25ft ish, single engined sports cruisers. Hardest boat to control....

Calypso Marine

23’ Pirogue

LOA 23’
Beam 6’ 8”
Transom width 4’ 8”
Draft 8”
Water line length 19’ 2”
Deadrise at transom 7°
Approx. hull weight 1,200 lbs.
Maximum h.p. 50 h.p.
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Excellent boat.

Mine, 'Young Lady' was powered by a 75hp Yamaha.
Once heading up a channel and heading into some large waves. The bow just sliced through them.
I recall one particular large wave, when the bow kept slicing downward and there was a wall of green water on each side of the bows ABOVE the gunwales.
She responded instantly to the throttle and powered right through the wave bursting through it, in a shower of spray.

She only had about 12" of freeboard at the stern at rest. :D
 
Mmmm

oGaryo said:
certainly been caught out in close quarters a few time in strong winds and tides pushing us away from the pontoon but generally it's an ok boat to handle but those who know me know I've only got experience on 3 boats to date so certainly not an authority on it... still practicing and will get it bang on the day before we go up to a twin screw boat with bow and sterns thrusters:D
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Not sure "bang on" is a good phrase to use in this setting
 
We started out on a 26ft single engine with no bow thruster in Essex Marina which is in the middle of the fast flowing river crouch. We didn't have a clue how to handle a boat at the time. We now have a twin engined cruiser with both bow & stern thrusters in a nice sheltered marina with no current & little wind. Strange really but we did learn fast as getting it wrong could work out expensive.:o
 
rubberduck said:
We started out on a 26ft single engine with no bow thruster in Essex Marina which is in the middle of the fast flowing river crouch. We didn't have a clue how to handle a boat at the time. We now have a twin engined cruiser with both bow & stern thrusters in a nice sheltered marina with no current & little wind. Strange really but we did learn fast as getting it wrong could work out expensive.:o
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We started off in the fast flowing tidal Nene, with a twin engined boat on outdrives. We're in a marina sheltered behind a lock now, with a single engine, shaft drive and no thrusters. I think i'd prefer the tide, ferry gliding was easier than springing.
 
MapisM said:
LOL, maybe I could interest you in just the first 5 seconds of this video which I uploaded last year...? :D
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just a little removed from 'sports cruiser' - Fountain are an out and out sport boat.

nice boat

looking at the range of SeaRay, Bayliner, Salpa, Wellcraft, Karnic, etc at 25ft with single OD (mix of diesel and petrol) in our racking few have tabs. In fairness this represents the cheaper end of the market, and I agree that at the other end it will be a lot more common, as also appears when moving up to 27-28ft (9m)
 
We dont tend to find ours too bad to handle (Sealine S23). It took some getting used to but after 3 years we can now put the boat pretty much where we want it.
 
Falling Star said:
But on my one I try to maintain a steady 12 knots when going astern. No problems............
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12 knots going astern into a berth?:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Please never come to Mallorca and do such things going into a stern to berth.

The sight of you travelling at 12 knots astern to berth next to me would give me a heart attack.:)
 
ricky_s said:
I've changed my mind, it is definitely single engined on a shaft, especially with a top heavy flybridge!
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Quite right too.
Outdrives whether they are duo prop or not, pull or push where you point them, where a fixed prop, ie shaft,has its thrust directed by the rudder, and this can vary in huge amounts by the position of that rudder, its design, as in where the rudder stock is positioned in relation to the blade,and amount of helm on.
The old Marine Projects boats were always a bit interesting to control, whether shaft or outdrive, due to a short keel, shallow V, and heavy build.
But before I get berated by owners of those craft. It is something that you could live with, get used too, and they delivered hugely in other areas.
As for Pilot Cutters I used to go on Major Tillmans Mischief, and he rarely used the engine anyway, Sailed it everywhere. but I can imagine having experience of feathering props, that with all that weight, handling probably is pretty interesting.. Sorry ex Raggie..
 
You want to try a 27 ft catamaran with an outboard engine and the rudders 12ft apart! Lots of windage, little lateral resistance and no prop wash on rudders.
 
I've certainly found our 25ft Larson a challenge, especially when I started at the beginning of the year which really wasn't pretty..

Have done some practising and when there is a cross wind I can now get her close enough to man handle into the berth on the Second or third attempt without bumping anything.. :)

Best thing I learned was identifying early when it wasn't going to work out and being able to (relatively) calmly manoeuvre away from anything, reposition and have another go..
 
Fletcher 238

Hi


I've just ( a few months ago) purchased a Fletcher 238. Having driven smaller speedboats since my teens I thought it'd be no problem to handle.

But...

It was far more difficult to control at berthing speeds than I expected. Combine that with a berth that was only a few feet longer than the boat and an engine that cut out as soon as you took her out of gear and the first time we to tried to berth was very interesting to say the least! Getting more used to it now though.

Regarding tabs etc. the Fletcher is about 24 foot (25 & 1/2 feet with swim platform etc.), single outdrive and comes (came) with tabs as standard.


Cheers

Darren
 
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