Fletcher sportscruiser 19 owners

[QBhoy]

Hi all
After always wanting one of these pocket and so capable boats...finally getting one next week. Originally wanted the 4.3 mercruiser but equally delighted that this one has a next to new 4 stroke efi outboard.
Would love to hear from others with similar and anything and everything about them. Haven’t heard a bad report on them yet.
Ideally love to know how they perform with outboards, 3.0 and 4.3 inboards and any wee tips or tricks. I often notice the clever canopy fold down arrangement but perhaps think the standard canopy fitted looks a bit delicate and perhaps not so cosmetically pleasing to the eye. Had anyone replaced the canopy and managed to use the same framework that still folds away neartly ? Love to hear about fuel consumption too.
Won’t bore you all too much but my reason for this was the size of mooring I have, likening the idea of being able to tow easily and more than anything I needed to give my rather special and rare current boat a good rest. Scared to keep using it as frequently as I do. Never beached it or left it unattended at a jetty etc. I’m too precious with it. The thinking was that I’d get one of these fletchers and use it well and less precious. The thing now is that this one I’m getting looks that nice...I may be guilty of being a little precious with this too. Thanks for listening and all comments and opinions welcome.

 

[Fishtigua]

Most Fletchers I know of that age have been bashed into the dock more times than Katie Price.
If you've found a clean one not full of filler, that's a keeper.

 

[QBhoy]

Most Fletchers I know of that age have been bashed into the dock more times than Katie Price.
If you've found a clean one not full of filler, that's a keeper.

You think so ? In fletcher terms...it’s only a baby at 16 years old. Fletcher them self actually blamed the ott build quality of their boats as their main downfall. The boats were lasting too long haha.
But your right. There are good boats and bad ones. All down to the care given over the years. Had a few fletchers much older than this one. Even as old as a lovely ‘79 inboard arrowsport 15.

 

[Fishtigua]

My best mate at school, his Dad ran Abersoch Land & Sea, one of the biggest Fletcher dealers. We used to try (and break) every model going. Nothing ever seemed to faze them. They go forever.

 

[QBhoy]

Most Fletchers I know of that age have been bashed into the dock more times than Katie Price.
If you've found a clean one not full of filler, that's a keeper.

My best mate at school, his Dad ran Abersoch Land & Sea, one of the biggest Fletcher dealers. We used to try (and break) every model going. Nothing ever seemed to faze them. They go forever.

Excellent stuff.
I’ve always preached about how good the hulls are. Especially the arrowbeau 17. I can’t think of any other hull that is so quick but also so capable through chop and incredibly stable when at speed trimmed up with a big V6 outboard. Usually it’s one or the other and a compromise of either seakeeping or speed.
Plenty of these things running well into the 60’s with V6 on them.

 

[swatkins]

Hi

I had one for 12 years, Fletcher Sports Cruiser 19 GTO the outboard version with a Yamaha F100a have the original brochure PDF and other bits if you want them. Great boat could trailer, solo launch and overnight on it. I know the boat inside out great hulls, I also know about the wet cabin issues and how to fix them if you need any help.

Best

Stewart

 

[Hot Property]

I had one with a 75 Merc 4 stroke (Yamaha engine). Best boat ever!

Went round IOW with a rally and managed to fill the whole cockpit with water up to the cuddy lip at St Katherine's point. Trimmed the leg out, self bailed after a couple of minutes all drained away and off we went!

Very capable hull belies is length.

2 up I got 27 knots on flat water. Fuel was around 4 nmpg at 20 knots cruise.

Sold boat and new owner has out a 150 Merc on now!! It's rated for 135 but such a capable hull 15 hp over is nothing.

It's a proper Weekender for 2 if you like cosy. The loo is invaluable!!

Swmbo not impressed I sold it....

Do you have photos so I can look enviously when I run down the Hamble?

 

[QBhoy]

Hi

I had one for 12 years, Fletcher Sports Cruiser 19 GTO the outboard version with a Yamaha F100a have the original brochure PDF and other bits if you want them. Great boat could trailer, solo launch and overnight on it. I know the boat inside out great hulls, I also know about the wet cabin issues and how to fix them if you need any help.

Best

Stewart

Good to hear from you Stewart. How did she perform with the 100hp ? She originally came with a Yamaha 100 4 stroke. Now has a mariner 115 efi.

