Family cruise

[Johnclark]

Hello everybody, me and the family have had a bit of fun on holiday in Spain for the last few years hiring small motor boats. We like the idea of owning something like a Princess V40, up to possibly a V60. We are a large family of 6. I'm sure that even as amateurs we would be okay messing about around the coast of Spain in such a motor boat. But what do experienced motor boaters think of us bringing the boat back to the UK for a few months of the year, i mean bringing it back by sea. I know that it's expensive in fuel and that it is often cheaper to bring it back by road, but money and time aside, i don't know if it is practical to make the trip, especially as a family.

 

[john_morris_uk]

Welcome to the forums. I’ve moved your enquiry to the motorboat sub forum.

PS There’s a HUGE difference between a V40 and a V60! And I suspect not many people would contemplate moving either ‘back to the UK for a few months. Firstly it’s not an easy trip and secondly you might as well pay the money you would have spent on fuel on cheap flights to Spain.

I’d be interested to know what sort and size of boats you’ve been hiring...

 

[speedfiend]

Go for it my friend.
What an adventure!
Leave the med early spring and work your way round and up the French Atlantic coast at your leisure.
Either boat, or any in between , are capable of it.
Enjoy!

 

[john_morris_uk]

Go for it my friend.
What an adventure!
Leave the med early spring and work your way round and up the French Atlantic coast at your leisure.
Either boat, or any in between , are capable of it.
Enjoy!

If that's his intention then I agree to 'go for it'.

For some reason I thought he meant to bring it back 'just for a few months' and then return the boat to Spain once again as a sort of annual thing.

 

[DavidJ]

Hmmmmm
1500 miles one way 1 mpg (V60) say £5 per gallon that’s £7500 in fuel ONE WAY
Even if my assumptions are on the top side, that’s a lot of money and hours behind the wheel.

 

[Andy Bav]

I read it as a return trip once a year - but may be wrong.; If costs and time are not an issue, as others said quite an annual adventure.

For people who have done it, I guess a good service before, and possibly a fluid change after each trip ? Either way an additional cost to bear in mind, but in the context of the cost of fuel maybe less of an issue.

As I was once told, this life isn’t a rehearsal for the next, so if funds, time and competence (and sea legs !) are in abundance there is no reason not to give it strong consideration... but “family” suggests [possibly] school holidays or annual holiday allowance at work - unless of course they are all retired

 

[BruceK]

My thoughts. It's certainly doable, it's certainly an adventure, everything you have been told so far is true. Pragmatically though, it's not an ideal way to travel. Not in a mobo, it's not what they're best at. Get a yacht if that sort of thing takes your fancy. Then it starts making a whole lot of sense. FWIW mobo's can and do great distance but tend to do it at such a leisurely rate, short bursts then taking large amounts of time to sample the delights that yachts are actually quicker by far. A head down run to cover distance in a mobo is exhausting and quite frankly a very expensive way to be bored. You'll do it once, tick it off the bucket list and be loathe to do it twice. If you have plenty of time and can idle your way up taking advantage of all there is to offer then absolutely. Mobo wins hands down. Who has that kind of time these days with a large family though, retired or not.

 

[Nigelpickin]

A few of us on here have done the trip, we did it a couple of years ago in our 50’ motor boat with another boat in tandem - slowly over the course of 4 months.

Hurriacain did it in a rush on his big Princess, but that was a one way trip - so far

My view, of you want to keep boat as mentioned in your post and enjoy continental Europe and the UK then think about other options for a few years before you head to the med.
So Uk and La Rochelle / Les Sables D’lonne / Pornichet / Benodet. All offer a fantastic family summer escape and then you can get back to the UK with one tank of gas and fill up for half price at Jersey.

Then when the time is right and you are ready to move the boat to the Med - go for it as a one way trip.

But I can assure you that Charente Maritime and South West Brittany have a so much to offer for a season or two....

 

[Johnclark]

I'm so grateful for all the feedback and advice. I'll admit that i wrongly thought of it as a run-of-the-mill journey that would/could be made regularly. i.e coming back and forth a few times a year, even though in reality i only wanted to bring it back once a year to explore some UK coastal secrets. I get it now that it's a bucket-list type thing. The reason for asking for money-aside advice was that i was more interested in the safety/practicality of it all, i always knew the fuel cost was £0000's.

Could i ask another land-lubber type question please, is it the case that the bigger the boat, the easier time we'll have with it on the open seas? I imagined a smaller boat getting chucked about a lot more than a much heavier (V60-type) thing. And once again, thank you everybody for your help and advice. We all know the same amount about boats (and everything else) when we are born, it's all about what we learn after, which I am doing now, with all your help thank you.

 

[jrudge]

A bigger boat takes the seas better but don’t expect chalk and cheese. If the sea is up yes the 60 ft boat will be a nicer place to be but you will still get knocked about. Going down wind and in the wave direction makes a huge difference to comfort

Planning boats in general are comfortable up to about force 3 and by a force 5 unless you need to be somewhere head to port or slow down significantly.

Re your original question it also depends which bit of Spain. I used to goto northern Spain each year from La Rochelle ( 6 hours) but if the med it is a very very long way.

 

[Portofino]

My take on this is that it’s the people side of the equation that are the weakest.
6 pax ,presume a span of kids ages without device conectivity for long periods and the logistics of feeding them etc .
I think you need to be all the same in a ,like minded and sea hardy fashion.
The smaller the boat say aV40 will amplify any misalignment of the above very quickly in the first 100 miles ,with 1000,s to go .

A bigger 60 ftr s extra space and storage will make life aboard easier for 6 .
If any are below the age that airlines accept minors (can be done with hassle /£) then it’s hard to dump a moaner part way ,unlike an adult who can easily make arrangements to fly back .

A shaft drive bigger boat imho is arguably more reliable and easier to fix locally than a VP sterndrive esp an elderly set up ,even new set ups are so full of electrotwackery that’s hard to fix in a confined engine room from a good soaking ,water dripping in etc .That would be my worry if finances permitting you just waltzed off from say a Palma boat show in new 40 these days .Over and above cramming 6 pax + stores in .

Perhaps you ( all of the party ) need more experience in big seas .
Then you will be able to refine which motor boat type will work the best for such a trip .

 

[Restoration man]

Ok as you say anything can be done /attempted but the op has no real previous experience,I’ve been around boats since I was 2 years old and had use of 7 different boats over the years all that handle very differently, when we bought our latest boat it handled very differently and even with my 40 years experience I was rubbish at mooring it up ,I know some latest boats with bow and stern thrusters wired into the engines etc might be more forgiving but I would not have wanted to jump into a 60 foot boat with no experience , I know we all need to learn but I Wouldn’t want a newbie boater attempting to moor 60 footer anywhere near my boat add a bit wind and some tide and that spells disaster , I’ve had our boat damaged twice now first time sun sail rented boat second time someone on a boat course learning how to sail where carbon fibre pole thing on front of sailing boat punched a hole in the side of our boat , I’ve also not even touched on navigation, i don’t want to be killjoy .i know anything can be done but is it safe for you and your family and other boaters ???