PaulGooch
Well-Known Member
After spending many months thinking what boat is next, looking at a million possibilities online and changing my mind several times, i think we're finally set on what's next. For a while we were considering a sailboat and had pretty much decided what we'd have, then changed our minds.
We currently have a Merry Fisher 805 and although we've been extremely happy with her, we'd like something a little bigger. We'd like a bit more space inside and a little bit more comfort, whilst the MF805 is perfectly comfortable for a weekend away, we'd like something with a bit more space to lounge around. As we like the odd day out fishing, some more space in the cockpit would be nice, would like to have space for four to fish.
The Merry Fisher 925 seemed a reasonable choice and with single engined options, didn't look to cost much more to run than the existing boat. I had a look at various alternative from Beneteau, Ocqueteau, Rodman etc but for one reason or another, kept returning to the MF 925. During the course of looking i also spotted a few Prestige 32 ad's and quite liked the look of those, although they would need a budget increase and were twin engined. Some of the Sealines didn't look too bad, but don't want a sports cruiser or stern drives, so that rules most of those out. The 350/360 Statesman looked a lot of boat for the money though.
On paper, the Prestige 32 is the same length as the MF 925, but a foot bigger in the beam. Not much bigger for the extra cost and having to have twin engines, although it does look a lovely boat in the pictures. Finally ruled out everything else on the grounds of stern drives, too much canvas, too small a cockpit, don't like the layout, out of budget etc. Just left the MF925, Prestige 32 and the Sealine 360, but we're 99% the MF 925 is the one for us. Plenty about in budget and much cheaper to run.
Time for some fender kicking to finalise the choice of models. Don't want to waste anyones time unduly, so i explain the situation to the brokers who we visited and made it clear up front we were fine tuning our list of choices.
Friday, off to Buck's to look at a MF 925. Very low hours at just 139 hours and only used on the Thames, should be mint, especially as the broker tells me the valeter has just been on the boat. Hmm, he must have been onboard to make himself a cuppa, or use the heads, certainly wasn't there to do any cleaning. Externally the boat had chalky gelcoat and grubby decks, with no cockpit covers. No covers on the flybridge meant the weather and UV had taking it's toll. Inside, there were a few nasty knocks to the woodwork. The batteries were so flat the best they could manage was a faint glow on the cabin lights. This was the most basic boat i've ever seen, no heat, no cover, no electronics at all, not even screen demisters. Yet, it was priced at £10k above similar year boats that were well equipped.
The extra cabin space and extra cockpit space tick a couple of boxes, but i'm not really wowed. Is it enough to justify a change ? There's several things i'd want to change and the helm dash is too small for even a 10" plotter, so there's also a few boxes with crosses in them. Would be different for a first time buyer or someone upgrading from a much smaller boat, but i'm not so sure it's for us. Talk on the way home is that a few mods and some upholstery upgrades and we think it'd be OK, really ought to look at some better spec models, as this one is very plain. Still on the list.
Saturday and we're off to The Broads to look at a Prestige 32 and a Sealine 360, both with the same broker. The Prestige is near the office, so the broker came with us to look at this one first. First glance as we approached and it looks significantly bigger than the MF 925. Climbing aboard, the cockpit is noticeably wider, but a touch shorter. The broker opened the patio doors and, erm.... this is huge inside compared to the MF 925, wow ! This i like
I knew the Prestige was a class apart from the Merry Fisher (and that's no disrespect to the Merry Fisher), but on paper and looking at the pictures, it shouldn't be this big. Love the layout, lots of room to lounge around as the table isn't fixed and the sofas are a nice size and well apart. Four adults would have a ton of room in here for a few days away, or longer. The helm layout is very nice indeed and there's tons of room overhead for more plotters than enough. The for cabin a plenty big enough and the guest cabin is also a good size. The heads is not really any bigger than our 805, but as SWMBO said, how much room do we need for a wee. The galley is nice too. I think the proportions are just right for the size of the boat. Engine access is a bit tight, as VP has already told us.
