Broom as a live aboard/solo cruising boat

[ingenious]

I've been lurking here for a while and read a few threads with people asking about best boats for various things , particularly this Confused... and Boat Recommendations
Now I've decided to take the plunger and join to ask advice.
I’m looking to live onboard probably 8 months a year and much of it solo. Mostly river/canal use but some coastal and channel crossing at some point
Based on the answers in the above threads I went and had a look at a Nimbus 320 and an Aquador 32 last weekend and they are both lovely boats but they just felt too cramped to live aboard and particularly to have guests onboard for anything more than a night or two.
So I took some guidance from someone (@Dino) who posted on one of the threads and looked online at a few videos of Brooms in the 35-40ft range, particularly this one

(and not just for the pretty lady and the great soundtrack!) but there are several others (35CL,36,37,38).
These seem much more practical, having two proper cabins and plenty of storage space. From what I've read on the Broom Owner's website, they all seem to have folding radar arches and sometimes screens to get down to below 3m air draft needed on many French canals. I'm going to arrange to go see some this coming weekend or early next but I have a few queries I hope you can hep me with:
1. Is it practical to solo on a boat like this? Obviously with the helm position being high, it would be necessary to have remote control for docking/locks/etc. I’d already looked at this for the Scandinavian boats and it is relatively simple (if expensive) to fit Dockmate to them as the ones I was looking at all had electronic engine control.
On both it was also actually possible just to reach in through door or window to do it provided you were coming in starboard side. This isn't possible with the Broom
I spoke to Dockmate about fitting it on a boat with Morse type cable control and they said it is possible but requires more interface hardware and wouldn't quote without seeing the boat. Has anybody on here done this? Is there anything else I should think about from the point of view of soloing? I’ve done some on the Seamaster 27 we used to own years back and on hire boats and a lot is down to preparation of fenders and ropes

2. The Brooms would be somewhat older for the same amount of money (up to 30 years old rather than 16-20 for the others) so should I be worried about age of things, particularly the engines? At what point do the hours become excessively high and run the risk of needing major rebuild? One boat I phoned about has around 2600 hours on each engine

3. Is there any particular engine type that is best? The ones for sale at the moment have Perkins Sabre engines, mostly twin, although there is one with Mercruisers. There are two 35CLs with single engines (135HP) but the sellers describe these as river boats so I guess are not going to be suitable for coastal/channel crossing? If it came to it, how much does a rebuild on the Perkins engines cost?

Apologies if I am asking basic, silly stuff, I'm sure I will ask a lot more!

 

[philipdawsonladds]

You certainly need bigger engines - also consider the Coastline remote controls which can be retro fitted - why not look at Atlantics too - better value and very similar to the Broom

 

[markc]

The Brooms would be idea for single handed operation - raised helm, wide decks etc. Having a remote for bow and stern thruster (if fitted) should be all you need to reduce the stress of single handed mooring, especially if the majority of use is on non-tidal. Agree that you should be looking at twin engines for coastal use.

 

[Alicatt]

As a relatively new owner of a used Ocean 37 the boat is well built and sound, the engines on mine are a bit less powerful than the Sabres on that Broom, at only 145hp each, at that she is slightly on the overpowered side for canal use here with her minimum speed in gear being on the speed limit for most of the canals in Belgium.
The boat was used by it's first owner for over 40 years, second owned didn't get much use out of her as he passed away not long after getting her, and we picked her up for a good price.
The Continental or the Crown would have a better layout for single handed sailing than the 37 or Ocean 37, easier access to the side decks
There is the Broom Owners Club (they have a facebook group too) which is a gold mine of information on all models of Broom and Aquafibre boats.

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Retrofitting electronic remotes to a boat with morse cable controls will be getting alarmingly expensive, you’ll need to add electronic throttles to each helm station, plus the companion actuators for the engine throttles and gearboxes. Plenty of examples out there, eg Glendinning about £8.5k for single helm station boat. Plus the dockmate cost. If the boat doesn’t have a bow thruster you’d want to consider that too.

If budget allowed, IMHO it’d be better to buy a boat that had the electronic throttles and BT installed. Having said all of that, there are thousands of boats out there happily working with Morse cables, and single handed parking especially in benign conditions isn’t difficult. Get some training. On rivers and canals where locks are a way of life you’ll soon get the hang of it after stopping and restarting 10 times a day!