 

[QBhoy]

Hi

I had one for 12 years, Fletcher Sports Cruiser 19 GTO the outboard version with a Yamaha F100a have the original brochure PDF and other bits if you want them. Great boat could trailer, solo launch and overnight on it. I know the boat inside out great hulls, I also know about the wet cabin issues and how to

I had one with a 75 Merc 4 stroke (Yamaha engine). Best boat ever!

Went round IOW with a rally and managed to fill the whole cockpit with water up to the cuddy lip at St Katherine's point. Trimmed the leg out, self bailed after a couple of minutes all drained away and off we went!

Very capable hull belies is length.

2 up I got 27 knots on flat water. Fuel was around 4 nmpg at 20 knots cruise.

Sold boat and new owner has out a 150 Merc on now!! It's rated for 135 but such a capable hull 15 hp over is nothing.

It's a proper Weekender for 2 if you like cosy. The loo is invaluable!!

Swmbo not impressed I sold it....

Do you have photos so I can look enviously when I run down the Hamble?

Hi hot property. Thanks for replying.
I’ve literally longed for one of these and even the 18 ft before them, for ages. I honestly can’t think of another boat under 22 ft that does everything these do. By all accounts they are so capable in terms of their hull.
I have been using my rather special Campion Chase 550 Performance edition (long story) at least twice a week all season for the last 4 years. As lovely, ridiculously fast and rare (only one in the U.K. and one of 15 world wide apparently) as she is....she just isn’t cut out for UK frequent use. She doesn’t have the all round hull, fixtures and fitting for it at all. The fletcher does. Only takes a quick look at the cleats and deep time served hull to tell it’s a proper wee thing. The campion tends to be very uncomfortable in a short chop and I’m always scared she will at one point get seriously damaged with such sustained use. The fletcher will take it in its stride. Although perhaps only at half the speed, haha. Can’t wait.

 

[Bigplumbs]

Hi

I had one for 12 years, Fletcher Sports Cruiser 19 GTO the outboard version with a Yamaha F100a have the original brochure PDF and other bits if you want them. Great boat could trailer, solo launch and overnight on it. I know the boat inside out great hulls, I also know about the wet cabin issues and how to fix them if you need any help.

Best

Stewart

I would sure like to know how to fix the wet cabin issues

 

[MRC]

Had 17,19 & 21.

Loved all of them. Really really good boats for what we used them for. Skiing, weekends, picnics

 

[QBhoy]

Hi

I had one for 12 years, Fletcher Sports Cruiser 19 GTO the outboard version with a Yamaha F100a have the original brochure PDF and other bits if you want them. Great boat could trailer, solo launch and overnight on it. I know the boat inside out great hulls, I also know about the wet cabin issues and how to fix them if you need any help.

Best

Stewart

Stewart I’ll be sure to get in touch if the cabin is wet. Thanks so much.

 

[swatkins]

Fletcher 19 Sports Cruiser
Wet Cabin issues:
Here is what I did to mine to get a dry cabin.
1. The Hull Deck join - I noticed water coming in downstairs when going through heavy seas on the hull deck join.
The deck (top half of your boat) is joined to the bottom of your hull by screws located under the rub rail. I removed the rubber out of the rub rail you can then see a load of screws all the way round the boat. I remove a couple of meters at a time I then filled the gap between the two joints with silicon / stikaflex and screwed them back together. I did this all the way round the boat don’t remove all the screws at the same time or you will never get the top and bottom half back together again, just a couple of metres at a time.
Near the bow of the boat the curve is quite extreme which meant on mine the gap between the hull deck join was large in places. I then removed the trim half way up the inside of the cabin and where the carpet meets the vinyl and found the wood on the join to be rotten, I replaced as well as I could and then fibre glassed the hull deck join on the inside of the cabin over the new wood strip.

2. The Anchor locker – Water is wetting the wood the mirror is screwed to on the inside of the cabin.
On mine the drain hole for the anchor locker was too high. I drilled a hole on the other side of the bow in the anchor locker so that all the water can escape rather than sit there at a certain level.

3. The Deck hatch – The seal comes off on the hatch that’s fitted simply by opening and closing the hatch – bad design
You can’t get that Lemar hatch anymore but they make a slightly larger one. I brought this and had it fitted the new current design does not have the same design flaw as the original with the seal coming off when opening and closing. Mine was a 2001 boat.

