boat Center—If you’ve never seen a Performance Powerboats P420 catamaran up close you need to—and you’ll have a chance during the Fort Lauderdale affair. The 42-footer is a slinky, sexy and low-profile creature that only can be full appreciated in person. Performance Boat Center also will have two Sunsation 32 CCX consoles in its exhibit, and those aren’t exactly hard on the peepers, either.

Will there be more to see and appreciate in Fort Lauderdale this year? Of course, especially from the likes of Midnight Express, which always seems to have something cool.

But the list above is a great start and—if time is of the essence—a great finish.