Coronet Oceanfarer 32

[Andrew_Fanner]

Anyone ever had one or know much about them? There is relatively little on the interwebby thing. Its the annual "we need a bigger boat dear" period and having seen one of these yesterday (and due to see another next week) I was quite taken with the setup. Ticks many of my boxes on places to stow three children (maybe a couple of their friends too) and looks quite able to stooge up and down the Thames much of her time while still retaining some go for downstream of London, well all the while the fuel is affordable anyway.

I know that legs are supposed to be more economical on fuel but for a boat spending most of her time at 4 knots or so I doubt the difference is significant. Right or Wrong? Certainly when weighed against apparently far higher maintainance implications I suspect that shafts remain the overall Pretty darned old but no more so than all those Seamaster 30s chugging up and down and just, if not more so, soldily built. I have already been cautioned for a careless remark about having a boat the same age as one's wife

 

[mainshiptom]

I used to have a coronet 32 deepsea flybridge, a great built boat, very warm, easy to handle, very good build quality, the only let down was the aqd32a volvos which would warm up and send all buzzers off at anything over 14 knots,I think the hear exchangers needed replacing but I sold the boat first.

Mine was a 1976 but having said that everything worked well.

Tom

 

[Divemaster1]

Try these ...

http://www.coronet.nu/default.asp?batID=42&rID=15

The 32 Oceanfarer's hull was designed by Walt Walters & Jim Wynne and as far as I recall, superstructure styling by Hans Bruun Bertelsen of Botved Boats

Good looking boats and good reputation for seakeeping at speed ...

 

[apollo]

Bears a stricking resemblance inside to a Fairline 32 Phantom, funny that!

If its petrol, should be a piece of cake to swap them out for diesels?

 

[Divemaster1]

Think you'll find that the Fairline came into production in 1974, but the Coronet Oceanfarer 32 came into production in 1969 ....as an extension to the Oceanfarer 30...

 

[apollo]

Exactly, thats what I meant, dare I say it, perhaps Fairline copied the Coronet....

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

[ QUOTE ]
Bears a stricking resemblance inside to a Fairline 32 Phantom, funny that!

If its petrol, should be a piece of cake to swap them out for diesels?

[/ QUOTE ]

Been there and with the current position caused by HMGs pathetic efforts I'm unconvinced its a good option unless the source engines are vv cheap or I can do it all myself. 2 x 3108 or similar would be fine on the river but become unexciting downstream of Teddington. Cheap to run though. Anyone got 2 x Peugeot 1.9/2.1s or Ford Pumas they don't want? Twin elderly AQ170s has little appeal, although I assume they would be worth a few bob trade in.

The owner to whoim I spoke at the weekend remarked on the Fairline 32 Phantom and that it is basically a mirror image to avoid copyright issues!

 

[DoubleVision]

They made a few 32s with 145HP Perkins HT6354s running through V drives to conventional shafts. My pal had one 12 years ago. We never managed to get more than 20 knots out of it due to the V drives sapping 25% of the power. Very roomy and good sea boat though. One coming with 170 B30 petrols would make an excellent conversion to AD41`s. Hull is good for 30+ knots so that options certainly worth looking at. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

Is that 25% power loss a normal thing from V drives? Sounds pretty frightful AD41s would be good, but make the whole package too expensive as those nice folk at Coastal Rides want >£5K per engine and swiping one from my current boat might reduce her value somewhat!

 

[DoubleVision]

Yep 25% I know was the norm with the old type V drives. I`ve seen them on the new sunseeker 46/47s and hope they have reduced that amount of power loss now. You say you spend most of the time at 4 knots so no need to rifle your present boat. I would buy one with petrol sterndrives at the right price and buy a pair of second hand perkins 4108s or similar and get the adaptor bits for the volvo legs from Mike Bellamy at Lancing marine www.lancingmarine.com

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

Update as promised.

