Doral 300 SC

I have heard mixed reports on Yanmars, some love them others have had problems but not 100% sure if it's just a particular model in their range.
I would have an indepenant survey done & try to research the known faults before you sign up.

Out of interest would you still be interested if you had sold the s23 & had a free choice or is the less hassle swop driving your choice to proceed?

Sorry to sound negative but I know the desire to upgrade can sometimes make you blinkered & forget the small important things like ease of servicing, availability of parts etc that can make all the difference

I can understand the owners of the Doral finding your 24ft boat cramped after their 30ft'er, it's the overall volume increase thats hard to measure & not just the length difference as you will find out once you increase to 30ft.

I dont think the owners of the Doral will beat your s23 for practicality, it would offer all the same comforts of their current boat in a more compact size, it will probably be down to your price, in the time it takes them to phone they will be checking every other s23 on the market, not so easy with the Doral as there are not many around to compare & not another on shafts anywhere!

Hope all goes well.
 
Well, today brought a phone call. The Doral's owners liked what they saw in our S23 and want to proceed to survey / sea trial.

We have various questions about the Doral now that we are considering, one of which concerns the shaft drive. Does anyone know if this is likely to be a retro fit or if it is likely to be factory fitted? We've not found another 300 SC with shafts which makes us wonder.
 
Almost definitely a factory fit.

They are most likely "V" drives, where you have a shaft coming out of the engine forwards into a drive box, then another shaft going back from the drive box down and out thru the back of the hull.

It's worth checking that you can actually get access to both the drive box and the bearing as it goes out of the boat (can be under the engine /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif)

dv.
 
The Eleganti was on shaft and I think the Eleganti replaced the 300. What to remember is it will be a bit sluggish being on shaft, and yes they do use a bit more fuel. But the Eleganti had the D3 which was not the best for it in fact it was under powered for a 33ft boat.

But to trundle around in English waters a sound boat it will be not a nippy little boat. but a nice one.
 
[ QUOTE ]

Almost definitely a factory fit.

They are most likely "V" drives, where you have a shaft coming out of the engine forwards into a drive box, then another shaft going back from the drive box down and out thru the back of the hull.

It's worth checking that you can actually get access to both the drive box and the bearing as it goes out of the boat (can be under the engine /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif)

dv.

[/ QUOTE ]Thanks, I was just pondering that. In a 30' boat, you can't easily swap drives for shafts, but V boxes would solve it. Albeit at the cost of access to the sternglands. Anne, be wary of falling in love with a boat you will struggle to sell on in a year or three. V drives on a rare Canadian import does not make for a quick sale: fine if you don't mind taking a caning later, or waiting an age to sell...
 
I think this is what I was trying to say without saying it, I would assume a very limited market given the rarety of the setup.

Just think, if you are having second thoughts now, whats the future sale going to be like when the boats starting to get on a bit, probably much harder.

The reason this setup is rare could possibly be because it was an experimental venture just prior to the newer model, perhaps to test the market reaction.
Not many around should tell you something about the outcome, it might have suffered with performance issues, maintenance problems, unreliability etc but there's no one to ask, your going to be on your own as regards your setup.

However if it suits you then tell the vendors of your concern, they might be more knowledgable & be able to offer answers to some of these questions.
Another burning question would be it's history, has it been in the UK all it's life? is it CE marked? who imported it (Dealer/simco) or personal import, might just open a whole new can of worms! /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Sorry again to sound negative but if you are prepared for this before you take the plunge then there will be no suprises in the future.
 
Thank you all so much for your advice, information and support in this thread. Enterprise, your earlier post made me think a lot about the motivation behind our initial excitment. It was something that was in the back of my mind, but it took someone outside the situation to mention it before I gave it full credit. I think I was very excited at the thought of selling and buying a bigger boat, rather than this particular boat.

