Boat Recommendations

[Greg2]

BTW, I had the travel regulation confirmed. My wife can stay as long as she wants as long as she is with me: Travel documents for non-EU family members - Your Europe

Thanks for sharing. As is often the case it isn’t entirely clear but my reading is that if I am with my wife in any country other than her EU country I am not restricted by the 90 in 180 rule but I am restricted to 3 months in one particular country unless I apply for a residence card, which should be granted.

 

[Gustywinds]

Hello again,
An update to this:
Anybody any experience and positive or negative comments on Jeanneau NC9?
Reason I ask is that I have been given a lead on one that is lying in southern France, the English owner having passed away. The executors are acting with a French lawyer who happens to be a friend of my sister (who is also a lawyer but a corporate one).
The boat was registered in UK prior to the Brexit cutoff but has been in France for roughly 2 and a half years so VAT is due on it. The lawyers are deliberately valuing it low to reduce the tax liability to the estate.
I Haven't seen any pictures of it yet, just a PDF of a spec and sale document. The spec looks good (Penta D4 -260, bow and stern, good Garmin nav suite). As far as I can make out it has been lying for more than a year (Oct 2022). Fees were paid for 6 months but the rest are overdue and a liability to estate
Obviously I would get a surveyor to inspect and budget to have it lifted out and serviced

Anything else I should be thinking of?

 

[philipdawsonladds]

We looked at one of these - nice boat- but access to the storage was a pain - all well organised but required the floor to be taken up to get at them

 

[Gustywinds]

We looked at one of these - nice boat- but access to the storage was a pain - all well organised but required the floor to be taken up to get at them

Just watched a video of one and they make a big feature of that. seems to be a bit short of storage elsewhere

 

[DavidJ]

Anything else I should be thinking of?

I’m sure the lawyers are all over this but I guess the deceased wasn’t the original “exporter”. Different VAT conditions if he was although the “deceased” condition taken it out of my direct experience.

 

[Gustywinds]

I believe he was the original exporter but the responsibility now rests with the executors

 

[Seastoke]

Sounds a good opportunity to buy at the right price, with the Right paper work in place.

 

[Gustywinds]

Sounds a good opportunity to buy at the right price, with the Right paper work in place.

Yes, I think so. I'm just waiting for a mail from the executor and I think I will gamble £250 on an Easyjet flight to Marseille to have a look.

 

[Gustywinds]

Well, I did fly down to Marseilles to see the boat and its been a bit of a disappointment. Rather sad how much it has deteriorated in 19 months. I'm not going to post pictures as there is quite a lot of the deceased’s possessions there.
The gelcoat has dulled - nothing that a good polish wont cure
The window rubbers are very dried out and with some perishing. Some will improve with silicon oil, others may need replaced
Windscreen cover and rear canvas both very brittle and the latter torn. Both need replaced
Even just using a little endoscope camera on a boat hook, connected to my phone, I could see the hull has a lot of growth (easily fixable when lifted out, i guess) and the drive unit (is it still called a stern drive when it i actually underneath?) is covered in either marine life or corrosion or both (fixable but expensive)
The black water tank was empty but the smell from the pump out port was overpowering
The clean water smelt strongly of rotten eggs even after running for a few minutes. Both of these would need flushing and disinfecting, maybe more?
The agent had had a cleaner in last week as the interior was covered in spiders webs and dead insects. They have reappeared to a certain extent and the agent suggested a fumigation may be necessary as there is evidence of spider eggs and mosquito larvae. I think I’d want to replace the mattresses.
So, overall, it looks like not being the bargain I thought.
What has put me off even more is talking to the owner of a nearby boat on the subject of sterndrives. His previous boat (a Beneteau with twin drives) cost him a fortune with both having to be replaced after 5 years
He is a fellow Northern Irish chap (hello John McCormick if you are on) and his current boat has risen to the top of my shortlist albeit at a much higher price than my budget. He has a Nimbus 305 Coupe and he showed me round it this morning - it has everything I had on my wish list, the only downside vs the Aquador 32 is the lack of port side door and narrower deck on that side. I was really impressed with the build quality on it and the attention to detail. He has also research fitting Dockmate and showed me his quote (just under 10k Euro)
So, when I get home, I need to look again at finances and see if I can stretch. But meantime I’m going to take a few days looking around other boats here and other southern marinas. I have discovered that people are very keen to tell you about their boats!

