Choosing the right boat

[Flyboy]

On my quest of trying to find the right boat for me (and one the Mrs will be happy with!!) I have realised there are thousands to choose from. Rather than ask you all which one I should get, I'll try asking.....are there any I should steer clear of? And why?

(It will be mainly used on the Mediterranean coast, but I would like to take it there from England).

Cheers,

Jon.

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[Flyboy]

Sorry, I should have added.....30' ish, and about £30k ish.

Cheers,

Jon.

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[martynwhiteley]

With a boat that is likely going to be 10 to 20 years old, the main concern will be the engines/drives.

The last thing you want is a boat a 1000 miles away with a set of obsolete power units where spares are scarce and expensive.

On this basis, I would have to recommend not buying a boat with BMW engines/drives, unless you budget for replacing them as soon as any major parts are required. I have a pair in mine, and found it cheaper (but still very expensive) to have parts specially made rather than buy (if available) the oem part.



<hr width=100% size=1><font color=blue>Oh well, maybe next weekend....</font color=blue>

 

[Col]

Why not buy one out there?
The type of boat will depend on what you want to use it for
Someone who wants to go fishing, for example, wouldn,t want a fully carpeted sports boat. I don't think you'd want a fully enclosed wheelhouse boat like a Nelson, would get too hot.
So whadda ya want to do with it?

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.arweb.co.uk/argallery/colspics> Cols Picture Album</A>

 

[banus]

From my experience boats are cheaper in southern Spain than here. I can't understand why you want to buy it here and then go to the expense of shipping down there. The big deal is this. Southern Spain boaters are usually loaded (except me) The cost of a berth for 30 ft boat is about £5000 a year. If you can afford £100 a week for a piece of water with a bit of fibreglass sitting on it that you visit for about 3 weeks a year, you may as well put £100,000 worth of boat on it. Hence lots of 30ft 15 year old boats available cheap without berths. I turned down a fantastict boat only 3 months ago because my wife didn't like the colour.
Sea ray 270 with mercruise 5.7 litre 260 bhp bravo 3 leg launched in 1996 only 300 hours from new. 1 owner 4 berths etc all the electronics you could buy,windlass,vhf,fishfinder,gps with antenna, pump out heads, grey water system
etc etc it was mint. 26,000 euro,s with 6 months free berth in peurto banus.
I bought a new searay 240 in the end so she could have the right colours on it. I am not complaining. The shocking reality of this story is both boats and the one I had before came from Marina Marbella. I rest my case "phew "

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[Flyboy]

I would like to use it to go up and down the Spanish coast, across to the Balearics, etc with my partner comfortably, and sometimes with guests. So it needs to be 4 berth min, and reasonably comfortable.

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[Col]

SEALINE305 are in the 30K+ bracket. Might be able to haggle one down, only thing is....It would be petrol. Diesel prob in the 35-40K bracket.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.arweb.co.uk/argallery/colspics> Cols Picture Album</A>

 

[DavidJ]

For no real logical reason Mercruser engines are unpopular in Europe (The Yanks love 'em). When I was looking around at Sealines there were some really cheap good ones going which hadn't shifted for two years purely because they had Mercrusers. I got seduced to buying new in the end and Sealine only fitted Volvo to the S37 (interesting especially as Sealine are owned by Brunswick Corp who make Mercrusers)
You will suffer on resale (maybe) but you will have a much newer boat if you go M.
David

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