Buying a new Motorboat

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Hi all,

I am a newbie joining in the motorboat world. I have some sailing experience and currently taking RYA coastal skipper course and looking forward to getting my ICC soon.

Me and my partner have holiday homes in Turkey and France and we decided to buy an affordable flybridge boat. Now the question is we don't really know if we should buy a brandnew one (of course the expensive option) or a used one (the risky option). What is your opinion?

Also what makes/models would you recommend for a newbie? I quite like the looks of Galeon 330fly (http://www.galeon.pl/galeon2008/galeon2008en.html) and it is affordable. Are there any other similar boats in the same price range & quality?

Thank you very much in advance for your help.
 
Looks like this one needs a bump!

Can't help you with the Galeon I'm afraid, but could offer some general boat buying experience. It's often quite good to buy second hand first, because it is often not until you have used a boat for a while that you work out how you would have really liked it. You then buy the next boat new if you want it specc'd exactly as you want it.

I'm not sure there is much more risk buying a nearly new boat than a brand new one. Much less chance of builder/dealer going out of business during the transaction than during a full build. Also any build snags are likely to have been fixed.
 
Agree with White Mischief.

Ther are plenty of good Fly's starting at about 34 ft, Sealine, Jeaneau, then at 36/37 ft, add in Fairline, and a few Italians.

You will get a very good boat for circa €150k, probably 5 or 6 years old, and 200-250 hours which will look like new, and if serviced will be very reliable, and saleable of you decide to move on.
 
Thank you very much for your prompt reply guys. Very much appraciated.

As Galeon doesn't have a official UK distributor, I contacted Galeon Poland for a price list. A brand new 330 fly costs €157440 with a Volvo Penta Diesel D6-330 DPH.

You can see the boat here:

http://www.galeon.pl/galeon2008/galeon2008en.html

Do you think this is a good price for such a boat? How does it compare to other boats in the market. Do you think this price includes everything such as furnitures, etc? As I am a newbie, some help would be very much appreciated.

Thank you.
 
cod3r said:
Thank you very much for your prompt reply guys. Very much appraciated.

As Galeon doesn't have a official UK distributor, I contacted Galeon Poland for a price list. A brand new 330 fly costs €157440 with a Volvo Penta Diesel D6-330 DPH.

You can see the boat here:

http://www.galeon.pl/galeon2008/galeon2008en.html

Do you think this is a good price for such a boat? How does it compare to other boats in the market. Do you think this price includes everything such as furnitures, etc? As I am a newbie, some help would be very much appreciated.

Thank you.
Click to expand...

Hi Cod3r
I agree the basic advice above. Invariably you sell your first boat fairly soon. Either you hate boating so want to sell it, or love boating so want to change to the exact boat you now know suits you

In which case, if cost matters to you, it would be cheaper to buy 2nd hand. Remember, many 2nd hand boats are genuinely as good as new and many others are 95% as good

I dont know Galeon first hand. They used to be cheap for 2 reaosns: lousy build, and cheap labour. By many accounts, the quality is now much better but you still get the benefit of cheap labour. There is about 1- 1.5 man years of labour making a 33ft flybridge. So it could be a good buy, but check the quality.

More to the point though, it might be hard to sell a used Galeon and you might have to take a big price chip just to sell it. The lack of UK dealer support will be quite a problem and a reason for it not to be popular 2nd hand. I think you would spend much less £££ over 3 years if you bought a well-known and well-supported brand

One of the reasons for the low price is the single engine. That will limit your market when you come to sell

Finally, check the spec. On top of that price you might need/want to buy electronic nav equipment, tender/engine, generator, custom bedlinens, etc. It's easy to spend another €15000. And is VAT payable in addition?
 
Galeon 330

I have had a galeon 330 for 5 years,bought it direct from Lombard finance when the dealer who was from down south went bust,it was brand new and I paid £110,000 for it. I had a few extras fitted to it and it was fitted with twin Volvo Kad 43s. I have had no issues at all from it,very solid boat and well thought out,not very many boats of this size can say they have a totally separate shower on the opposite side to the heads so that you can have a shower with out soaking the toilet and sink. It had a good size forward berth as well as a double mid ship berth and also a single berth on starboard size. Fuel consumption was a little thirsty due to the weight of the boat compared to others of the same size, but this proved to be advantageous when I was out in the rough stuff. I have recently sold it on to a chap from Sweden and made a small profit which was handy. I presume the price you have been quoted is for a single engine and once you starting adding a few extras this will soon creep up to over 200,00 euros, I know to speck the one up that I sold would be well over £230,000. The reason there is no Uk dealer any more is because Galeon want you to order quite a few models, and with the Euro been so strong against the pound this could prove expensive for a new company. I would certainly buy another if it was at the right price. hope this helps.
 