Well I went and had a looksee on Sunday. Its a heck of a step from Cowplain to the Broads but the weather was lovely. Not a casual journey to make so don't want to do so too often or to no purpose. Respect to those who have made international purchases, furthest I ever went before was 75 miles for a cheap trailboat and not hassle on surveys.

Diesel: nice boat in quite tolerable nick, as far as I could see. Lot of varnishing needed over the next few months to keep things nice or make then nice again. Rather concerned that there seemed to be a lot of water in the bilges. By my standards, and those of most others I know, a lot is pretty much synonymous with any, or anything more than needed to drown a mouse. Certainly not when the boat is laid up. Nasty suspicion that as the V boxes are visible the stern glands are under a lot of Mr Perkins' best cast iron and maintenance access is close to impossible without pulling the engines out of her.. Crivens those Perkins motors are lumps though. Carved from solid I guess. Spares easy or hard for 145s? Various toys in the radar/fluxgate compass/power winch and so forth range.

Petrol: Nice boat but almost only for midgets (I'm 5'6" or so) on the bridge with the covers on. Beautiful teak cockpit that is a magnet to my better half, and I can sympathise. Soft furnishings best described as pink, and any forumite with small daughters who have Barbies will know the full horror of pink... Many£K less, but needs replacement engines IMO, if really cost effective deal available. Don't really want to go the dsplacement route as why buy a planing boat and then do that? Bit more of a blank canvas that might not be a viable boat this year by the time the various window leaks had been sorted and the truly vile internal colour scheme amended, but otherwise my only big fear was the number of horror stories on legs. There must be folk who have never had trouble, are not pro mechanics and do most of their own work as I'd need to fit into that bracket

Now doing some hard thinking as I have no plans to shell out for two surveys, especially as lift rates seem even more legalised piracy than on the river! Thanks to those who PMed suggestions and comments.

 

[apollo]

Plenty spares around for the Perkins, the Broom Owners Club has done a lot of research as many Brooms have same engines.(http://broom.woodleyheadland.net/index.htm)

Very time consuming and expensive to fix interior furnishings if the windows leak.

Would always go for the Diesel option.

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

Further Update

Survey on diesel powered version will take place in a fortnight. If purchase goes ahead, and I've got any pennies left SWMBO is now quite adamant on doing the whole cockpit in TekDek, which I concede would look rather good if done well.

These 6354 lumps, how much go juice are they going to swallow? I'd have to do a trip from Great Yarmouth to the non-tidal Thames and it would be useful to know if that can be done in one hit at a reasonable cruise (15 knots?)

 

[Divemaster1]

Re: Further Update

About 100Nm ... @ 15 knots = a short 7 hrs.

Assuming you'll take out approx 100 Hp of each engine (200hp), you'll probably end up with approx 45L / hr x 7hrs = about 300L which divided by 4.5...(Imp Gallon)=67 gallons(ish)..

Well that's a rough guide anyway ...

Good luck !

 

[apollo]

Re: Further Update

How big are the tanks??

 

[BarryH]

Re: Further Update

"my only big fear was the number of horror stories on legs. There must be folk who have never had trouble, are not pro mechanics and do most of their own work as I'd need to fit into that bracket"

.........I run a Volvo Leg. Its never given me any problems apart from the reverse latch not doing its job. Easy to rectify and a 10 min job. The 200 series legs are bomb proof. Over engineered and last a life time if looked after. I change the lube in mine twice a year as its just the same oil as the engine takes. No expensive outdrive/gearcase oil required.

Like anything if you don't look after it in the end it'll break.

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

Re: Further Update

[ QUOTE ]
How big are the tanks??

[/ QUOTE ]

600l

 

[apollo]

Re: Further Update

Assuming thats between the two, maybe be OK. If thats each side, definitely OK.

I have these engines and at 1400 RPM (about 9-10knots for me) I burn 2gall/hour/engine but I am pushing heavy boat.

I would expect flat out 2400rpm probably 7-8 galls per hour per engine.