An odd problem though. I can't get my legs under or behind the wheel. I h ave to sit to one side or at an angle. On an otherwise excellently designed boat, this is unbelievably poor. The previous owner has made some alarmingly unpleasant mods here and there and his varnishing is something to behold
The water squelching out from beneath the saloon sole and running down the steps was a tad off putting too. Why don't owners present there boats better ? On the whole, we left this one with all of our boxes ticked except two, i can't sit properly and SWMBO has no forward facing seat, which is a bit of a must for her. Maybe if i could get behind the wheel the bench seat is big enough for us both. I think it'd be straight forward enough to recess the helm and cure this though.
Some more looking at pics when we got home revealed that the slightly odd shelving in the fore cabin and some other odd features in the saloon were owner mods. More importantly, he'd raised the helm seat by 6", which accounts for the seating problems there.
Went to look at the Sealine 360 next. This was a stock boat and was very well presented. It was an extremely nice boat indeed. Seemed to me that the extra four feet was used up with the bigger galley slightly bigger guest cabin, slightly bigger owners cabin and better/bigger heads and shower. The main saloon seemed to be about the same size as the Prestige. The cockpit was a good size, but the layout and fixed seating don't really lend themselves to fishing. This was a significant box to have a cross in it and enough for us to cross this boat off the list. Anyone looking for a 36 foot shaft drive flybridge would be well advised to take a look at this one though. Looked spotless throughout and seemed to be sensibly priced too. She was at Norfolk Yacht Agency, Norwich. We really liked this boat a lot, just don't think we could live with the cockpit, plus it was another step up the budget ladder.
Sunday and we're off to look at another Prestige, without the silly owner mods. This one is a nice boat and is in original spec. Without the raised seat i can get behind the wheel and there's room for SWMBO, so the last two boxes get a tick. The minor niggles also turn out to be daft owner mods on the first boat and i'm 99.999999999999999% that the Prestige is going to be our next boat.
All in all, a good weekend
We currently have a Merry Fisher 805 and although we've been extremely happy with her, we'd like something a little bigger. We'd like a bit more space inside and a little bit more comfort, whilst the MF805 is perfectly comfortable for a weekend away, we'd like something with a bit more space to lounge around. As we like the odd day out fishing, some more space in the cockpit would be nice, would like to have space for four to fish.
The Merry Fisher 925 seemed a reasonable choice and with single engined options, didn't look to cost much more to run than the existing boat. I had a look at various alternative from Beneteau, Ocqueteau, Rodman etc but for one reason or another, kept returning to the MF 925. During the course of looking i also spotted a few Prestige 32 ad's and quite liked the look of those, although they would need a budget increase and were twin engined. Some of the Sealines didn't look too bad, but don't want a sports cruiser or stern drives, so that rules most of those out. The 350/360 Statesman looked a lot of boat for the money though.
On paper, the Prestige 32 is the same length as the MF 925, but a foot bigger in the beam. Not much bigger for the extra cost and having to have twin engines, although it does look a lovely boat in the pictures. Finally ruled out everything else on the grounds of stern drives, too much canvas, too small a cockpit, don't like the layout, out of budget etc. Just left the MF925, Prestige 32 and the Sealine 360, but we're 99% the MF 925 is the one for us. Plenty about in budget and much cheaper to run.
Time for some fender kicking to finalise the choice of models. Don't want to waste anyones time unduly, so i explain the situation to the brokers who we visited and made it clear up front we were fine tuning our list of choices.