I would always advise first time buyers to buy secondhand for the simple reason that it always takes 2 or 3 boat purchases to find out what you really want out of a boat or you might find you don't like boating at all. Either way, you may find yourself selling quite quickly and selling a new boat after a few months is a sure way to lose money. Most boats upto 5 yrs old or more will still look like new if they've been well looked after and all the inevitable bugs should have been dealt with as well. Buy a used boat from a well known manufacturer and you will not lose your shirt when you come to sell it. Apart from anything else, you get so much for your money buying used
There is another issue for you buying in Euros. If the Euro does crash, as it might do if the sovereign debt crisis gets out of control, the Sterling value of your boat is reduced
 
Just so I am clear.. the boat is for the UK or abroad ?
A new boat will of course drop in value initially more than a second hand one, and you have to add some Nav equipment just to get going. So there are good financial reasons for looking at secondhand. Also, any problems with the boat have been sorted out on someone elses time, and not yours.
I would really suggest looking at the practicalities of various boats. If you expect to be on it for prolonged periods, storage,galley and shower might be pretty key. If its just w/ending, maybe you you have different priorities. Then there is style; maybe you like the conservative UK (?), or prefer the flash Italian... There is no right or wrong, though some boats seem to get things right-handrails where you need them,cleats of the right size, steps and stairs you can actually manage without falling down ;)
35ft is pretty small to cram alot into;sometimes a simple layout might work better than a fancy one- dont get "fooled" by some fancy fabrics, coz that wont keep you chuffed for long if other aspects are wrong.
Its also worth seeing if you can find production numbers, especially on second hand. If a boat is in production for a long while, and/or produced in high numbers, it often suggests someone got things pretty right. That doesnt mean its you want yourself, but it having a look at such a boat might give you ideas.
Think where on the boat you will be spending alot of time. If its on the flybridge, you need to be sure that works for you, so make sure you get that bit right.
 
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I knew you guys were a helpful bunch but I am amazed with the quality of the answers. Thanks a million for all your advice!

Reading what has been written above, buying a second hand boat (up to 5 years old) sounds like a no brainer. The boat will be used south of France not in the UK. I do not see us spending more than 2/3 nights in it each trip. So it will be more like a weekend joy, etc.

Looking at Zingaro's writings, it sounds like Galeon's can be a little thirsty due to its weight. What mpg would I expect from a normal speed ride? Twin-engine option is obviously a better option for speed & power but apart from that does it offer any other advantages (such as manoeuvrability, etc?).

Many thanks.
 
As you have noted manouverability is better with twins but far more importantly I would say is safety - if one engine fails you can still get home (unless a share problem like fuel contamination etc).

Advantages - safety, performance, manouverability
Disadvantages - Cost (of boat, of fuel, of servicing, of maintenance)
 
cod3r said:
I knew you guys were a helpful bunch but I am amazed with the quality of the answers. Thanks a million for all your advice!

Reading what has been written above, buying a second hand boat (up to 5 years old) sounds like a no brainer. The boat will be used south of France not in the UK. I do not see us spending more than 2/3 nights in it each trip. So it will be more like a weekend joy, etc.

Looking at Zingaro's writings, it sounds like Galeon's can be a little thirsty due to its weight. What mpg would I expect from a normal speed ride? Twin-engine option is obviously a better option for speed & power but apart from that does it offer any other advantages (such as manoeuvrability, etc?).

Many thanks.
Click to expand...

SofF is my back yard and Galeon isn't any better known there than in UK, so will be difficult to sell on. You'll need airco, and that is a €15k option on a 33 footer and not included in the Galeon price

Indeed, any non med spec boat will need perhaps €25k minimum spend, to get airco and a hydraulic passerelle, so buying a ready-to-go newish used boat is a good choice

Manoeuvring is much easier on twin engines and a bowthruster. In SoF you will be manoeuvring between rows and rows of £1m+ boats, so the pressure is on, so make sure you can do it! If you want English speaking tuition Phil Goodwin www.oceanpro.co.uk in Beaulieu is excellent and highly recommended

Check the beam of your boat. Berths come in beams like 4m, 4.5m, 5m etc, so if you go up a category it will cost you more to berth. Allow 15cm for fenders. By the way, do you know how hard it is to find a berth? (at least in the Cote d'Azur - maybe you meant further west ie Golfe du Lion region, where it's a bit cheaper and easier to find a berth?)