 

[Alicatt]

Retrofitting electronic remotes to a boat with morse cable controls will be getting alarmingly expensive, you’ll need to add electronic throttles to each helm station, plus the companion actuators for the engine throttles and gearboxes. Plenty of examples out there, eg Glendinning about £8.5k for single helm station boat. Plus the dockmate cost. If the boat doesn’t have a bow thruster you’d want to consider that too.

If budget allowed, IMHO it’d be better to buy a boat that had the electronic throttles and BT installed. Having said all of that, there are thousands of boats out there happily working with Morse cables and single handed parking especially in benign conditions isn’t difficult. Get some training. On rivers and canals where locks are a way of life you’ll soon get the hang of it after stopping and restarting 10 times a day!

Quite a few times I wished we had a bow thruster on ours, Would help keep the bow in when they fill up the lock at speed

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Also, just to add that IMHO the Broom, Atlantic and related designs are ideal for the OPs purpose, loads of usable living and storage space per ft of length. Low side decks make stepping off onto river banks easy.

 

[ingenious]

Retrofitting electronic remotes to a boat with morse cable controls will be getting alarmingly expensive, you’ll need to add electronic throttles to each helm station, plus the companion actuators for the engine throttles and gearboxes. Plenty of examples out there, eg Glendinning about £8.5k for single helm station boat. Plus the dockmate cost. If the boat doesn’t have a bow thruster you’d want to consider that too.

If budget allowed, IMHO it’d be better to buy a boat that had the electronic throttles and BT installed. Having said all of that, there are thousands of boats out there happily working with Morse cables, and single handed parking especially in benign conditions isn’t difficult. Get some training. On rivers and canals where locks are a way of life you’ll soon get the hang of it after stopping and restarting 10 times a day!

Yes, bow thruster is essential, stern less so with a twin engine.
Ouch on the price of the electronic control! But I guess it's all relative,going to a newer boat with electronic control would mean something like the 365 which would be quite a big jump in cost.
I've dealt with locks before single handed with hire boats and the awkward one is a rising lock where you are tying to bollards or rings at the top level. It means using engine and thruster to push the bait against the lock then scrambling off up a slippery recessed ladder carrying a rope or two. Much easier with two when one can jump off and walk up. With full remote you could still do this.

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Yes agreed. There’s definitely solutions out there once you find the right boat. Benefit of the Brooms et al is that they go back decades and so there’s plenty to choose from at pretty much any sensible price point. Boats were well made so provided good maintenance would prove good used choice.

 

[dunedin]

You certainly need bigger engines - also consider the Coastline remote controls which can be retro fitted - why not look at Atlantics too - better value and very similar to the Broom

Out of interest, why would the OP “certainly need bigger engines” if his/her intended use is “Mostly river/canal use but some coastal and channel crossing at some point”?
We have a saily boat, but our single 50hp can easily push our 38foot / 8 tons (unladen) along at 7 knots - 8 knots at full throttle, though we normally pootle at 6 knots under engine to dramatically reduce fuel usage. The standard 40hp would have been plenty.

Surely even the one with a single 135hp engine would easily motor a 36ft Broom along at 7-8 knots even at half throttle, and able to maintain 7 knots even into a bit of headwind etc using a bit more throttle.
This is plenty for most estuaries and doing a Channel crossing in a day (with suitable weather forecast). Hardly likely to choose to go to sea against a F8 gale and waves, whatever the engines.

Surely not everybody needs to rush about at 20+ knots for an hour or so (and only doing short distances due to fuel consumption), when doing 7 knots for 24 hours would get you further.

 

[Alicatt]

In Belgium the locks are manned, for the moment! in Holland the locks are remotely operated it does make a difference.

On the manned locks here the lock keeper lowers a hook and you put your loop(s) over the hook and he hauls it up to put over the bollard, it is "mandatory" to use two lines ashore in the locks in Belgium but smaller boats can get away with only using the one line - it depends on the keeper.
In the Netherlands we found that using the larger ship's bollards in the locks were easier than using the smaller pleasure craft bollards
Mrs Catt on a rising lock, note that we are well away from the water inrush

 

[Alicatt]

Out of interest, why would the OP “certainly need bigger engines” if his/her intended use is “Mostly river/canal use but some coastal and channel crossing at some point”?
We have a saily boat, but our single 50hp can easily push our 38foot / 8 tons (unladen) along at 7 knots - 8 knots at full throttle, though we normally pootle at 6 knots under engine to dramatically reduce fuel usage. The standard 40hp would have been plenty.