However would not advise flat out on a boat you have just bought thats over 20 years old as you may not get there at all without a breakdown!

Why not split the trip to a day down to Medway, refuel at Gillingham/Chatham, then a run up the Thames next day??

Good luck with survey, always liked those boats!!

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

Re: Further Update

Well, a most instructive day out, from leaving warm bed at 04:30 to getting home at 22:00.

First view out of the water showed that some folk's understanding of pressure washed for survey contrasts with others, my surveyor was a tad peeved by the mussels on the sterngear among other things. Pix later when uploaded/resized. Hull apparently fine, minimal moisture levels, Pity the gelcoat has been painted over but a good clean would work wonders. Sterngear in pretty good nick, cutless bearings OK, cutters OK, rudders OK and so forth. Anodes zinc and should have been magnesium but no electrolytic issues seen (see above re mussels...) Bathing platform needs TLC and some screws replacing where they have broken.

Cabins passable in a 37 year old boat, some staining here and there, wear on soft furnishings and a single small rotted bit of ply where a window leaked or condensation puddled. Looked like basic DIY stuff to me, with a lot of varnishing. Heads worked and new gas system fine. EberD3 started and ran but didn't seem to get very hot even with thermostat at 30C. Couldn't test the water system as "recommeission for survey" seems to have a different meaning to some and there was no water in the system, filter out and so forth.

Took ages to get any electricity at all, eventually got the cabin lights to work, the switches being selected by guess and God rather than labels None of our experiments with different switches got the cockpit lighting, nav lights, horn or electronic instruments to work. My guess involves getting the 24V running but not the 12V. Support for this theory involved the windlass working (down only!) and the engines starting but not the fridge, macerator, water pumps, trim tabs etc. Job for broker to check with vendor I guess.

Engines, HT6354s (think that's the right combination of numbers and letters). Now I have copies of invoices for a fair amount of work done on these in the last 3 years, including belts, fuel systems, impellors, instrument/gauge issues and so forth. Many £K.

To copy from surveyor's email this morning:

>>>
Port engine.

RPM indicator will not rise above 500
Poor water flow - this may be due to the impeller or may require a much deeper investigation into all of the coolers.
Boost gauge not checked.
Weep leak from the high pressure pump.
Weep leak from one of the injectors spill rail.
Drive belts loose.
Radiator cap missing a rubber gasket
Possible slight coolant leak from the header tank
Water leak from the bottom of the heat exchanger connection
Some form of repair made to the exhaust fitting.

Starboard engine

Oil pressure, temperature and RPM gauges not working.
Weep leak from the high pressure pump
Poor water flow - this may be due to the impeller or may require a much deeper investigation into all of the coolers.
Engine rough running
ATF leak from the gearbox.
Drive belts loose.
Stern gland weep leaks; there does not appear to be a seal on this gland.
>>>
Boat apparently last used last July/August.

Both engines started instantly, starboard smoked wonderfully, in a shed in Horning which was hurriedly abandoned by all staff, but both cleared to haze with some running in a river trial. Exempt from speed limits so we got her up briefly at about 12 knots, so they worked happily. Oil badly needs changing, ditto coolant, DIY work if evere there was!

Current theory is to get quotes for sorting the above engine issues and use that as a basis for further negotiation on price coupled with getting directions on how to turn all the electrics on. Boat still ticks the boxes but if the vendor reckons those engines are my problem then I guess I walk as she is not seaworthy and I'd hesitate to run her for more than an hour or so. Anyone know loads about these lumps and what makes gauges collectively fail? Some are capilliary tube driven but I guess RPM and temp may be poor contact or fuse issues?

If a radome has the cable clipped off 1" from the base of the dome, why leave the flippin thing on the arch as opposed to unbolting followed by skip/Ebay?

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

Re: Further Update

Pix as promised

Post cleaning?

Dirty bottom!

Strings of mussels:-( But the rudders, props, shafts and cutters were all sound.

The "mucky" shaft and prop.