You'll get a nautical mile per 3.5litres of diesel on this sized boat, but don't worry about that as you wont do thousands of miles in your first seasons and the most fun on the boat will be had when it's stopped
 
Tuppence worth

I bought a second hand Sealine F33 which I have been delighted with.
Pros;
good use of space
two doors to head and shower etc mean that two adult couples can share weekends easily without traipsing past each other to go to the loo or shower.
relatively cheap to run and fast compared with longer models
Popular for resale (I would advise the larger (200hp) engines)
Spares easily available
Mine has all-electric head, shower, water heater etc. Recommended.

Cons
Quite a small flybridge compared to longer boats, but easily seats three on the bench and another couple behind on the sunbathing platform
Older models' electronics probably need replacing, but depends just how much serious stuff you need. I am mainly using a chartplotter for depth checking rather than nav

Hope that helps. I have nothing to compare with. I only know that the pleasure I have had from it exceeded what I thought.
 
I'll second jfm. Aircon, pasarelle and, if poss, generator is a must in the Med all of which are very expensive options on a new boat but there are plenty of used boats, even a few in the UK, with these options already fitted. Also I've not seen many, if any, Galeons in the Med and one of those could be an even harder sell in the Med than the UK. In the SoF you see loads of Sunseekers, Fairlines and Princesses, not so many Sealines plus, of course, the major French makes like Jeanneau and Beneteau
 
The other thing not mentioned is that small flybridges with outdrives can be a bit of a handful in a choppy sea or when berthing in a crosswind, and breezes can pick up quickly in the med. Not a huge problem, but also not necessarily the best boat to gain confidence on. May be best to try one first if you can, maybe charter one for a day.

If the boat is to be mostly a dayboat/overnighter, and you'll stay in the holiday home that you mentioned most of the time, then i'd also consider a sport cruiser.
 
Nick_H said:
The other thing not mentioned is that small flybridges with outdrives can be a bit of a handful in a choppy sea or when berthing in a crosswind, and breezes can pick up quickly in the med. Not a huge problem, but also not necessarily the best boat to gain confidence on. May be best to try one first if you can, maybe charter one for a day.
.
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I would absolutely agree with that. I have sailed a good bit on a yacht with rudder with no probs. Stern drives are a different challenge. Having said that, if you get the practice it becomes easier. I have now berthed reversing into a tight pontoon berth single handed on several occassions, but I wouldn't let even experienced friends manoeuvre in tight situations because I know how difficult these things can be (stern drives, not friends) and I dont want either of us saddled with the consequences. Thanks, Nick.
 
Hi Guys,

You read my mind. I was thinking about chartering one for two days (with a skipper to learn more) and decide accordingly.

Apart from usability, I think I also fell in love with the looks of the fly-bridge boats. Of course it is personal taste but I think they just look incredible.

Regarding hiring, do you guys any good websites? companies? in the UK and also in the Med?

Thank you.
 
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Just to pick up on one of JFMs comments.
Some new owners dont even think about fuel consumption, and some think it might be like a car and have a seizure when the find out.
That said, one point about a mobo is you get to where you want to get quickly, so you can enjoy being there..much of the time isnt underway. So unless you turn out to be an unusual boater, you will have plenty of expenses that seem less rewarding than your fuel bill ;)
I m sure it all varies, and you can include and exclude whatever you like, but the old maxim of costs running a boat is 10pct of its value a year.
I liked the comment in one of the mags recently,where, to paraphrase, someone said his old man loved boating bcz he realised the best thing was to throw every receipt in the bin immediately !
Good advice; its not a hobby for cost assessments!!
 
we bought a prestige 32, fantastic boat, great sea keeping etc. etc. However, sounds daft, bit without the sales person on the boat with you spend a few hours on it (tied up, not at sea) and see if you can live in the space.
The P32 was fab when out bit just a tad small when at berth, galley, heads and saloon. But when at sea, the fly and lower helm were great.
Or, as you say get one on charter and then you will know for sure.
 
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