Surely even the one with a single 135hp engine would easily motor a 36ft Broom along at 7-8 knots even at half throttle, and able to maintain 7 knots even into a bit of headwind etc using a bit more throttle.
This is plenty for most estuaries and doing a Channel crossing in a day (with suitable weather forecast). Hardly likely to choose to go to sea against a F8 gale and waves, whatever the engines.

Surely not everybody needs to rush about at 20+ knots for an hour or so (and only doing short distances due to fuel consumption), when doing 7 knots for 24 hours would get you further.

One 145hp engine propels our 10 tonne (laden) Ocean 37 at 7.6km/h at idle, two engines on and it is 8.3km/h, at idle the engines are producing less than 40hp at idle so I can quite believe your figures, 900rpm gives about 15km/h (12km/h sog into a 3km/h current on the Maas) More than enough to keep up with the freighters on the Maas and canals.
The Ocean 37 is a semi displacement hull with a 3/4 length keel and not a full planning hull like the Broom 36

 

[Parabordi]

Out of interest, why would the OP “certainly need bigger engines” if his/her intended use is “Mostly river/canal use but some coastal and channel crossing at some point”?
We have a saily boat, but our single 50hp can easily push our 38foot / 8 tons (unladen) along at 7 knots - 8 knots at full throttle, though we normally pootle at 6 knots under engine to dramatically reduce fuel usage. The standard 40hp would have been plenty.

Surely even the one with a single 135hp engine would easily motor a 36ft Broom along at 7-8 knots even at half throttle, and able to maintain 7 knots even into a bit of headwind etc using a bit more throttle.
This is plenty for most estuaries and doing a Channel crossing in a day (with suitable weather forecast). Hardly likely to choose to go to sea against a F8 gale and waves, whatever the engines.

Surely not everybody needs to rush about at 20+ knots for an hour or so (and only doing short distances due to fuel consumption), when doing 7 knots for 24 hours would get you further.

agreed i laughed out loud when i read that original comment!

 

[Greg2]

Having owned two Brooms (an Ocean 37 and a Broom 41) I can say without any hesitation that they are ideal for the OP’s intended use with great accommodation and easy access decks for working lines etc with the only caveat being that the decks can be notably above pontoon height so being relatively agile or perhaps, more importantly, being able to lasso a cleat will be important.

Going for a model with a semi-displacement hull will help a little with reducing lateral movement in close quarters, which will be helpful when single handed. Bow and stern thrusters with remote controls would certainly be helpful but not essential IMHO and I would go so far as to say that replacing engine controls with electronic to facilitate dockmate or similar would be wholly unnecessary.

On the issue of engine size I can understand those that are more used to sailboats thinking a single 135hp is more than sufficient and to be fair it is in terms of achieving hull speed but that isn’t the full picture and there is a world of difference in ride and handling between a yacht with a relatively small single engine and a mobo with the same.

The Broom 35 hull shape means that it rolls a lot in a beam sea and without the power to lift its skirts (it will never go above displacement speed without more power) it isn’t possible to achieve the improved stability that speed can bring. I know this because we carefully considered and trialled one. Doesn’t mean it is a none starter but important to know when making decisions.

For mobos, whilst single engines with good fuel filtration are good enough for coastal passages, most prefer the security of twin engines, which also bring huge benefits in close quarters manoeuvring. A turn of speed at sea is also very helpful if wanted but when engines of sufficient size are combined with a semi-displacement hull a range of speeds are possible and running two or three knots above hull speed isn’t hugely expensive but helps with stability and passage times.

To answer the OP’s second and third questions Brooms are very well built but a full pre-purchase survey is recommended. On engine hours basic diesels are capable of thousands of hours if properly maintained so check service history and consider and engine survey by a qualified engineer. We have the Perkins in our boat - nice and simple and I expect them to run for many years before any kind of rebuild is required (they are already over twenty years old). I would avoid Mercruisers as they are not the engine of choice.

