Advice please - back in the game next season after a long absence.

[mickyb]

Hi there.

I've been out of the boating game for a good ten years after selling my beloved Sealine 290 (had to fund renovation of my new home). Ive missed being on the water a huge amount! The good news is, that next season, I should at last be in a position to get back on board as it were.

So... I will be looking to buy a slightly smaller boat - was thinking, a 24-25ft single diesel sports/express cruiser. My old one was about 31ft and had twin Volvo AD31s (130hp each) which were really quite underpowered for the size of boat, so I won't be make that mistake again!

I primarily want to run the boat on the Lancaster canal as there are moorings within a couple of hundred yards of my house. It makes sense to have a boat that can be used both inland and out on the bay with the odd 50-60 mile offshore passage in good weather. Morecambe Bay has crazy tides and there are very few places to visit which don't dry out. The canal is stress free, It's a broad beam canal and there are no locks for 43 miles and plenty of good pubs - lovely for a slow run out in the evening and then a lazy walk home afterwards. Having a boat that can be used for both makes real sense, but I don't really want a dedicated canal/river cruiser, as practical as that option would be.

Right.. here are some requirements..

1. Max Air Draft for the Lancaster canal is 2.50m so something with either no radar arch or a low one is essential.

2. I would like a reasonably up to date boat - really well looked after, in lovely condition, with good, properly serviced and bomb proof engine.

3. Single engine is important as the canal can get shallow at the edges and twin outdrives would be easily damaged - a single outdrive in the middle would be away from the shallows when mooring if you know what i mean (and I can tilt the leg up a bit to save damaging the prop).

4. This one's a big ask.. She needs a good turn of speed when at sea but also something that can handle chugging at 3kts for the majority of the time. A newish single Volvo D4 or equivalent would be nice, something that will easily allow cruise mid twenties full of gear, fuel, people and dinghy lashed to bathing platform - none of this struggling to get on the plane business.

5. Occasional over night use. Ideally 3-4 berths, a shower and some kind of loo (chemical cassette type is fine or a proper loo with holding tank). Also, really really basic galley with a fridge and single burner hob - happy to survive on beans, pasta and cups of tea.

There are a few boats i've seen that might fit the bill - happy to go for an American boat if necessary (diesels seem rare though):
- Maxum 250SCR - some have diesel engines.
- Doral Monticello - I believe the air draft is in limits despite having an arch.
- Jeanneau Leader 805 - quite a few of the newer ones have the Volvo D4.
A sealine S23 would be lovely, but I believe they are too tall for the bridges..

I don't have a strict budget in mind, was thinking very roughly £30-45k - possibly a bit higher if something more expensive comes up that is mind blowing.

Does anyone know of anything else which is nice that would match these requirements? I'm a bit out of the loop nowadays..

Also, this is REALLY IMPORTANT, and is one for the mechanics among you. Will it be okay to run a fairly high performance turbo diesel at low speeds (almost tickover) for a good few months without damaging it? I believe some folk who have boats with larger engines bolt a smaller prop on to get the revs up just for inland cruising but I doubt this would be possible if the drive has duoprops?? does any one know?

The following scenario cannot be allowed to happen.....
After using her pretty much at tick over on the canal for months on end, I finally get chance to exit the sea lock onto the tidal Lune at Glasson Dock,... Excitedly, I unleash the horses, the stern digs in hard and just as she's coming up over the hump, I hear and feel the sickening process of various oil seals, gaskets, bearings, nuts, bolts, jets of oil and boiling water, cylinder heads and pistons being violently ejected from the engine and hitting the underside of the cockpit floor as she grinds to a halt - fully on fire. ?

This gives me nightmares - maybe i'm worrying about nothing, but an engine which has been basically doing no work for such a long time will have a hell of a shock when she finally has to deliver! bit like me having Sunday lunch with lashings of red wine and being mid snooze in front of the fire, nursing my massive belly.. Then immediately having to run away from a psychotic marauding bear!.. its not going to happen - something will break! surely!?

