David_Jersey
Well-Known Member
Last year I was thinking of also buying a cheap dory, this year I am thinking of instead going for a Bow rider (around 17 foot with an outboard), the reason for the change in thinking is that I could not get myself comfortable with knowing that the foam core of a dory would not be / would not get waterlogged, plus it would be nice to also have a windscreen at least now and again.
As a sailing and mainly displacement motor boat bloke I realise I have never been above around 15 knots on the water!…………so I have a couple of questions.
I realise that the bulk of the boats value will be in the outboard, as I am buying secondhand (very!) I am mulling over the idea of buying something without an engine and then buying either a new one or a s/h one that I know is good – on the basis that although it will work out more expensive than buying a package s/h I will at least know what I am getting and as I intend to hang onto the boat for many years as a 2nd / occasional boat (I still have the sailing boat!) I will get the use out of the Engine. It would also mean I would definitely have a 4 stroke which I would prefer for fuel economy / range which = less frequent fillups!
It appears from my research that 17 foot speedboats come with Engines of around 100 /125 hp – my question is what sort of performance will I be missing out on by dropping to a 75hp (or less?) 4 stroke. I am not interested in wakeboarding or waterskiing, maybe towing the odd small donut. I would like to be able to cruise at around 25/30 knots, so outright speed is not a factor nor is acceleration. I am unsure as to whether on a small speedboat having loads of extra power on tap has any safety benefits?
Regarding the open bow bit, I see that they have covers, I presume that in practice that they keep the spray out (more or less) and help to guide the odd “dollop” over the bow and away from the inside, and in practice having an open bow with a cover on a 17 foot speedboat is not much different from having a solid bow on the same craft in that I figure that if solid waves are big enough to be breaking over either sort of bow then I am in the wrong boat anyway! Please let me know if you think I am wrong on this thinking. I see it as an open boat with a windscreen attached.
Just for info the Boat will mainly be used for occasional whizzing around the bay, anchoring up in nearby bays for the afternoon for a kip, a swim and a beer and also maybe as a launch base for a couple of inflatable Kayaks. Maybe even some scuba diving, if I can get my head around cold water diving! Also for the very occasional trip across to France (Town / Gorey to Portbail on a good day) and a few trips to the Ecrehous, all on a good day – (and I do have safety gear coming out of my ears!).
Whilst I am here, does anyone have any links to folk who do covers / camper covers for Bow riders? I am talking off the shelf rather than hand made – if it is the case that a certain model ie a Bayliner xxxx has these available “off the shelf” and another model does not then I would go for the Bayliner.
BTW something like a 17 Bayliner Capri would be the sort of thing. But really not that fussed, they all seem much the same to me and my choice will no doubt be down purely to availability.
As a sailing and mainly displacement motor boat bloke I realise I have never been above around 15 knots on the water!…………so I have a couple of questions.
I realise that the bulk of the boats value will be in the outboard, as I am buying secondhand (very!) I am mulling over the idea of buying something without an engine and then buying either a new one or a s/h one that I know is good – on the basis that although it will work out more expensive than buying a package s/h I will at least know what I am getting and as I intend to hang onto the boat for many years as a 2nd / occasional boat (I still have the sailing boat!) I will get the use out of the Engine. It would also mean I would definitely have a 4 stroke which I would prefer for fuel economy / range which = less frequent fillups!
It appears from my research that 17 foot speedboats come with Engines of around 100 /125 hp – my question is what sort of performance will I be missing out on by dropping to a 75hp (or less?) 4 stroke. I am not interested in wakeboarding or waterskiing, maybe towing the odd small donut. I would like to be able to cruise at around 25/30 knots, so outright speed is not a factor nor is acceleration. I am unsure as to whether on a small speedboat having loads of extra power on tap has any safety benefits?
Regarding the open bow bit, I see that they have covers, I presume that in practice that they keep the spray out (more or less) and help to guide the odd “dollop” over the bow and away from the inside, and in practice having an open bow with a cover on a 17 foot speedboat is not much different from having a solid bow on the same craft in that I figure that if solid waves are big enough to be breaking over either sort of bow then I am in the wrong boat anyway! Please let me know if you think I am wrong on this thinking. I see it as an open boat with a windscreen attached.
Just for info the Boat will mainly be used for occasional whizzing around the bay, anchoring up in nearby bays for the afternoon for a kip, a swim and a beer and also maybe as a launch base for a couple of inflatable Kayaks. Maybe even some scuba diving, if I can get my head around cold water diving! Also for the very occasional trip across to France (Town / Gorey to Portbail on a good day) and a few trips to the Ecrehous, all on a good day – (and I do have safety gear coming out of my ears!).
Whilst I am here, does anyone have any links to folk who do covers / camper covers for Bow riders? I am talking off the shelf rather than hand made – if it is the case that a certain model ie a Bayliner xxxx has these available “off the shelf” and another model does not then I would go for the Bayliner.
BTW something like a 17 Bayliner Capri would be the sort of thing. But really not that fussed, they all seem much the same to me and my choice will no doubt be down purely to availability.
