Cruising an Ex pilot vessel

East Cardinal

East Cardinal

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I am starting to look for a boat suitable for Cruising UK waters. A Nelson or Aquastar around 40 ft would be ideal. The restricting factor is the price of these craft.
An ex commercial vessel would provide the type of boat I am seeking at a much reduced outlay.
Semi displacement, twin engine and weather capable
Something like this,
http://www.ybw.com/boats-for-sale/6227628?currency=GBP
Anyone got any experience of criusing in this type of vessel?
Are they the bargains they appear, or would they just be too much of a compromise with their lack of luxurious fit.
EC
 
Re the boat in the link, please be aware that the existing accommodation is very limited, never mind the claim of '4 berths in one cabin' - that would be in the forepeak, with twin tiered berths, and I cannot see how this would not be cramped.
You then walk aft through the engine room (one advantage of these vessels is excellent engine access) to the wheelhouse - if there is a bunk there, and a couple of seats, there is probably not much room for anything else. The toilet and galley (very basic, with just a sink?) are probably also in the fore cabin.
These hulls are very seaworthy, but also very wet - spray (or green water rather) flying about everywhere in anything more than a flat calm at cruising speed - you need to have good windscreen wipers!
 
East Cardinal said:
I am starting to look for a boat suitable for Cruising UK waters. A Nelson or Aquastar around 40 ft would be ideal. The restricting factor is the price of these craft.
An ex commercial vessel would provide the type of boat I am seeking at a much reduced outlay.
Semi displacement, twin engine and weather capable
Something like this,
http://www.ybw.com/boats-for-sale/6227628?currency=GBP
Anyone got any experience of criusing in this type of vessel?
Are they the bargains they appear, or would they just be too much of a compromise with their lack of luxurious fit.
EC
Click to expand...

The Nelson is a round bilge boat and will roll like a pig , the Aquastar is a modified Nelson with hard chines moulded into the sides of the hull to give some dynamic stability and better planing lift.

There are dozens of old Nelsons for sale at knock down prices, but very few Aquastar 38 versions and the ones that often come up are open sea angling boats with tiny wheelhouses at much higher prices.

I too am looking for an old Aquastar hull, but nothing has come on the market for the last 6 months.
 
Bajansailor said:
These hulls are very seaworthy, but also very wet - spray (or green water rather) flying about everywhere in anything more than a flat calm at cruising speed - you need to have good windscreen wipers!
Click to expand...
Very interesting. Is this as a result of the aft position of helm/accommodation on this type or the hull in general.
I can’t remember the Nelson boats I have driven being particularly wet. However that was a long time ago!
Would there be any other types at the price I am suggesting (£30k max) that are worth looking out for.
I want 40 ft, semi displacement twin engine. Other factors are less of a priority.
EC
 
Ooops, I didn't cotton on initially that there were more than just the few photos shown. Just had a look at the rest.
I love the vintage Sailor VHF radio and the radar unit - both veritable antiques now!
The photos of the accommodation are rather sparse - perhaps because there is not much to show.
Re these pilot boat hulls being 'wet', our Coastguard here used to have four of these standard 40' Nelsons in the 70's - they had much bigger engines than 2 x 184 hp (I think they were Cats approx 300 hp each) and they always appeared to be driven at maximum speed hidden behind a cloud of spray. This boat wouldn't be capable of such speeds, so hopefully less spray.
 
Thanks for the replies.
So there could be a large crowd of buyers surrounding the next AQ38 requiring work!!
Mind you, I do like the idea of disappearing in a cloud of spray as I leave harbour :)
 
Just a thought - a 'small' 25' Hardy (like what Firefly used to have) or similar (Seaward or mini-Nelson?) would probably be almost on par re seakeeping and have as much (if not more) usable room as a 40' pilot launch, and she would also be much more economical re maintenance, running costs and mooring fees.

A 1988 Hardy 25 for GBP 18k - http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1988/Hardy-25-3134552/Walton-on-the-Naze/United-Kingdom

Quite a lot more (GBP 58k) for a 1991 Nelson 28 - http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1991/Nelson-Languard-28-2994083/Hythe/United-Kingdom
 
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