Doral 250 purchase

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mparrish

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We are looking at purchasing a second hand Doral 250 (petrol) as our first venture into motor boats as a family. We have done a fair amount of research into boat types in order to narrow it down to the Doral, including a few sea trials. Does anyone have any comments on our selection ??

We are likely to keep whatever we buy on a swing mooring on the River Exe and intend to use it for mainly coastal cruising around South Devon.

Any help and views welcomed.
Thanks
Mike
 
Pete
Thanks - have kind of eliminated the diesel option on the price factor. As our first family boating venture don't want to make too large a financial commitment up front.
Am well aware of the safety, running cost, availability aspects of diesel over petrol, but by my calculations we would have to do thousands of miles just to eliminate the price differential.

Mike
 
Welcome Mike, TerryW is the Doral expert on here, perhaps you could PM him. I am atthe 25ft stage at the moment, I looked at the Doral and was impressed, a good choice. You are right about the Petrol Diesel cost issue, just ensure that where you are going to travel you have access to petrol. Also ensure that you have enough in your budget for safety gear especially if you are doing coastal crusining.

I am sure you will have loads of fun in it, I have only been boating for 3 years and love every minute of it, you will learn loads on here, everyone is so polite, generous, caring and helpful /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Dorals certainly seem well built, but then they do come at something of a premium. There do seem a few of the smaller ones for sale, so perhaps you can negotiate hard ! But if you done some sea trials and are happy, get the wallet out, and enjoy yourselves !
 
Best built small boats - period.
A friend owns a prenstacia and it never stops to amaze me.
It is better build than my T48, and with more expensive subsystems.
It also goes very well and can handle the chop. Only downside is the motion at anchor, as it is a bit high.

Make sure to haggle. They don't have a following yet; the importer relies on us to create a following and a reputation. Shouldn't this be compensated for?
 
There is a nice 250 near me and I am not aware of it suffering any problems. Owner is happy with it and it looks nice. Seems to have an enormous bathing platform - is this standard? Certainly usefull.

Would be high on my list for that class of craft
 
Thanks for the comments so far. We are looking at the 250 (Montecello), with standard (not extended !) bathing platform.

Has anyone heard of any issues with these boats that I should be aware of during negotiations (and survey).

Thanks
Mike
 
My old neighbour on Windermere had a problem with the extended bathing platform de-laminating but seeing you are not having this then its not a problem.

BTW the dealer sorted it by overlaying with teak which gave him a nice swim platform but not sure whats going on underneath.

Nice boat though, I agree that for its size it looks the class leader.
 
I took a good look at the Montecello at the Southampton show as a friend with a Sea Ray 215 was interested in upgrading. Have to say, I couldn't believe how much they crammed into a boat of this size, excellent value and selling well. Sealine, in particular, the S34 could learn from this. But do reconsider diesel if you can! I asked about the bathing platform size and was told that it proved popular abroad and it has become a bit of trade mark. It won't matter too much on a mooring but some marinas will charge accordingly.
 
I would have to disagree with most of your replies, I had one for a year from new and found it dreadful in every way.
They don't go well at all, not good at all in the rough, they poipiose like crazy at 20+ knots, the sliding seat at the back is very poorly built, they are very small once your gear is on board, the heads are very small indeed, good points are the upholstery, carpet quality, little else. Go for the BMB 25, or the Sealine 25 the quality is way ahead of anything American /Canadian.
 
Thanks all for the feedback - good and bad ! What experiences do folks have of petrol availability (particularly on the south coast) compared with diesel. In my area I know that of 6 local(ish) marinas 4 have both petrol & diesel.
Also can anyone recommend a good surveyor (preferably based in the South West).
Thanks
Mike
 
Depends which area you mean by south coast. Availability from Poole to Chichester is good. Outside that it's a bit more infrequent. Petrol prices in South West for on water supplies can be very expensive (eg Salcombe)
 
intereseting you mention porpoising. I tried the next model up, the prestancia, and it seemed incapable of staying level at any speed. Cant think these days anyone can build a boat with this problem, but put me right off. Maybe i just couldnt get the leg/tabs sorted, but something seemed out of balance. Next model up again (Integrale, is it?), now that was superb with the new volvos. Just the price was ridiculous. Made me bit thoughtful of second hand values-meaning realised price, not advertised, especially on a smaller brand name over here.
 
I am now on my 4th Doral, and can honestly say that I have not experienced porpoising on any of them, except for short periods when I have not got the legs correct. You say the Prestancia (formerly 280) was the worst, but I found this to be the best hull in the range (until I got the 360 aka Boca Grande), and had no problems with it even at 52 knots in the Solent (GPS verified). Funnily enough, the only one in the range I have not owned is the Integral, as I could not find a thing about it I liked. Still, if we all liked the same thing there would only be one make/model of boat out there.
 
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