4. The Windscreen seals – Water coming in under the windscreen between the cabin roof and lining.
The seals round the Taylor Made windshield glass / plastic shrink. You can either replace the seals by removing the glass / plastic windows or fill the shrinked bit with black silicone I experienced shrinkages with gaps over an inch! If you can remove the seal to check for holes. Under the seal I had two drill holes that had no screws in. Guess this was from factory. I put silicon in the holes and new screws. I also used marine filler on the inside of the hole.

5. Where the middle part of the windscreen opens the seal goes where it beads down on the top of the dashboard. I replaced the seal but water still came in under heavy rain which then runs down to the cabin door and if enough rain collects in the channels leaks down on top of your porta pottie. I used a strip of self-adhesive foam stuck to the deck underneath the bottom of the opening Windscreen this stop the water back flowing.
End result a dry cabin. The problem is the water would soak into the headlining then exit in the cabin in a completely different place to where it entered and only after the headlining foam had absorbed most of the water so the leak may not be apparent till a few days later.
My Boat would do 38mph with a Yamaha F100a and a Stainless Propeller, the 4.3 Mercury Inboards did 52mph.
Fuel wise I think is was approximately 1L of petrol per mile. I think the tank was 80L a normal mixed use 2 hour play would use about 25L of fuel.
Hope the above is helpful, here is a link to all the PDF files I have on the Fletchers and the brochure.
https://we.tl/t-cjhUYtmH83

 

[QBhoy]

Oh my god.
This is amazing stuff. Can’t thank you enough. I’ve literally read through it a dozen times now.
Thank you so much for the pdf info too. Seriously grateful.
Allan.

 

[swatkins]

No problem, I did some guides on the Fletcher NING forum with pictures but that went offline when Fletcher went under, on another note I had a single axle trailer and Guide On poles these where invaluable for launching and retrieving by yourself to get the boat correctly on the trailer, the waters really muddy in Essex!

 

[swatkins]

Some pictures of my old boat. I Brought it for £12,500 and sold it for nearly £10,000 12 years later. It had been really well looked after and had everything on it replaced as required to keep it looking and running like new.

Here is a link to an article on the history of Fletcher boats https://we.tl/t-SnnG5k3RAP

 

[QBhoy]

View attachment 79358View attachment 79359View attachment 79360View attachment 79361View attachment 79362
Some pictures of my old boat. I Brought it for £12,500 and sold it for nearly £10,000 12 years later. It had been really well looked after and had everything on it replaced as required to keep it looking and running like new.

Here is a link to an article on the history of Fletcher boats https://we.tl/t-SnnG5k3RAP

Hi again.
The pictures of your boat are literally of an identical boat to mine. Mine had the same Yamaha 100 originally and was sold by a chap on the west coast of Scotland to the guy I bought from. Unfortunately for him, the Yamaha failed. He replaced with a brand spanking merc mariner 115 spending about 11k on this alone. Good for me though. It had 18 hours on it when I bought her. She goes really well now. I propped her with a 20” enertia prop. Sees 44mph gps trimmed up at about 5900 rpm and hood off. Amazing turn of speed for what she is. Incredible even.
Loving owning her.

 

[Allanmcc]

Hi there.
Has anybody lifted the floor to access the fuel tank? I have a slight fuel smell every time I fuel up and want to give it the once over and change the fuel lines. Any info would be great.

 

[QBhoy]

View attachment 79358View attachment 79359View attachment 79360View attachment 79361View attachment 79362
Some pictures of my old boat. I Brought it for £12,500 and sold it for nearly £10,000 12 years later. It had been really well looked after and had everything on it replaced as required to keep it looking and running like new.

Here is a link to an article on the history of Fletcher boats https://we.tl/t-SnnG5k3RAP

Hi again Stuart

I’m still feeding off your info here, now it’s winter. The link to the pdf has expired though. Do you still have the original hard copies ? I’d be willing to buy any original manual or booklets you have.
Cheers again.

 

[QBhoy]

Hi there.
Has anybody lifted the floor to access the fuel tank? I have a slight fuel smell every time I fuel up and want to give it the once over and change the fuel lines. Any info would be great.

Hi there. I haven’t lifted the floor, but I think it looks quite simple. Just screws and sealant to get through. Vice versa on assembly. I’ll be doing it soon though. Want to know what size and shape the fuel tank is. If you get there before me, be sure and take pics !

good luck.