 

[NC11]

All seems like minor wear issues tbh. The way I looked at it, factor these into the final price to get yourself a decent boat.

 

[Gustywinds]

All seems like minor wear issues tbh. The way I looked at it, factor these into the final price to get yourself a decent boat.

Yeah, but is all going to mount up and .with the VAT to pay, winds up being a lot and I've had a second Sterndrive scare story from the owner of a Bayliner here (the 3055 Ciera was one i initially had on my list). I haven't totally dismissed it but I'm not as fired up about it as I was at the start of the week.
Just been onboard an Aquador 27HT which is a bit too small for what I want and again has a sterndrive but give me a good idea of the quality of them so the 32 is probably still my best option unless my financial advisor can figure a way of springing an extra £100k+ for a Nimbus 305. The (German) people on the 27 couldn't tell me a whole lot about it as they are just living in it for a few weeks while the owner is back in Germany.

From your username, do you own an NC11? There is one parked up here. Nobody onboard so I couldn't look closely. Its a fair bit bigger and has twin engines/stern drives? Have you had any issues with them?

 

[Alicatt]

With the drive leg being underneath would it then be a saildrive?

I have a saildrive on my boat, it is a Volvo Penta S110 powered with a MD7A engine so quite small, there are larger versions both by Volvo Penta and other manufacturers

The skeg in front of the saildrive protects the drive and propellor to a certain extent and also provides a bottom mount for the rudder.

The saildrive does not move, could the drive on the boat you looked at be an IPS?

 

[Gustywinds]

The saildrive does not move, could the drive on the boat you looked at be an IPS?

Its a VOLVO D4-260 DP which is a stern drive system apparently. All I could see was the lower section, the boat was moored stern to and I couldn't see under the swim platform. This image from the manufacturers site shows it more clearly

 

[jrudge]

Depending on price paid none of what you listed seems an issue.

Stern drives need maintenance and replacement bellows. They can and do go wrong and the bill can be significant.

 

[Gustywinds]

Depending on price paid none of what you listed seems an issue.

Stern drives need maintenance and replacement bellows. They can and do go wrong and the bill can be significant.

Yeah, that what I need to work out. The initial number they were talking about was "around 100,000 Euro" tax paid, as is, where is with the estate paying the outstanding fees. The is a very similar one for sale in Brittany at 138k Euro and another much older one in Cherbourg at 118k Euro.
On the sterndrives, yes, its mostly down to maintenance. This one has been sitting in salt water for 19 months and, as far as I can tell, the last time she was lifted out was in March 2022. Couldn't find any paperwork as to what exactly was done. I spoke to the owner of a SeaRay last night and he never leaves it in the water over winter, he dry stores it at Port Napoleon and has the drives coated in "wax" (I assume something like Waxoil, he had a very heavy Marseille accent which I struggled to understand at times). He summed it up with a typical Gallic shrug and a 'Ça va".

 

[jrudge]

They live in the water. You just need to make sure there was some anode left as if not there might not be much drive left

 

[Gustywinds]

They live in the water

I was in Port Navy Service at the mouth of the Rhône yesterday and I've never seen so many boats out of the water!
And, yes, the concern is that the stern drive has major corrosion. 6500 Euro plus labour to replace

 

[Seastoke]

Just get it lifted and look

 

[jrudge]

As above

 

[Gustywinds]

Just get it lifted and look

As above

Yeah, I know, its just a matter of whether I want to spend a couple of grand having it lifted and surveyed. I've spent a grand with flights/hotels/car/food in this 4 day visit and it has been very interesting and Ive learned a lot speaking to owners and to the service companies locally. Even got a ride in a Sealine SC29 which was pretty nice although the build wasn't as impressive as the Finnish boats. I was also talking to a tech fitting a stern thruster onto a sterndrive. I didn't know such a thing existed and have asked about this elsewhere.
Anyway, plenty to think about, home tomorrow.