To conclude, if budget permits a Broom 38 would be my first choice.
.

 

[Ferris]

My uncle had a broom 36 with mercruisers and it was a nightmare. Engines were not powerful enough for coastal/offshore and overheated constantly. Shame as the boat was lovely and reputedly an excellent sea boat.

One thing is that they have a minimum speed of 8 knots on both engines. So at tickover it would realistically break the 3-6 knot speed limit on French canals.

I’d either go for a dedicated river boat for canals or something slower that can do coastal passages at lower speeds like a CL38 or even a Crown 37. These have deeper keels than the 36 also which might better protect sterngear.

My uncle was a live aboard on the broom 36 but he had a Broom Monarch which he lived on for a number of years. It was beautiful and the interior was like a really nice apartment, completely different league to anything of equivalent size. Most had tamd63 engines which are probably too big for canal work but some had 212hp mermaids. His had Volvos and he still regrets selling it.

 

[ingenious]

Having owned two Brooms (an Ocean 37 and a Broom 41) I can say without any hesitation that they are ideal for the OP’s intended use with great accommodation and easy access decks for working lines etc with the only caveat being that the decks can be notably above pontoon height so being relatively agile or perhaps, more importantly, being able to lasso a cleat will be important.

Going for a model with a semi-displacement hull will help a little with reducing lateral movement in close quarters, which will be helpful when single handed. Bow and stern thrusters with remote controls would certainly be helpful but not essential IMHO and I would go so far as to say that replacing engine controls with electronic to facilitate dockmate or similar would be wholly unnecessary.

On the issue of engine size I can understand those that are more used to sailboats thinking a single 135hp is more than sufficient and to be fair it is in terms of achieving hull speed but that isn’t the full picture and there is a world of difference in ride and handling between a yacht with a relatively small single engine and a mobo with the same.

The Broom 35 hull shape means that it rolls a lot in a beam sea and without the power to lift its skirts (it will never go above displacement speed without more power) it isn’t possible to achieve the improved stability that speed can bring. I know this because we carefully considered and trialled one. Doesn’t mean it is a none starter but important to know when making decisions.

For mobos, whilst single engines with good fuel filtration are good enough for coastal passages, most prefer the security of twin engines, which also bring huge benefits in close quarters manoeuvring. A turn of speed at sea is also very helpful if wanted but when engines of sufficient size are combined with a semi-displacement hull a range of speeds are possible and running two or three knots above hull speed isn’t hugely expensive but helps with stability and passage times.

To answer the OP’s second and third questions Brooms are very well built but a full pre-purchase survey is recommended. On engine hours basic diesels are capable of thousands of hours if properly maintained so check service history and consider and engine survey by a qualified engineer. We have the Perkins in our boat - nice and simple and I expect them to run for many years before any kind of rebuild is required (they are already over twenty years old). I would avoid Mercruisers as they are not the engine of choice.

To conclude, if budget permits a Broom 38 would be my first choice.
.

Thank you very much for this reply.
I must admit I hadn't really considered the difference between semi displacement hulls and the planing hulls on the 36 and 37.
On the Broom Owners website it quotes the air draft of the 39 as 3.2m which is a bit high for a lot of the French canal bridges. Does it not have a folding arch? This one caught my eye on Apolloduck
Broom Ocean 38 for sale UK, Broom boats for sale, Broom used boat sales, Broom Motor Boats For Sale 2002 Broom Ocean 38 - Apollo Duck. It appears to have a hinge. Also has Yanmar engines which seem to get good press here. Price is within range.
I do think twin engines would be a good idea both from the manoeuvrability point of view and redundancy. Obviously there is a fuel/ service cost penalty but do they run OK at canal/ river speeds on one engine?

 

[Tranona]

Perhaps you really need to set your priorities as to the type of use. As others have indicated a twin engined planing hull boat is not really suitable for canal work. They are designed for offshore work and poor at low speed, plus the unprotected propellers are very vulnerable to damage in shallow canals. You will see that all the dedicated canal boats have at least a skeg that goes below the level of the prop and most are single engined. As you have also discovered once you go above 35' or so air draft becomes an issue. so perhaps avoid high powered planing versions and concentrate on semi displacement, and maybe not flybridge.