Best 25ft motor cruiser?

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gordhouse

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I am looking to purchase a 25ft diesel motor cruiser,approx yr 2002-2004.
What are pros/cons.
Cosidering Bayliner,Sea ray,Crownline Sealine etc.
Appreciate any advice
 
What are your main ambitions for it?, socialising or day-boating (deck space), weekending or cruising (cabin space/ accommodation), watersports or cruising ability etc.

It will help with advice to know what your plans are.
 
Sealine S23/S25

But then we are biased!!!!

We spend a lot of time on ours and we cant fault her. Easy to handle, easy to work with, easy access to the bow, gas cooking and able to sustain herself away from marina moorings (a thing most of the US boats fail at miserably) whilst being a well built and easy to maintain package.

The only possible downside is budget. The majority are diesel powered (can only remember seeing one petrol one) so command a higher premium than the 25ft US cruisers which are almost always petrol powered.
 
Echo what Enterprise says re what are you aiming to use it for.

When I was looking to upgrade I wanted a boat suitable to go offshore fishing but also to justify the cost allow for week ends away with ere indoors :D must also be able to tow toys around for general play days. After sea trials in a few boats that were either for sale or owned by friends I decided on a Karnic 2460 which at 8.2 metres is slightly over 25'. It has a reasonable amount of cockpit space with removable seating for 8 at a push but more comfortably 6. 4 berths 2 ring cooker and fridge plus all the boys toys and gizmo's. with a diesel engine it ticked all the boxes for me.

Apart from engine issues (now sorted) I have exactly the boat for our needs. What are your needs?

Martin
 
S23/S25 - very capable, upmarket finish. Gets blown about a bit manouevring like most single sterndrive boats this size.

Sea Ray - Sundancer 240, would be my choice as a drivers boat.

Bayliner - Some trim bits plasticcy, no fancy woodwork, but the bits that need to be solid, are (e.g. the hull!)
 
25 ft cruiser

Many thanks for your replies so far.
I had been drawn to exploring the Sealine in more depth as this appears to fit all our needs for weekending, socialising,and accommodation.
Cheers
Gordon
 
Have a look at Monterey, Regal and larson too... plenty with diesels and reckoned to be amongst the better US boats. But have to agree, the Sealine quality and finish takes some beating. Its worth remembering that some US sports boats are lake oriented and tend to be a bit bumpy and slappy at Sea. Whatever you go for make sure you Sea trail it in some waves!!

When we bought our sports boat, we did a lot of research and ended up with a Monterey for handling performance and finish coupled with price.

Have fun...
 
If it were my choice,
For accommodation the Sealine s23/s25 wins, many home comforts for a great time relaxing at anchor or chilling out back at the marina, more suited to living onboard, genuinely built as a pocket cruiser rather than an out and out sportsboat, although just as at home at 30knots out on the water, Kad 32 diesel would be the choice engine, simple yet powerfull good dealer network and easy to maintain.

Searay 240/260 etc, American quality brand, not quite as good as sealine IMO but well put together all the same, residual value good for an american boat, solid performance but no diesel options that were standard, probably suited better for watersports and dayboating than cruising.

Monterey, I have to admit I would have one of these, looks and styling are good without trying too hard (if you know what I mean), build looks good and there are some nice touches, always seem to do well in comparison tests, again predominantly petrol but diesel options are a good investment. again possibly suited more to watersports than cruising.

Doral 250 / (montichello?), good looking boat, very nice interiors on later models, second choice after sealine if it were my money, cruising/accommodation orientated so less sports boat than monterey and searay definitely worth a look though, mainly petrols but possibly some diesel options.

Where do you intend to use it and how many regular crew will be onboard, couple or family?
 
I have just come across a cheap s23 with kad32 and 3.5 kw webasto heater, history known as I have serviced it for a couple of years, based in Nottingham, pm me if interested its on at 32950.
 
gordhouse said:
I am looking to purchase a 25ft diesel motor cruiser,approx yr 2002-2004.
What are pros/cons.
Cosidering Bayliner,Sea ray,Crownline Sealine etc.
Appreciate any advice
Click to expand...