We have walked away from the Doral - it isn't the boat for us for a number of reasons. I've had second thoughts about the layout of the saloon - I'd prefer a horseshoe seating / drop table arrangement rather than than the fixed double berth . We talked to a Yanmar specialist today about fuel efficiency and have talked to others about selling her on in the future as well as the shaft arrangement. Ultimately a day after seeing her, I had doubts and Paul was the same. It is big and important a purchase for us to have doubts at this stage, so we are not going any further.

I'm sure she will be the perfect boat for somebody and hope her owners find a buyer soon.

Thank you all again - your views, for and against, have been an important consideration in our decision making process. Our search for a buyer and our next boat continues......

Anne.
 
Anne - I'm pleased you've pulled out of this!

Alarm bells were ringing for me as soon as I saw that she was on shafts - it just didn't feel right for this boat, somehow...

You seemed so excited about the Doral that I was reluctant to say what I really wanted to say - which was, 'Don't buy this boat!'.

Of course, it's all down to individual perferences, but I've never been too keen on the 'completely closed v-berth' arrangement. Our boat has a similar arrangement except there is a small, 'open' access to the v-berth.

Despite that, we never use it and sleep in the mid-ships cabin instead. I'm sure that layout would be ideal for anyone with small children/grandchildren.

It's been a useful lesson, I'm certain. You're right to look at the whole event as an important step in whittling down your choice of the ideal boat...even though you experienced the excitement of both selling your Sealine and buying the Doral I feel certain you've made the right decision by backing out.

Keep looking - and don't forget to keep the nosey b8ggers of this forum up to speed! Good luck! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Me Too Anne (glad you backed out),

I know nothing of the Doral 300SC, it could have been any boat but I do know that if you are having doubt's now then taking time out to think it through is the best idea, ultimatley Im sure you know youv'e made the right decision.

It has almost happened to us, part way through selling the sealine 240 we viewed a 260s advertised at a bargain price, we viewed it & couldn't see "the wood for the trees", we made a very low offer (lower than we were selling the 240 for) which was accepted almost straight away.
We then wondered why, sat back & thought about it, reserched it & felt sick, we had rushed in big style & now regreted it.

We did however honour the contract & had it surveyed, this is where the get out of jail card & the reason the low offer was accepted came to light, we talked with other 260 owners who confirmed a design flaw which was found by our surveyor, so we were fortunate our surveyor knew about it & his report enabled us to back out & walk away, we had wasted a grand on survey & fees so an expensive leason learned.

Thats the reason for the question regarding your motivation to swap your s23, Im sure if the vendors of the 260 we viewed had offered a swap we would have been very tempted, ultimatley though there intention would have been to rid themselves of a white elephant.
What was ironic though was after we walked, a few days passed before the dealer came back with a killer deal if were still interested & offered us the boat at one third the market value, obviously the vendor was now desperate, we politeley said no thanks.

Im in no doubt that when onboard your new boat you will look back & know you made the right choice.

Enjoy your s23 for now, it's a wonderfull boat & Im sure there are many envious people out ther who would love to own it, it only takes one to have the vission to realise their dream, im sure they will be along before long.

Summers coming, you have a boat, enjoy /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
I'd also like to thank everyone for their assistance with this. I've not just left Anne to get on with it .... Honest I was in the background keepking an eye on what was happening and listening to all your thoughts.
The one comment which really did make me think was the 'If you had they money would you still buy it' question as soon as I thought of it from this perspective I think my mind was made up that yes this was a lovely boat but it was not going to be my/our lovely boat.

Speaking to a Yanmar agent in Plymouth he agreed that the quoted figure of 45 lph was indeed a bit low and would more than likely be in the 50 - 55 region (per engine) , and given that the total tankage is only 450 this doesn't give the range we were looking for.
After all this we have indeed learnt a few valuable lessons and will probably going back to the Fairline Targa 28/29 and maybe even going for another look at an older Targa 33 - but as ever we will all no doubt let you all know of the progress.
 
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