Birchwood 25 purchase

having owned a 22 with 145/270 for 3 years without any problems, yes the leg can jumb up without use as the spring gets weak and the bar gets hard to move (new spring and clean &lub) then sold 22 and bought a 25 with bmc 1800 diesel and shaft so much better suited to the river speeds as said before no cutting out a low speeds ect lower tick speed on entering locks etc and will be a dream to steer no zzzzzzzzz down the river plus good old diesel relieabity
 
I would pay a Volvo mechanic to survey the engine and drive, even if it meant cancelling the boat survey for budget reasons. At this size and age that's where the repair money is....so what if the fridge, water pump or toilet doesn't work, they are one off relatively cheap fixes. Or may be pay surveyor reduced fee to just check hull structure.
 
i spoke to the company that has been servicing the engne and leg and it does seem that the boat has been well looked after by the current owner. i will check over the service history on Sunday when i test the boat on the river.

the leg kick back issue i spotted has been resolved by chemically cleaning the scale off the leg. The service company i spoke to said that the waterway that the boat is kept on has very hard water.
 
I hope it all goes to plan and you get much enjoyment from the boat. Please check back in 5 years time and tell us how many replacement drives you have bought. I'm going to stick my neck out and say the answer will be none.
 
CLB said:
I hope it all goes to plan and you get much enjoyment from the boat. Please check back in 5 years time and tell us how many replacement drives you have bought. I'm going to stick my neck out and say the answer will be none.
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Probably because the boat will have been sold long ago and a bigger better boat bought and lets all guess what the drive system will be.
Fancy a bet. :):):)
 
When we first started boating, there were no forums to get other folks advise and experiences and as a result our first three boats were all petrol, one with shaft, one single outdrive and one twin outdrive. As I've got older, and had a little more funds, I've progressed to twin diesel on shafts which I love.
What I will say to the OP is that we have very fond memories of all our previous boats and I would rather have owned any of them than be boat less. Also, none of ours let us down and needed nothing more than routine maintenance each year.
There is a Wealth of information about your engine and drive combination on the web and plenty of parts available, not always inexpensive, but if you and a few friends can repair and maintain them, then that adds to the experience. Both engine and drive are fairly simple to work on. For every person who has had major problems, there are many more who haven't.
Also, If you have a single outdrive, you will only zig-zag for the few minutes it takes you to get used to it, not forever.
If the boat suits you, buy it and enjoy your summer. Good luck.
 
Boat trip went well. Boat handled as expected. Out drive went in to reverse a number of times without lifting.

I have instructed the surveyor to proceed. Exciting times :-).
 
Always had to clean my reverse latch if it was unused for a while. It's no big deal. Hope all goes well for you with the Birchwood. Where a outs will you moor it?
 
Did you clean it whilst the boat was afloat? If so, any tips or pics on how you did it?

the boats on the river Gt Ouse near Canbridge.
 
plumpton said:
Did you clean it whilst the boat was afloat? If so, any tips or pics on how you did it?

the boats on the river Gt Ouse near Canbridge.
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I cleaned it if the boat was ashore for the winter. The leg is unlocked in forward and neutral in case you hit a submerged item so unless it's in reverse, you can just lift the leg and supporting it. I just cleaned any scaling or weed or growth from it. When the boat was in the water, I never had an issue with it. It really is a simple system and once you've seen it, you'll understand how it works.

you may be better off posting in the Thames Forum, a couple down in the menu, as there are loads of similar boats to yours on the inland waters and many of us maintain our own.
 
Thanks. I will go through the previous threads on the Thames forum to see if there is anything of interest. Our last Birchwoods were on the Thames in the 80's. Both bought new from the Cook family in Walton Marina. both of those had the Ford based watermota engines. We as a family spent many a good year on the Thames. We even managed to get the 25 out and around the east coast. It was obviously a bit painful at 7 knots but we managed it...

My Dad eventually sold the last Birchwood in 88 and bought a wooden motor sailor which was moored at Lymington and eventually moved on to the Medway.

Returning to a Birchwood after a long gap is quiet a trip down memory lane for all of us. We're no longer in the Thames region but it'll be just as much fun for my now very old Dad... He was very impressed with the handling of the Birchwood with the lutdrive fitted, This particular boat has a rudder safe fitted to the leg so there is still some control when out of gear.

Thanks to everyone for their open advice, comments and patience.
 
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Our first boat was a freeman 22 which had a rudder and shaft. Our second boat was a Princess 32 with a single outdrive. I'll never forget the first time I took it out of the marina, tried to turn left on idle and carried on heading straight, towards an island! You soon learn when to give a little rev to aid steering.
We had a long break from boating whilst the kids were young, but so glad we managed to get back on the river. Hope you have as much fun as the rest of us.
 
Completed on the purchase of the boat yesterday and spent the day aboard today. Sorted out so many little things already. Removed the crappy davits and re-secured the hand rails around the stern. Also managed to re-secure one of the deck rails. All easy stuff...

Noticed that the starter motor is noisy after initial start up. It sounds like the unit is not disengaging fast enough from the flywheel??? Im wondering if this means a new starter motor or whether I can pop the unit off and apply some lube to the shaft of the starter motor?
 
Hi all. Nearly a month in to boat ownership and I can confirm that we have not had any nasty surprises yet.

One of the two batteries was dead so that needed replacing. The front two cylinders were running a bit rich so I weakened the mixture on that carb slightly. Sorted...

The leg has behaved itself so far. We've had a number of trips out now and it's operating nice and smooth.

There is a bit of wiring to sort out. There are a load of old wires running around the outside of the hard top. They are for the navigation lights, horn and cockpit light. Any pointers on the way they are routed up from the fuse box? The cockpit on the Birchwood is surrounded by glass so I have to assume the wiring is passing up in to the roof line through the alloy frame of the windows ???

Loving being afloat again.

IMG_0099.jpg
 
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Re starter motor, we bought a boat once with that problem, it got better with use and after a couple of months it worked perfectly. At the begining we had to sometimes stop and start again to get it to disengage. Otherwise taking it off and cleaning the moving bits would sort it quicker.
 
Murv said:
I can't really express just how carefully you need to interrogate the service history for that outdrive, and I'm speaking as a long suffering owner of the very same unit.

Good luck!
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In 1973 I bought a brand new boat with the same engine and outdrive unit. To comply with the warranty I had to have it serviced after 1 year.
I have never forgotten what the engineer said when he finished the service. "I have managed to save your leg" and that was after only about 100 hours.
 
Jim@sea said:
In 1973 I bought a brand new boat with the same engine and outdrive unit. To comply with the warranty I had to have it serviced after 1 year.
I have never forgotten what the engineer said when he finished the service. "I have managed to save your leg" and that was after only about 100 hours.
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y

What was the problem with it? The fact that many are still around and working over 40 years later must say something about their durability.
 
CLB said:
y

What was the problem with it? The fact that many are still around and working over 40 years later must say something about their durability.
Click to expand...

It may have been a fishing line which effected the seal as water was mixed in with the gearbox oil.
Of course (as someone else has pointed out) we were not as well informed in the early 70's and many people (including myself) would have been totally unaware that fishing lines could damage the seals on outdrive legs.
Today if I had a boat with one of these outdrive legs I would regularly dry the boat out and check the leg, even removing the drain screw and checking if the oil was contaminated with water.
 
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