Fairline Turbo 36 165 HP...

[Cashbuyer]

Apologies if this has been asked before.

Fairline Turbo 36 with smaller 165HP Volvos. Will be used on river mainly with odd coastal jaunt. Any good or avoid? Cheap enough, I suppose because of engines. Probably hard to sell on? Could we expect big bills?

 

[Greg2]

With an older boat there is always the risk of bills so a good survey together with an engine survey and possibly oil analysis would be a wise step.

For your intended use the engines are fine and there will always be someone else looking for a spacious boat to use on the river. I also wonder whether conventional wisdom on always opting for the biggest engine option may change as fuel gets more expensive. It has certainly been a factor for our current purchase as we opted for the more expensive boat with smaller ( but perfectly adequate) engines as we will spend a lot of time on the river.

Ultimately it is down to what you want. You won't get sparkling performance at sea (but it will be okay) so if that doesn't worry you then it sounds like a good option to me.

 

[rafiki_]

Any concern with bridge heights?

 

[oldgit]

"Fairline Turbo 36 with smaller 165HP Volvos. Will be used on river mainly with odd coastal jaunt. Any good or avoid? Cheap enough, I suppose because of engines. Probably hard to sell on? Could we expect big bills ? "



Timeless well built spacious boat and loads around so you can bargain hard,many burdened with the big engine options now well off the pace price wise.
Folks able to fund high fuel costs will want new,not secondhand.
The smaller engine options are ideal for river/estuary use with the odd bit of leisurely coastal work
Loads on Thames,older versions have stainless fold down arch but simple radar arch foldy conversion,budget around £1200 if not done by yourself.

 

[neale]

I also wonder whether conventional wisdom on always opting for the biggest engine option may change as fuel gets more expensive.

Shouldn't really make any difference. If you want to push X boat through the water at X speed it will take X HP. On a smaller engined boat you may be at full throttle, on a bigger engined boat it may only be half throttle. The fuel burn will be very similar give or take a little.

 

[neale]

Apologies if this has been asked before.

Fairline Turbo 36 with smaller 165HP Volvos. Will be used on river mainly with odd coastal jaunt. Any good or avoid? Cheap enough, I suppose because of engines. Probably hard to sell on? Could we expect big bills?

For the river it will be fine. 165hp engines are marginal in the 36 so I would want to know that they are still capable of getting the boat up onto the plane for those occasional coastal jaunts before taking it any further, unless of course you are happy to do your coastal boating at displacement speed as well.

 

[Greg2]

Shouldn't really make any difference. If you want to push X boat through the water at X speed it will take X HP. On a smaller engined boat you may be at full throttle, on a bigger engined boat it may only be half throttle. The fuel burn will be very similar give or take a little.

Point taken but there is a psychological issue about having big old gas guzzlers that may influence some.

 

[oldgit]

Probably just case of buying the best boat for your money irrespective of engine size,simply do not pay a premium for the bigger engined boat as the owners may well be the very buyers keenest to get rid of the things.All the buyers of Turbo 36s that I know have been so pleased with them that they have never felt the urge to upgrade since buying them years ago when fuel was 10 groats a gallon.