Friday, off to Buck's to look at a MF 925. Very low hours at just 139 hours and only used on the Thames, should be mint, especially as the broker tells me the valeter has just been on the boat. Hmm, he must have been onboard to make himself a cuppa, or use the heads, certainly wasn't there to do any cleaning. Externally the boat had chalky gelcoat and grubby decks, with no cockpit covers. No covers on the flybridge meant the weather and UV had taking it's toll. Inside, there were a few nasty knocks to the woodwork. The batteries were so flat the best they could manage was a faint glow on the cabin lights. This was the most basic boat i've ever seen, no heat, no cover, no electronics at all, not even screen demisters. Yet, it was priced at £10k above similar year boats that were well equipped.
The extra cabin space and extra cockpit space tick a couple of boxes, but i'm not really wowed. Is it enough to justify a change ? There's several things i'd want to change and the helm dash is too small for even a 10" plotter, so there's also a few boxes with crosses in them. Would be different for a first time buyer or someone upgrading from a much smaller boat, but i'm not so sure it's for us. Talk on the way home is that a few mods and some upholstery upgrades and we think it'd be OK, really ought to look at some better spec models, as this one is very plain. Still on the list.
Saturday and we're off to The Broads to look at a Prestige 32 and a Sealine 360, both with the same broker. The Prestige is near the office, so the broker came with us to look at this one first. First glance as we approached and it looks significantly bigger than the MF 925. Climbing aboard, the cockpit is noticeably wider, but a touch shorter. The broker opened the patio doors and, erm.... this is huge inside compared to the MF 925, wow ! This i like
I knew the Prestige was a class apart from the Merry Fisher (and that's no disrespect to the Merry Fisher), but on paper and looking at the pictures, it shouldn't be this big. Love the layout, lots of room to lounge around as the table isn't fixed and the sofas are a nice size and well apart. Four adults would have a ton of room in here for a few days away, or longer. The helm layout is very nice indeed and there's tons of room overhead for more plotters than enough. The for cabin a plenty big enough and the guest cabin is also a good size. The heads is not really any bigger than our 805, but as SWMBO said, how much room do we need for a wee. The galley is nice too. I think the proportions are just right for the size of the boat. Engine access is a bit tight, as VP has already told us. An odd problem though. I can't get my legs under or behind the wheel. I h ave to sit to one side or at an angle. On an otherwise excellently designed boat, this is unbelievably poor. The previous owner has made some alarmingly unpleasant mods here and there and his varnishing is something to behold
The water squelching out from beneath the saloon sole and running down the steps was a tad off putting too. Why don't owners present there boats better ? On the whole, we left this one with all of our boxes ticked except two, i can't sit properly and SWMBO has no forward facing seat, which is a bit of a must for her. Maybe if i could get behind the wheel the bench seat is big enough for us both. I think it'd be straight forward enough to recess the helm and cure this though.Some more looking at pics when we got home revealed that the slightly odd shelving in the fore cabin and some other odd features in the saloon were owner mods. More importantly, he'd raised the helm seat by 6", which accounts for the seating problems there.
Went to look at the Sealine 360 next. This was a stock boat and was very well presented. It was an extremely nice boat indeed. Seemed to me that the extra four feet was used up with the bigger galley slightly bigger guest cabin, slightly bigger owners cabin and better/bigger heads and shower. The main saloon seemed to be about the same size as the Prestige. The cockpit was a good size, but the layout and fixed seating don't really lend themselves to fishing. This was a significant box to have a cross in it and enough for us to cross this boat off the list. Anyone looking for a 36 foot shaft drive flybridge would be well advised to take a look at this one though. Looked spotless throughout and seemed to be sensibly priced too. She was at Norfolk Yacht Agency, Norwich. We really liked this boat a lot, just don't think we could live with the cockpit, plus it was another step up the budget ladder.
Sunday and we're off to look at another Prestige, without the silly owner mods. This one is a nice boat and is in original spec. Without the raised seat i can get behind the wheel and there's room for SWMBO, so the last two boxes get a tick. The minor niggles also turn out to be daft owner mods on the first boat and i'm 99.999999999999999% that the Prestige is going to be our next boat.
All in all, a good weekend