Dont get too hung up on brand; they all have + and -.
One reason people change their boat is that they conclude they didnt really know what they wanted, after all. Of course that makes it tricky, but make a shortlist of what you want from the boat. That might be cockpit,or handling,or style, or sleeping etc etc. Then see how each boat ticks your own needs. Nothing will match, as it is always a compromise-just look at the stupid shape of a boat to see why- but 7+ out of 10 would be promising.
Its much better to have a boat that does almost all of what you want, than to have one that does much of someone else wants !
So, make your own list of requirements. If that turns out to be a Sealine, or Crownline or Searay is rather irrelevent as long as it does what you want.
 
gjgm said:
Dont get too hung up on brand; they all have + and -.
One reason people change their boat is that they conclude they didnt really know what they wanted, after all. Of course that makes it tricky, but make a shortlist of what you want from the boat. That might be cockpit,or handling,or style, or sleeping etc etc. Then see how each boat ticks your own needs. Nothing will match, as it is always a compromise-just look at the stupid shape of a boat to see why- but 7+ out of 10 would be promising.
Its much better to have a boat that does almost all of what you want, than to have one that does much of someone else wants !
So, make your own list of requirements. If that turns out to be a Sealine, or Crownline or Searay is rather irrelevent as long as it does what you want.
Click to expand...

Often, new to boating buyers, don't really know themselves until they have owned and operated an outfit for the first season.
Stay well within the parameters of solid re-sale and recognised good property, while your establishing a 'course to steer', so to speak.
 
Andie, he doesnt say he is new to boat buying, though I also thought that might be the case. I agree that you shouldnt go too off the wall and get lumbered with something that you cant sell.
The point that I was trying-perhaps unsuccessfully- to make was that while a Karnic and a Sealine are obviously very different, there can be more subtle differences in layout/style/performance of similar boats that make one an attraction to one person and not another. The OP should ensure he buys what meets his need, and not buy a 23, for example, because it gets a popular feedback on here.
Personally, I'd go for the Karnic, but it might be the complete opposite of what the OP wants.
 
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gjgm said:
Andie, he doesnt say he is new to boat buying, though I also thought that might be the case. I agree that you shouldnt go too off the wall and get lumbered with something that you cant sell.
The point that I was trying-perhaps unsuccessfully- to make was that while a Karnic and a Sealine are obviously very different, there can be more subtle differences in layout/style/performance of similar boats that make one an attraction to one person and not another. The OP should ensure he buys what meets his need, and not buy a 23, for example, because it gets a popular feedback on here.
Personally, I'd go for the Karnic, but it might be the complete opposite of what the OP wants.
Click to expand...

The differences in the 25ft boats are smaller than the differences in the bigger say 30ft+ boats. There is a limit to what can be done in a 25ft space. The layouts are very similar with subtle differences such as midships access. Budget is often the decider in this category.

Having said that we wouldnt change our S23 for a US 25ft boat, we wouldnt be able to afford the petrol costs, nor as we use our boat inland, the marina fees everytime we decided to go out. The US boats seem to struggle to spend a night away from the hook up (mainly due to electric cooking IMO). We rarely pay for visitor mooring fees preferring to use BW visitor moorings and only use marinas where absolutely necessary, Hull for example.

We plan to get the S23 onto some rougher stuff this year and the build quality and general feel of the boat lead us to believe she will be fine. Some of the US boats, IMO, are let down by lighter construction.

We where lucky as we found the right boat for us at the first time of asking. This was we admit more by luck than judgement as we went to look at a Bayliner!!!!
 
so much good advice... what a forum !

........but have you considered a semi displacement boat? Just something that novice boaters sometimes never consider. The manufactures you mentioned build sports boats with planning hulls, get in a bit of rough stuff and they will all be slamming away and pretty uncomfortable to be in, whereas a semi displacement boat will give you more boating days as you can get out when planning hulls are running for cover. I cannot argue that circa 25ft sports boats with outdrives gives good accommodation, but just something to think about... Of course it does depend on where you plan to use your boat.. and depends on your budget, you will pay more for a semi displacement boat.

..Oh, and semi displacement doesn't have to mean slow... my Hardy will top 26knots & happily cruises at 20knots and just cuts through waves rather than slamming into them.
 
"..Oh, and semi displacement doesn't have to mean slow... my Hardy will top 26knots & happily cruises at 20knots and just cuts through waves rather than slamming into them"

Wheres the fun in that?
 
Actually, the OP does say diesel, doesnt he. While there are some USA boats around with diesels, I dont know if all brands ever offered that. That might be a decider.
Sure, there might be limitations with what you can do with 25ft, but I would say there is enough difference between boats of this size to make one a preference over another.
Hey, I m not making any judgement here; each to his own. We dont even know if the OP intends ever to sleep on the boat,for example, so we cant make suggestions as to why boat A would work better than boat B.
 
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