Please put my mind at rest. Maybe a petrol engine would be best with the type of use I have in mind??.. I really dont know! ?‍

Sorry for the long post.. Many thanks in advance for your wise words and recommendations, I look forward to hearing your views..
Mike.

 

[Seastoke]

You could go petrol , and have a wing engine say 20hp fr the canal which will double up as back up at sea

 

[stelican]

Sounds like you need a Morecombe Bay Liner!

 

[spannerman]

I woukd not run a high performance diesel for months at idle speed. We had a customer with a brand new Sealine with two D 4’s who complained of excessive oil consumption. We checked the engines over for leaks and did a controlled fill and level check telling him not to add any oil for two weeks and when he came back they had used more than was normal.
When I asked him he used the boat he said he took other pensioner friends out and cruised the fjords all day at idle! The cylinders were glazed and the only option was an Italian tune up, run it hard to see if the rings would clear the glaze or it was engines out. Basically he had bought the wrong boat for his type of boating.

 

[mickyb]

I woukd not run a high performance diesel for months at idle speed. We had a customer with a brand new Sealine with two D 4’s who complained of excessive oil consumption. We checked the engines over for leaks and did a controlled fill and level check telling him not to add any oil for two weeks and when he came back they had used more than was normal.
When I asked him he used the boat he said he took other pensioner friends out and cruised the fjords all day at idle! The cylinders were glazed and the only option was an Italian tune up, run it hard to see if the rings would clear the glaze or it was engines out. Basically he had bought the wrong boat for his type of boating.

Thats really interesting! Many thanks for pointing that out. That's exactly the kind of thing I feared.
Do you know, if a large petrol engine be as susceptible to the same problem as the one you point out above (low speed use)?

The fuel consumption of even a V8 petrol shouldn't break the bank at canal speeds, and to be honest, for the few times a year I would be taking her to sea, the extra fuel cost over a diesel wouldn't be too much of an issue. Plus the initial outlay for the boat wouldn't be as high.

Thanks again!

 

[mickyb]

Sounds like you need a Morecombe Bay Liner!

That kind of thing yes, I just don't know much about sports boats..

Which have the nicest build quality? which are the most suitable for going off shore?

I know a good bit about UK built cruisers (Fairline, Princess, Sealine and the like) But Maxum, Four winns, Morecambe bayliner, Doral, Sea Ray, Regal etc etc etc.... not a bloomin clue! ?

 

[mickyb]

You could go petrol , and have a wing engine say 20hp fr the canal which will double up as back up at sea

I was definitely thinking of getting an outboard as a backup. Ive still got a 2 stroke Mariner 4hp which I used for my tender (still got that too) but it's a short shaft engine so doubt it would be much good for bolting to an outboard bracket to power the boat in an emergency.

 

[spannerman]

I run a 5,7 ltr V8 and at idle speed it uses about 5 lph if I just potter around the many islands and sounds where I live. But I still open it up every trip to blow out the cobwebs, any engine can suffer from cylinder glazing if operated at idle for long periods. The piston rings need the higher cylinder pressures to force them out against the cylinder walls preventing glazing. You would be better with a smaller engine that is working more efficiently, also bear in mind if its a sterndrive boat running at displacement speed it will wander instead of running straight as its a known trait of sterndrive boats, they prefer to be on the plane.

 

[mickyb]

I run a 5,7 ltr V8 and at idle speed it uses about 5 lph if I just potter around the many islands and sounds where I live. But I still open it up every trip to blow out the cobwebs, any engine can suffer from cylinder glazing if operated at idle for long periods. The piston rings need the higher cylinder pressures to force them out against the cylinder walls preventing glazing. You would be better with a smaller engine that is working more efficiently, also bear in mind if its a sterndrive boat running at displacement speed it will wander instead of running straight as its a known trait of sterndrive boats, they prefer to be on the plane.

Many thanks for that.. guess I will have to rethink.. ?